Rosie O’Donnell: ‘Meat Loaf’s mother wrote me and said, “You can’t be mean to my son”’

The beloved host and comedian on blubbering fans, scary kangaroos, her favourite Irish person and the strangest job she has ever hadGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailYour show is called Common Knowledge. What do you think should be common know…

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‘My past was chaos’: Iain Lee on abuse, cocaine, comedy, his on-air breakdown and his ‘sex addict’ father

The broadcaster and comedian has been delighting and outraging audiences for almost 30 years. Off-air, his life has lurched from crisis to crisis. Has he finally found peace?It’s nearly three decades since Iain Lee roamed the streets for Channel 4’s 11…

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Ania Magliano: ‘My favourite gig? I did some material about vibrators and a 92-year-old gave me tips on different settings’

The standup on Taskmaster, her time in the Cambridge Footlights and the geniuses behind Colin the CaterpillarWhat made you get into comedy?
In primary school I wasn’t very cool. I never got Hula Hoops in my packed lunches because my Polish mum would g…

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‘There’s magic, blood and gore!’ Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton on touring Inside No 9 – and being megastars in China

As the show based on their cult TV hit goes on the road, the duo discuss haunted theatres, feeling like arthritic swans and what it was like being mobbed in ShanghaiHow do you make a shopping centre in Woking spooky? I bow before Reece Shearsmith and S…

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Ideal review – stage return for Johnny Vegas’s TV weed dealer fails to score

Lowry, Salford Reprise of Graham Duff’s cult comedy delights the series’ fans but there’s not much here for anyone elseIf you are a fan of the cult BBC Three sitcom Ideal, you should immediately book a ticket for this show. Judging by tonight’s audienc…

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Haywire review – early history of The Archers inspires behind-the-mic farce

Barn theatre, CirencesterFeaturing extraordinary voice acting, this play about the birth of the BBC’s farming drama will equally satisfy superfans and everyday folkEven regular listeners to Radio 4’s The Archers can balk at the laborious annual plotlin…

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The best theatre to stream this month: Basil’s back as Fawlty Towers reopens for business

John Cleese’s stage version of his beloved sitcom, a cast recording of Cornish musical The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Robert Wilson’s production of Handel’s Messiah are among September’s highlightsFifty years ago this month, Torquay’s most fam…

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‘We were the runt of the litter at the BBC’: Johnny Vegas and Graham Duff on resurrecting their sitcom Ideal

The cult 2000s sitcom accrued obsessive fans and celebrity guests before being abruptly cancelled. Now, 20 years on, its star and writer return with a stage revival – but they insist it’s no victory lapDrugs, gangs, kidnappings, police corruption, murd…

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‘We were the runt of the litter at the BBC’: Johnny Vegas and Graham Duff on resurrecting their sitcom Ideal

The cult 2000s sitcom accrued obsessive fans and celebrity guests before being abruptly cancelled. Now, 20 years on, its star and writer return with a stage revival – but they insist it’s no victory lapDrugs, gangs, kidnappings, police corruption, murd…

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Babyfleareindeerbag review – build your own Edinburgh fringe smash hit

Summerhall, EdinburghHannah Maxwell’s delightfully meta hour, namechecking Richard Gadd and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s breakthroughs, is a blueprint for three potential shows – with the audience as focus groupHannah Maxwell would dearly like a bad review. …

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