Barry Cryer was cheeky, kind and a canny engineer of comedy | Mark Lawson

A generous-hearted jokesmith, Cryer created laughs for generations of comics, was a consummate performer and had a lifelong commitment to wit‘An honorary uncle to countless comics’: Jack Dee on CryerThe best work of Barry Cryer, who has died aged 86, w…

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‘The godfather of alternative comedy’: Eddie Izzard, Paul Merton and more on Spike Milligan

He was the shellshocked genius who channelled his anarchic brilliance into The Goon Show. Ian Hislop and Nick Newman explain why they’ve written a play about Spike Milligan – while comedians remember a legendThe tortured lives of comedians form a biogr…

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Pee-Wee Herman is hosting his own show on KCRW

Pee-Wee Herman is coming back next week for a one time only radio show. Yesterday, Paul Reubens – or rather… MORE
Pee-Wee Herman is hosting his own show on KCRW appeared first on The Laugh Button.

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Episode #350: Jesse Thorn

What was podcasting like before the iPhone? Jesse Thorn knows. After college radio, Thorn, host of public radio’s Bullseye with Jesse Thorn, broadcast his podcast The Sound of Young America from his home, eventually building his own podcast network, Ma…

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Lucille Ball is getting her own channel on SiriusXM for a limited time

Lucille Ball was without a doubt a trailblazer, and one of the most influential comedians of the 20th century and… MORE
Lucille Ball is getting her own channel on SiriusXM for a limited time appeared first on The Laugh Button.

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Sound Heap review – one podcast to spoof them all

Available onlineThe age of peak podcast meets its match in John-Luke Roberts and his procession of hilariously titled imaginary showsIn 2018, John-Luke Roberts’s Edinburgh show consisted entirely of names of hitherto unheard-of Spice Girls. He’s up to …

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All white on the night: the perennial problem with TV panel shows

The format should give comic talents a time to shine. So why don’t our flagship shows reflect the diversity of comedy in 2021?Panel shows have been a pillar of British comedy for decades. The News Quiz began in 1977 and Have I Got News for You in 1990,…

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Athena Kugblenu: ‘The more you get cancelled, the more immune you are to it’

The standup comedian’s new Radio 4 series picks through the minefield of cancel culture – and offers up a few mea culpas“If real life was like social media, it would look like The Good Place,” says standup Athena Kugblenu, referring to the sitcom about…

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The History of Sketch Comedy review – Keegan-Michael Key’s love letter to laughter

Podcast The comic actor’s exuberant 10-part history unpicks the nuts-and-bolts of what makes sketches funny, from overlooked past acts to SNL, and British favourites including the Two Ronnies“The sexy dangerous first cousin of standup,” Keegan-Michael …

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Let the BBC’s new boss do his worst – with comedy, I’d rather be offended than bored | Suzanne Moore

New director-general Tim Davie will reportedly steer TV comedy to the right to correct years of perceived anti-Tory bias. But it was Brexit, not the BBC, that put a spanner in British humourJust as I couldn’t work myself up over what anyone sings at th…

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