Merchant sells for success and Beeb Three continues its comedy offering online: the last 24 hours in comedy

Today’s hottest news from the world of comedy…

• Stephen Merchant is doing a sitcom based on Hello Ladies for HBO. Stephen Merchant plays Stephen Merchant. It’s set in LA, so celebrity cameos seem pretty much guaranteed. Deadline
• BBC Three announced they’re looking for successors to the successful Feed My Funny online comedy pilots, in their own unique way: by misspelling their channel controller’s name. Also, The BBC, WHERE IS DAWSON BROS FUNTIME FULL SERIES? BBC
• A blue plaque was unveiled for Only Fools and Horses writer John Sullivan at Teddington Studios. David Jason did not fall through any bars. The Sun
• There’s a piece on the Guardian about people building comedy shows off the back of their 15 minutes of fame. It’s about Mark Grist (actually talented) and Richard ‘Rich’ Peppiatt (actually has something to say, however obnoxiously he does so) so that’s fine, surely? Guardian
• Lots of people complained about 8 Out of 10 Cats. The Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin doesn’t say why, but we’d put good money on it being a Jimmy Carr tax avoidance thing. Ofcom