Comedy news: Such Small Portions's news

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Nicole Kidman is to join the cast of forthcoming Adam Sandler comedy Just Go For It.

The Hollywood siren will appear alongside rom-com regular Jennifer Anniston, in what is rumoured to be a cameo part, according to Reuters. 

Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated cover model Brooklyn Decker will also join the film, which will be directed by You Don’t Mess With the Zohan director Dennis Dugan. 

The film will see Sandler’s character recruit Anniston to pose as his estranged wife in order to land his dream girl, who will be played by Decker. 

The model has previously appeared in Ugly Betty, Chuck and Royal Pains, however, Just Go For It will be her first big-screen role.

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Hannibal star Julianne Moore is said to be looking for a comedy role after deciding she needed more ‘variety in her acting’.

According to The Daily Telegraph the 49-year-old Hollywood actress has said she would like to try her hand at films such as There’s Something About Mary which starred Cameron Diaz.

Moore said: "I though Cameron Diaz was great in that movie. I really enjoy watching all that kind of stuff. Really you want to have variety as an actor. If you spend your career doing one thing solidly, people get burned out," the actress said.

"I like any kind of situational comedy. It breaks my heart that I'm not going to be in it."

Moore has however ruled out an appearance on stage due to family commitments: "It's very difficult to do [theatre] when you have kids because the hours are fairly extreme. I did find it particularly difficult to do Broadway.

"It was not my favourite way to perform. When I do theatre I like it to be smaller, I like the audience to be closer, I like it to be less presentational," she said.

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The creators of Modern Toss, the cult satirical cartoon-based show on Channel 4 have announced a plan to create the longest single-panel cartoon since the Bayeaux Tapestry – and are offering the public the chance to get involved.

Dubbed ‘The Great Wall of Filth Extravaganza’ writers Jon Link and Mick Bunnage are calling on anyone who knows how to hold a pen to help them crack the world record in a 250-metre homage to the disgruntled commuter at the Brighton Fringe in May.

Modern Toss rose to fame as a cult series of cartoon booklets aimed at satirising mundane modern life. Aimed at adults, the fresh approach to animation earned the duo a television series on Channel 4 which aired in July 2006 with a mix of live action animation and cartoons. The show also featured voiceovers from Mackenzie Crook, Paul Kaye and Simon Greenall.

The Great Wall of Filth Extravaganza is being produced in association with Fletch productions and set to take place on Sunday May 23rd at Madame Geisha, Brighton.

For tickets go to: www.ticktweb.com or call 08444 771 000

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The cast of East is East are set to reunite for a sequel, more than a decade after the original film was released.

Producer Lesley Udwin has confirmed that West is West will hit the big screen later this year, with actor Om Puri reprising his role as George Khan, while a third film could also be in the pipeline.

Udwin told Reuters: “I always felt there was a trilogy to be made based on what I had come to learn of the writer's [Ayub Khan-Din] own story when he and I worked together on developing East is East. This is not a cynically made sequel – in other words it has not been made in the spirit of a hoped for repeat of East is East, or else we would have jumped on that bandwagon some years earlier."

Low-budget British comedy-drama East is East was released in 1999 and grossed over more than £10 million in the UK and US. The BAFTFA-winning film, which has also made more than £12 million in rentals, tells the story of a British-Asian family living in Manchester in the seventies.

West is West will be set five years after the original film left off, and will see George and his youngest son Sajid travel to rural Panjab in Pakistan, where they meet his fist wife and daughters whom he abandoned 35 years previously.

“Once there, George is confronted with his own past, finds he has as much to learn about himself as his son does. Essentially, this is a coming-of-age film for both 15-year-old Sajid and also for his 60-year-old father,” Udwin explained.

The project is being funded by BBC Films and individual financiers, although the producer revealed that securing funding was not as easy as she had hoped.

Lalayn Baluch 

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Improv comedy group The Noise Next Door have been lined up to try out a novel new way of receiving show ideas for their improvised set next week.

The troupe, who are due to perform at Winchester University, have formed a partnership with mobile firm Bemoko to allow audience members to send suggestions via text live to the show.

Suggestions can be sent either during or after the show and will be shown on a screen at the side of the stage.

Tom Livingstone from the troupe said: "We’re really excited by the idea of a show based around texting, especially the element of anonymity,"

"It’s likely to be pretty crazy and probably a bit rude, but we hope to get a really good response and a wider range of suggestions than those normally just shouted out. It should lead to some very funny results."

The Noise Next Door formed in Brighton in 2005 and consist of Tom Houghton, Charlie Granville, Matt Grant,  Tom Livingstone And Sam Pacelli.

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Ugly Betty star America Ferrera is said to be in denial over the cancellation of Ugly Betty. 

The show is due to come to an end at the end of its current series after a four-year run and Ferrera, who has played the character since she was 21, told U.S. magazine Parade of her connection to the part.

“I’ve lived with this character who I’ve loved from day one and I have only grown to feel more connected to her and also responsible for making sure her journey is a complete one.”

“Her entire journey was about a transformation, kind of coming into her womanhood and owning herself both physically and emotionally”.

Ugly Betty was cancelled by ABC following a poor run of ratings. The final series, which is due to be aired in the UK later this year, is rumoured to feature a wedding. 

