Comedy news: Such Small Portions's news

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Russell Brand could be set to make a dramatic return to the airwaves after rumours that he has been offered a radio show in the U.S. 

The comedian, has reportedly landed himself a deal with satellite broadcaster Sirius Radio to present a show with none other than his former partner in crime Jonathan Ross.

According to The Sun, Brand could be set to for a reunion with Ross once the TV presenter’s contract with the BBC finished next month, and is itching to get back into the DJ booth.

Speaking to the newspaper, a source said: "Russell has been itching to get back on radio for a while now. He has been off doing other things but radio is the one thing that still really tickles him."

"He is desperate to do something with Jonathan Ross again. Jonathan will be free for more fun and games when his BBC contract ends next month.

Earlier this month Brand said that he would ‘absolutely’ work with Jonathan Ross again, despite the ‘Sachsgate’ storm which saw him quit his Radio 2 programme.

Though the two have barely been seen in public since the incident when questioned about the prospect of a future collaboration, Brand said ‘radio would seem like the obvious thing’.

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Innocent smoothies are set to sponsor comedian Alex Horne to become the world’s oldest man. 

The bizarre PR ploy by the Coca-Cola-owned drinks company will see Innocent back Horne as he attempts to outlive the rest of the entire planet – even going as far as launching a dedicated website to track the comedians progress.

Talking to Marketing magazine, Dan Germain, head of creative at Innocent, said: "Alex’s stand-up show made us laugh a lot – especially the part about his mission to become the world’s oldest man.

‘Working with him means that we can share loads of his funny DIY films as he goes about his quest, and give a generous £1m prize to the person who gets to 150 years old first. The smart money is on Alex."

According to the magazine Horne is currently ranked approximately the 3,091,676,670 oldest person in the world.

Horne, who has helped co-create a number of successful TV shows including ‘We Need Answers’ from Tim Key and Mark Watson, Loose Ends and The Verb.

To help him to the ripe old age of 150 Horne will be given a diet of Innocent smoothies and veg pots, however if Horne doesn’t make it then Innocent are also willing to shell out a £1million prize to the first person who does make the ripe old age of 150.

The chances of getting to that age of course are one in a million.

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An obscure comedy film about two travelling salesmen who turn into exorcists has won the top prize at this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival

Nick Whitfield’s debut feature Skeletons has been honoured with the Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature at the 64th annual awards.

The film, which is released on Friday, stars Jason Isaacs, Ed Gaughan, Andrew Buckley and Paprika Steen, sees the two salesmen clean skeketons out of people’s closets a s David and Bennet, played by Andrew Buckley and Ed Gaughan set themselves the task of ridding people of any issues they might have, emotional or otherwise. Along the way some dark and revealing secrets are unveiled as plot becomes ever more dark.

Headed by Patrick Stewart as well as Mike Hodges and Britt Eckland, the Edinburgh Film Festival jury praised the film  stating that it “best exemplifies the spirit of Michael Powell in its original vision and dark humour”. 

Saturday's awards ceremony was preceded by a "flash mob" event organised by festival patron Tilda Swinton.

Read a review of Skeletons here: 

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A satirical video about the inept response to the Gulf oil spill by BP has become a runaway online hit.

The three-minute long spoof, made by New York improve group the Upright Citizens Brigade, (UCBComedy.com) has had over 7 million hits from a short movie which recreates the spill in the Gulf of Mexico as a coffee spillage during a meeting at BP’s headquarters.

As a number of company executives try to stop the spill, the actors in the short sketch try ever-more desperate measures to stop the ‘spill’ from devastating the contents on the table, which include some sushi and a map of Louisiana. They even call in Kevin Costner to see if he can help. The short sketch aims to highlight the ineffectual response to the spill by both the oil company and the U.S. government.

WATCH THE CLIP ON SSP HERE

The video, which was filmed in two days, has become a hit online, being watched by almost 7 million people on YouTube and shared 300,000 times on blogs, facebook and twitter feeds. 

Founded in 2007 UCBComedy.com aims to give its members, who perform at New York’s Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre in mid-town Manhattan, an online platform for their ideas an sketches.

