Newzoids lead the comedy week ahead

The comedy week ahead...

Sunday April 12

RADIO: First broadcast in 1982, Ad Lib features Kenneth Williams presenting a compendium of reminiscences – and opinions, of course –  recorded in front of an audience. Hear a master raconteur at work on Radio 4 Extra, 2.15pm

Monday April 13

RADIO: Deborah Frances-White Rolls The Dice is a new four-part Radio 4 series about big events in the comedian’s life. The first, based on her last live show, tells the story of her search for her birth mother… and the question of why she was given away. Fellow comedians Thom Tuck, Alex Lowe and Celia Pacquola help her tell the story. Radio 4, 11.30am

RADIO: It’s not often Radio 3 features in this column but this week journalist and historian Simon Heffer is presenting a series of profiles of some of the great comedy actors of British cinema. The Essay: British Film Comedians starts tonight with Will Hay, the music hall star turned movie star of the 1930s and 1940s. On Tuesday it’s Alastair Sim; Terry-Thomas on Wednesday and Tony Hancock on Thursday. Radio 3, 10.45pm

Tuesday April 14

THEATRE IN LONDON: Death Of A Comedian, a play about the compromises a stand-up makes on the route to success that seems pretty close to the truth, comes to the Soho Theatre after runs in Belfast and Dublin. Here is our review..

LIVE IN LONDON: The Old Queen’s Head in Islington hosts a strong bill of acclaimed acts, with Lou Sanders introducing French bon viveur Marcel Lucont, smart stand-up from Nish Kumar, quirky character work from Joseph Morpurgo and former BBC New Comedy Award winner Angela Barnes.

Wednesday April 15

TV: Inevitably considered the son of Spitting Image, Newzoids is a new a topical puppet animation sketch show starting on ITV tonight. Impersonators include Jon Cumshaw and Debra Stephson, while the writing team includes Pete Sinclair, Dan Gaster, Carey Marx and Tom Neenan ITV, 9pm

LIVE IN ABERYSTWYTH: Dylan Moran resumes his Off The Hook tour following a sojourn Down Under, sharing his elegantly idiosyncratic expressions of the anxieties of life. Dates

Thursday April 16

LIVE IN LONDON: Underrated character comedian Catriona Knox brings her excellent fourth solo show …Thinks She's Hard Enough to the Soho Theatre for three nights, mixing thoroughly committed performance and skilled writing. A member of sketch troupe the Boom Jennies, you might have also spotted her in Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe as patronising news reporter Emily Surname. Review from Edinburgh.

Friday April 17

LIVE IN LONDON: Tim Key headlines a benefit for sudden infant death syndrome charity The Lullaby Trust with strong support from the equally offbeat Aisling Bea, Mae Martin and Mike Wozniak at the Bloomsbury Theatre.

RADIO: The Vote Now Show, a series of six election specials fronted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis along with Jon Holmes, Pippa Evans, Laura Shavin and Mitch Benn kicks off tonight, with a comic critique of the second of the leaders’ debates. Radio 4, 11pm

Saturday April 18

LIVE IN LONDON: The Battersea Arts Centre has been a vital launching pad for so many comedy shows, from Daniel Kitson’s theatre pieces to Jerry Springer: The Opera. So when fire ripped through the venue last month, comics were quick to join a fundraiser suggested by Stewart Lee to help restore the historic building. Joining him at the Royal Festival Hall will beArthur Smith, Bridget Christie, Will Adamsdale and Detectorists duo Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones.

Published: 12 Apr 2015