“It’s hard to say goodbye. I haven’t really started going there yet because I still have four episodes to shoot.

“So I’m staying in denial for now and I’ll deal with all those emotions in a little bit. I imagine that when we finally wrap it’s not going to be a dry-eyed goodbye” Fererra added.

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Clapham-based comedian Sanderson Jones is set to become the new face of Ikea tonight as the furniture brand unveils its new advertising campaign.

28-year-old Jones is set to play his alter-ego Leonard Sheppard in the adverts which see real people's kitchens destroyed and then refurnished by an Ikea hit squad.

Sanderson applied for the role after learning that the furniture chain was looking for a 'Swedish Wes Anderson'. He told the Evening Standard "I spend a lot of time in waistcoats and ties, and I just thought, 'That's Me!'"

‘The whole thing's a lot of fun. So far I've hidden in a garden with a massive camera crew, seen a kitchen destroyed by JCBs and been able to play with flame throwers. Pretty sweet.’

The Advert, which has been created by ad agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay, is set to air at 8:10pm on Channel 4 during Relocation, Relocation.

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Colin Farrell has hinted that he is thinking about making a move into comedy.

The Irish actor, who has starred in Phone Booth , Minority Report and Miami Vice, told Total Film magazine that he would like to take on a more light-hearted role in the near future.

"The one thing I haven't really done is the middle-of-the-road comedy, which will be terrifying I think - something with Steve Carell, that kind of stuff,"  Farrell said. "I thought Knocked Up was genius. I liked Superbad very much too. I can watch Steve Carell in anything. Elf is one of my favourite films of the last ten years,"

Farrell, who is set to appear with Jeff Bridges in the forthcoming film Crazy Heart, believes that comedy is a more difficult genre to act in than serious drama: "It's a lot easier to be dour and to appear to have some internal affliction than to be so out front and unguarded enough to elicit laughter," he said.

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In the first of a series of features where SSP interviews comedians about their travelling adventures, Keith Farnan talks about his experience at the hands of the ugly airports and the similarities between him and George Clooney.

“Airports are ugly. Some are very ugly. Some attain a degree of ugliness that can Only be the result of a special effort”. – Douglas Adams

I should probably write this under the heading In the Air as opposed to On the road. (I won’t say Up in the Air as any attempt at a comparison to George Clooney is just sad comedic delusion bought on by too much Airport coffee) Unlike the majority of acts on the circuit in the UK, I live across the water on the southside of Dublin. Despite the fact that I am working more and more in the UK, I made a conscious decision to stay on hometurf, despite the fact that we are slowly turning into Iceland and will no doubt slide into the sea under the weight of debt.

With this decision came the need to come to terms with airports and flying.  One of the oldest jokes constantly sodomised by cartoons such as Family Guy and the like is the one which begins “Hey, what is it about Airline food…”

Of course, this is a derivation from so many road comedians in America who need to fly from gig to gig, so vast is their land and therefore all their material is based on flying. Of course, not having a gold card, I can’t possibly comment on Airline food. 

Most people who casually travel, (by this I mean less than 3 times a month) will bemoan the state of the airports they travel through, the queues, etc… but after a while, you learn the layout, the shortcuts, the tricks of a certain airport, particularly Dublin, which has the charm all of it’s own.

I mentioned Up in the Air earlier, and there were moments during that film, where I thought, god if only I was a lot cooler and more together, I could be a distant distant cousin of George Clooney, with his frequent flyer miles ( I think Aer Lingus has a scheme called “Sure, the Odd Trip for Free if you spend over 100K on flights”) I’ve actually grown to like Dublin Airport, I know the best time of day to book flights, how long it takes, and the special Departure door that nobody uses at the end of the terminal, which is as magical as Platform 9¾ in Harry Potter, when I whisk by hundreds of angry Germans queuing in the proper place.

There’s tranquillity to Dublin airport, once you get past the baggage check, as they built the airport with an eye on the booming celtic tiger. So now there are just vast empty spaces, interspersed with the odd weeping property developers reduced to flying regular flights. It’s not a pretty place, but it’s a quiet place, and I appreciate the effort they made to make the place as ugly as possible. 

Keith Farnan is set to appear at the Soho Theatre on 17th - 20th March. For more information visit: www.sohotheatre.com 

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Altitude festival, the annual comedy festival in the Alps has announced that is has added Al Murray, Phil Kay, Rich Hall and Rufus hound to its line-up for this year.

The acts are added to a bill which already boasts Andrew Maxwell, Marcus Brigstocke and Phill Jupitus as well as a number of other top name comedians from across the globe.

It is the third time the six-day long festival is set to take place in the French ski resort of Meribel. It is the brainchild of Maxwell and Brigstocke, both avid winter sports fans, who set-up the festival.

Though not officially a festival organiser Brigstocke, who is returning to Altitude for his third year, said: "The Altitude Festival is the highlight of the year for me. Sliding, jokes and tunes... is there anything finer? This year has the best line up yet and is going to be a laugh-alanche. You heard me - "A Laugh-alanche" - eat my pun!"

Other acts appearing during the festival include Dan Antopolski, Craig Campbell, Nick Doody, Micky Flanagan and Mark Walker.

Such Small Portions will be reporting live from the festival, click here to read last year's interview with Marcus Brigstocke.