WTF: Weekly Trivia File

• Just hours after the Weirdos collective of alternative comedians finished their run of an undersea-themed pantomime this week, the venue almost literally found itself under water. At 8am on Tuesday, promoter Bob Slayer received a call that his Heroes Grotto of Christmas pop-up in the City of London  had a 'bit' of a leak overnight. He came in straight away to find water pouring through the backstage ceiling and then down into the venue. He said: 'Fortunately its an old empty building and anything that could be damaged has already long since been knackered, so once the emergency plumber had found and stopped the leak we just got on with the task of mopping and bailing out. Had this happened anytime last week it would have been disastrous - All of the Weirdos props, which were made of cardboard and paper mache were stored exactly where the worst of the water damage happened and would certainly have been ruined.'

• Robert Webb as reassured fans that Peep Show won't go weird for its last season. 'Mark and Jeremy aren't going to win the lottery and they're not going to fall off a cliff or under a bus,' he says.

• Prince Charles recently asked Eric Idle to be his court jester, the ex-Python has revealed. The royal request was made at Billy Connolly's house in Scotland - and Idle recalled his answer was: 'Why would I want a fucking shit job like that?'

• Here's a short Christmas film inspired by comedians' desperate need for whatever stage time they can get….

• The videogame-based live comedy show Go 8-Bit is to receive the ultimate geek's honour: being part of the Royal Institution's Christmas Lectures. Steve McNeil (from double act McNeil and Pamphilon, creators of the show) and Rob Sedgebeer (the technical genius behind the interactive smartphone tech they use) will be demonstrating the power of virtual reality, specifically the Oculus Rift, in the shows which go out on BBC Four on December 29, 30 and 31 at 8pm.

• The Daily Telegraph might be trying to go all digital, but it can't always keen up with the trends. The newspaper picked the Edinburgh show from internet sensation Miranda Sings as one of its worst comedy shows of 2014. Unfortunately, as far as its concerned there's only one Miranda doing comedy. But no, picture editors, it wasn't the posh one...

• Watermelon-smashing US comedian Gallagher is spending Christmas at a stranger's house – after pleading with fans to take him in. The 68-year-old comic performed a show in Oneonta, New York state,  and decided he'd like to stay a while. So he went on a local radio show and put out a call for someone to accommodate him, and a family called The Lanes offered. The comic has claimed he is broke after losing a fortune on a stock market speculation gone wrong.

• Tweets of the week
Jay Tuvz (@JayTuvz): " I've made a model of Mount Everest" / "To scale?" / "No, it's a model you idiot."
Jon Pigeon  (@PigeonJon): Turns out Pyongyang is Not Actually the noise a North Korean Computer makes when you switch it on.  Frankly livid about this.
Jake Lambert  (@LittleLostLad): Girl, are you an E-cigarette? Because from a distance you looked like you were smoking but as I got closer I realised you're just fake.

Published: 19 Dec 2014