So funny they told it twice
Bridget Christie has just won a South Bank Sky Arts Award for her show A Bic for Her, which includes a man-shaming riff about pens especially designed for women. Proving that there is no such thing as a new idea in comedy is the YouTube clip that Titter feed stumbled upon, in which Ellen DeGeneres expresses her own sarcastic horror at the pastel-coloured product. “Can you believe this, we’ve been using man pens all these years?” she queries, with withering scorn. A clear case of great minds thinking alike.
Heard the one about Milton Jones?
One-liner king Milton Jones launches his 10th series, Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones!, on Radio 4 on February 19. This man loves the medium: “Even as a child I remember noticing that radio has the power to take you to places you weren’t expecting. But this might be because we only had a car radio,” he told Titter feed. He’s full of wisdom.
More at miltonjones.com
Podcast heaven
Web wonder of the week is John Dredge’s Nothing to Do With Anything Show at comedy.co.uk/podcasts. Dredge is an actor but seems to spend most of his time creating wacky pop culture mash-ups and spoof documentaries. He interviews talking wardrobes, Daleks and previews fictional programmes such as That’s Concrete, in which liquid concrete is poured over special guests. Ken Livingstone is among the imagined participants who is turned to stone ...
The revolution will be rubberised
The BFI marks the 30th birthday of that great Eighties benchmark of political satire, Spitting Image, on February 27. The live show features Steve Nallon (voice of Maggie Thatcher) and Ian Hislop (writer on the show). Creators Fluck & Law are also booked to appear with some of their victims, including Lords Roy Hattersley and David Steel. A special preview screening of Arena’s tribute, Whatever Happened to Spitting Image?, rounds off the entertainment — the doc goes out on BBC4 later in the year.
Details at whatson.bfi.org.uk
Get a room
You can’t keep an old sitcom format down. Following Men Behaving Badly and last year’s Badults, Josh revisits the comic possibilities of flat-sharing in a pilot for BBC’s online Comedy Feeds. Stand-up Josh Widdicombe stars, with Elis James and Beattie Edmondson as his hapless housemates and Jack Dee as their landlord. If Beattie is in need of a few pointers, she can always call her dad, Ade — who made his name as dozy punk Vyvyan in The Young Ones. There’s no date yet for release, but look out for the next batch of Comedy Feeds promised for early summer.
