'Nobody will want to be the next Ricky fucking Gervais'

Weekly trivia file

Ah, the start of May and in these long spring days, our thoughts turn naturally enough to… the office Christmas party. At least they do if you’re the Jongleurs marketing department, who today sent out a ‘book your Christmas party now!’ email, with just 236 chuckling days to December 25.

Ricky Gervais says he nearly blinded Rob Lowe when he shot him in the eye with a foam dart from toy Nerf gun while fooling around on the set of his film This Side Of The Truth. He said: ‘Warner Bros sent us some incredible weaponry. One fires six darts at once and one has a rocket launcher. It got out of hand and I shot Rob in the eye. He was fine, but it would have been embarrassing to have had to tell Warner that filming was delayed after I blinded one of the stars. It did not affect my performance. At least my eye wasn’t bloodshot like that loser Lowe.’

Meanwhile, he’s also passed his opinion on the Variety article about British comedy stars who might make it big in the US, headlined ‘Who will be the next Ricky Gervais?’. He said: ‘A very flattering title; it suggests that I am the zenith of international achievement. However, I don't think that I'm quite done being the first Ricky Gervais yet. I haven't started my US tour yet. Ghost Town, my first lead in a Hollywood film isn't even released until September. I'm halfway through my directorial debut. If these are all flops no one will want to be the next Ricky fucking Gervais.’

Here’s the latest installment in the never-ending series of news about Russell Brand’s genitalia. The comic says he didn’t bare all in his new film, Fogetting Sarah Marshall, because he was too intimidated by his co-star Kristen Bell. ‘The thought of baring my genitalia to her is rather daunting. Whilst I love my genitals and am confident with them when they're in action, I'd feel quite shy about full-frontal nudity.’

Robin Ince has written a cartoon for Amnesty International about China’s human rights abuses. Not so much funny, as making a point:

Jackie Mason is under fire for headlining a Zionist gig, and is known for his, erm, ‘robust’ views on the Israeli-Arab conflict. Perhaps, then, someone at YouTube was showing a warped sense of humour with the choice of advert on the page hosting his diatribes: It was for the Islamic dating agency, International Muslim Matrimonial.