The week's comedy trivia

• Ricky Gervais: ‘I’m more famous than I deserve to be.’

• Jennifer Saunders has shown her support for foxhunting, riding out with the Mid Devon Hunt from Chagford on Boxing Day. Hunt supporter Peter Davey said: ‘She lives in the area and it was the first time I've seen her ride with the hunt.’

• Car nut Rowan Atkinson managed to prang another vehicle as he was backing his 4x4 out of a parking space in Aspen, Colorado, last week. Just days later he unwrapped his Christmas present to himself: a new, £110,000, limited edition Morgan Aeromax, making him one of just a handful of people who own the 170mph sports car.

• Mackenzie Crook is celebrating after his wife Lindsay gave birth to their second son.

• Russell Brand says he finds it difficult to form a relationship because he is so close to his mother. He said: ‘My mother is the sweetest, most sensitive, most forgiving person you could ever meet, with a wonderful sense of humour and this incredible warmth.’

• And Brand has the fifth best beard of the year, according to the Beard Liberation Front.

• Stephen Merchant didn’t buy Extras co-writer Ricky Gervais anything for Christmas. ‘I don't think I've ever bought him a present,’ he said. ‘We see each other so much that we kind of forget that stuff really. I'll probably buy him some vouchers.’ He also said he was such a fan of Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody that he would be happy to sing along to all year round.

• Meanwhile, Chris Rock bought his daughters Lola, five, and Zahra, three, turtles for Christmas.

SOURCES: The Sun, The Cornishman, Aspen Daily News/Hello!, The Mirror, The Times , BBC News, Monsters And Critics, New York Times

Published: 28 Dec 2007