Mrs Nick & I went to see Jeremy Hardy at the Lincoln Drill Hall last night. I like him a lot on Radio 4 (I can feel Sweet G wincing as I write this!), and live he didn't disappoint. He did two one hour slots, and entertained fully a crowd of around 300. His pithy left wing take on life, coupled with his dry delivery made for a fabulously warm evening's entertainment. definitely not your belly laugh comedian, more your raconteur. Catch him if you can.

I'm a big fan of Tim Vine (rubbish on TV, brilliant on standup), Bill Bailey and Ross Noble. Those are my big three but I haven't seen much live comedy in ages. Used to go to comedy clubs but I smelt like an ashtray for days afterwards, and the 'big gigs' are a lot more expensive. Have booked to see Ross Noble in September though... the man's a legend.

I've not been anywhere or seen much... just Lee Evans on DVD. Eh.

I love Ross Noble and Bill Bailey. Also really like Jeremy Hardy - though he seemed to swear rather a lot... though perhaps that's only a lot compared with how he is on Radio 4.

I saw Jeremy Hardy doing a slot on Daniel Kitson's sunday night comedy club a month or so ago, and he was absolutely great. Yes, he was very sweary, but I think it's because when he's doing standup he's not straitjacketed by radio guidelines and so revels in being able to say whatever he wants.

We went to see Mitchell and Webb a little while ago and I was really disappointed - everything they did I already knew from the radio, the TV or their previous stage shows. Some of their sketches were more than 10 years old - we used to repeat them to each other as in-jokes at school! It felt like we were being cheated out of a show.

I love Jeremy Hardy, Ross Noble and Bill Bailey too... We saw Phil Nichol a few months ago and he was great.

The late night entertainment slot on Radio 4 has gone very non-comedy recently, but the 11:30am slot (which always used to be gentle sitcoms about three generations of women not seeing eye to eye, with not especially amusing consequences) has now got Count Arthur Strong. We've been listening on listen again and the other night we were both incapacitated and in tears.

I saw Russell Howard last week. Not performing, just sitting on the train on the way to Cardiff.

Ah, Bristol's son. I used to go to loads of comedy nights in Bristol and I remember him, aged only 18, regularly doing the 20 minute 'interlude' slot, occasionally compering and always being brilliant. I'm really glad he's "made it" but I haven't actually seen him since he has so I don't know if his act has changed. The act used to be ... that there was no act, and he'd spend the whole time in mock panic. Sounds daft but he was a genius.

Count Arthur Strong appears regularly on the Mark Radcliffe show on Radio 2. He never fails to amuse!

Did anyone see that Channel 4 programme on the "top 100 stand up comedians" last night? I normally avoid list programmes like the plague but thought this one would be worth a try. But they had the dreaded "as voted by YOU" caveat - which meant Roy "Chubby" Brown, Jim Davidson and Bernard Manning all ranked fairly highly. Very depressing.

There was one great joke in the progamme though. One comedian (I forget who) said "I went to a friend's house and he said treat it like it's your own place. So I sold it..."

i went to the filming of the new Armstrong and Miller show to be in the audience.

it was very amusing but very bbc1. its interesting. its called the armstrong and miller show, and hatrck productions are calling it season 1, but there was 4 seasons of the armstrong and miller show on c4 in the late 90's...

watch out for it later on in the year.

sample joke [along the lines of]

(monologue to camera)...

"i left uni and travelled for three years. got into the whole drug scene. the pills really kicked in and it took a while to get clean. so i lived with my parents and went cold turkey. after getting clean i decided it was time to do something with my life. with a useless degree there wasn't a lot i could do."


"so i became a teacher"

"Become a teacher:

www.everyonehastogrowup.com"


or something.

You've just posted that anecdote to wind up your Dad. :D

Of course if everything goes wrong, I guess you could become a Media Studies Teacher!

I really liked Bill Hicks. One of my favorites (at least, of the clean ones) was one about working in a dead end job.

Boss: Hicks! Why aren't you working?
BH: There's nothing to do?
Boss: Well you pretend like you're working.
BH: YOU pretend I'm working! You get paid more than me! Heck, if you want me to fantasise, now I'm the boss and you're fired!

Saw Ross Noble tonight. He's a genius. Hecklers, however, for the most part, need shooting. Some are good. But not many.

Edit: in fact he's so good I've booked to see him again, because every night is completely different. He's doing a show in Liverpool on 21st October which can be seen live in Vue cinemas around the country. You get a two and a half hour show plus a live Q&A for your tenner. Sounds good to me!

I still haven't seen any live comedians... apart from some bloke who came to clown up our freshers week. Hm.

I have recently developed a strange habit of liking Russell Brand. I used to despise him, then I watched his DVD, now I'm rapidly turning into him. Scary scary scary stuff.

He's not bad, although the best Russell working in comedy is Bristol's own Russell Howard. One of my favourite lines of his was "do you think the Queen ever pulls the bed sheets up to her neck and says 'look Philip, I'm a stamp?'"

I'm finally going to see Sean Lock soon. :D

I was recently one of those people listening to comedy on an MP3 player on a bus, it was Sean Lock, and I laughed out loud a few times and probably seemed stranger than usual. It was in Slovenia though, which is a beautiful country by the way. :D