Comics get uni honours: A tight 5

Harry Hill and Sandi Toksvig are to receive honorary degrees from the University of Kent in recognition of their talent and contribution to the arts. Hill, who grew up in the county, and Toksvig, who was born in Denmark and educated at Cambridge, will both receive a doctor of arts degree at separate ceremonies at Canterbury Cathedral. Meanwhile Michael Pennington – aka Johnny Vegas – is to receive an honorary doctorate from Edge Hill University in Ormskirk.

Jack Carroll – the teenage comic who shot to fame on Britain's Got Talent – has been signed up by Chambers Management, the company that also looks after Jimmy Carr, Sarah Millican and Frankie Boyle. The youngster, who has cerebral palsy, is to appear in the next series of BBC One’s Big School and Sky 1’s Trollied. Carroll was previously represented by Lisa Thomas Management, whose clients include his mentor, Jason Manford.

ROBIN WILLIAMS has checked himself into a rehab clinic in Minnesota to to 'focus on his commitment' to sobriety, his publicist has confirmed. He became addicted to alcohol and cocaine while on the comedy circuit, quitting in the early 1980s.

SKY ATLANTIC has set a return date for Veep. Armando Iannucci's political comedy will be beack on July 16.

ADAM HORTON won the £100 prize for the best Correspondents piece in June, for his memories of Rik Mayall.

Published: 3 Jul 2014