The comedy week ahead

Today

TV AND CINEMA: It's the last night of the Pythons today, with their swansong - or should that be parrotsong - at London's O2 Arenea being broadcast live on Gold and simulcast in 450 cinemas across the UK, and 1,500 across the world. ONLINE: Today nine new comedy pilots are released on BBC iPlayer under the BBC Three Comedy Feeds banner. The initiative has so far spawned full series of People Just Do Nothing, Nick Helm's Heavy Entertainment and Impractical Jokers and this year's batch features the likes of Kayvan Novak, Aisling Bea, Josh Widdicombe, Tom Rosenthal and Katy Wix. Click here for summaries of them all. TV: Speaking of Comedy Feeds, the latest series to have been developed from the pilots, People Just Do Nothing, starts its run on BBC Three tonight. A mockumentary about West London pirate radio station Kurupt FM and its 'masterminds' MC Grindah and DJ Beats. BBC Three, 10.45pm

Monday July 21

LIVE IN LONDON: Daniel Kitson makes one of his always sought-after stand-up appearances at a benefit in the Comedy Store for Stand Against Violence. There's a diverse, and quality, line-up joining him, including Kerry Godliman, Paul Sinha and Terry Alderton.

DVD: Series five of US sitcom Community is released on DVD today. Order

TV: Channel 4is to air two short films by comedians in its Shooting Gallery strand at midnight tonight: Spencer Brown's film The Boy with a Camera For a Face, narrated by Steven Berkoff, and Worm, starring Tom Basden.

Tuesday July 22

RADIO: Another chance to hear a Tony Hancock rarity, recently unearthed in Bob Monkhouse's archives. Welcome To London 1958 was broadcast live from the London Coliseum to entertain the athletes on their way home from the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff. As part of the evening's entertainment, a Games-related sketch was performed starring Tony Hancock, Sid James and Bill Kerr. Hancock was known for not enjoying performing on stage, so this is a rare chance to hear him in front of a theatrical audience. It wasn't heard since its original broadcast on the Home Service, but was recently rediscovered. Radio 4 aired it to mark the London Olympics in 2012; and now Radio 4 Extra are broadcasting it again, on the eve of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Radio 4 Extra, 9.4am

LIVE IN MANCHESTER: XS Malarkey regularly tops polls of Britain's best comedy clubs. Find out tonight as Justin Moorhouse headlines with Nish Kumar, ever-present MC Toby Hadoke and a full supporting bill.

Wednesday July 23

LIVE IN GLASGOW: Frankie Boyle is doing another work-in progress show at The Stand tonight - and on Monday 28th, too.

RADIO: Tina C - Christopher Green's US country music alter-ego guides a Glasgow audience through her unique take on the Commonwealth in her Commonwealth Of Nations: The Empire Strikes Back. Radio 4, 11pm

Thursday July 24

LIVE IN NORWICH: Laugh In The Park,a four-day comedy festival in Chapelfield Gardens, kicks off with insane Terry Alderton, sneery Frenchman Marcel Lucont, sharp commentator Ian Stone, and circuit stalwart John Mann. Tickets

Saturday July 26

RADIO: Radio 4 Extra pays tribute to producer Geoffrey Perkins with a three-hour retrospective of his radio work, first broadcast in 2010. When Perkins died in 2008, he left behind a legacy of programmes such as Spitting Image, Father Ted and The Fast Show. But his roots were in radio, and in this tribute, The Workin's Of Perkins, his friend and colleague Angus Deayton, introduces such work as Radio Active and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Published: 20 Jul 2014