"What we're trying to do with videos is get out there to the general public the talent that we have," says Todd Bieber, 30, the website's director of content and production. "We can reach New York and L.A. audiences pretty easily, but there's a whole world out there that we can't reach through the theatres."

The popularity of the sketch has elevated the reputation of UCBComedy and even been compared with the most successful online comedy video site, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Funnyordie.com. 

"There are so many terribly ridiculous things going on in the world that there's plenty of room for commentary. If we can be looked in the same way as FunnyOrDie, that would be terrific. We'd love to get the hits that they do." Bieber added.

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Budding stand-up comedian Lembit Opik's was invited to open the Leftfield stage at Glastonbury last weekend by none other than Billy Bragg.

The ex-MP, who only recently decided to make his debut into the comedy world with a gig at a small London venue, was booked for a 45-minute set at Bragg's Left Field tent to help kick off Glastonbury 2010 amidst a plethora of socialist high-flyers. 

The Leftfield stage returned - along with Bragg - to take it's place once again among the Glastonbury arena after an unsuccessful attempt by organisers to ditch it last year. 

Opik's short set relied heavily on audience participation - especially when it allowed him to recount his political adventures - as long as they are not too serious. One of the most memorable questions was: "Did you ever have a threesome with the cheeky girls?" As he was asked by one cider-addled punter. "Sort of..." was his non-committal response.

Other notable comedy acts over the weekend include Marcus Brigstocke, who is taking time out playing King Arthur in Spamalot to play one date at the festival as well as Ed Byrne, Robin Ince, Brendan Burns, Andrew Maxwell, Josie Long and Phill Jupitus.

“Fantasising about slipping into a deep hot bath and remaining there until Tuesday. I smell like a dirty badger.” Brigstocke tweeted as he contemplated his return from the weekend’s festivities.

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A comedian in New Zealand has suspended from his radio programme and forced to apologise for making anti semitic and anti HIV remarks.

David Fane has sparked the wrath of HIV and Jewish groups in the country after saying that Jews and HIV sufferers were ‘expendable’ and that Hitler ‘had a right’. 

The comments came during a three-minute spot in an inaugural comedy ‘roast’ where Fane was addressing advertising executives.

Though known for their explicit use of language and often risqué subject matter, Fane caused shock at the ‘Roast’ when he told one member of the audience "I want to eat you, but I won't because I don't want to get HIV. Would you roast an HIV person? You'd roast them because they are expendable. Like the Jews. Hitler had a right, you know."

The comedian has since apologised profusely, saying that the comments were ‘dumb words said by a dumb man’.  Fane has also been suspended from his radio show for a week after meeting with Radio Network chief executive John McElhinney.

McElhinney said: , "While his comments were made in the context of a 'roast', where remarks are often provocative, what he said in this case was definitely inappropriate and we in no way condone the comments."

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Lorna Watson and Ingrid Oliver have been commissioned to produce a full series of sketch shows by the BBC after a successful pilot show.

The sketch duo, who have appeared as Watson and Oliver for a number of years, have been commissioned to produce 6 half-hour shows, 

BBC head of comedy Mark Freeland hailed the pair, saying that the duo represented ‘a wonderful brand of feel good, daft comedy.’

Lorna and Ingrid first met at school 17 years ago. In 2005 they decided to form a double act, and have had a run of highly successful Edinburgh appearances over the last half-decade.

The duo’s TV work includes appearances on E4’s School of Comedy, Channel 4’s Tonightly, BBC2’s The Peter Serafinowicz show, and BBC3’s The Wrong Door. 

The new show will be part pre-recorded sketches and part studio set with a live audience.

Cheryl Taylor, the BBC's controller of comedy commissioning said 'The series commission is a fitting testimony to the passion and hard work of everyone involved'

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Comedian Jason Lewis has been commissioned for a 30 minute pilot for BBC Three.

Following on from the success of his Sniggers With Attitude sketches for the BBC comedy website, The Jason Lewis Experience will see a mix of pre-recorded sketches featuring Jason’s impersonations of a variety of celebrities including Jay Z. 

According to the BBC the pilot will see a number of the characters from Sniggers With Attitude joined by new ones, including David Cameron, Prince Harry and Dizzee Rascal.

Cheryl Taylor, Controller of BBC Comedy Commissioning, said: "Jason is an incredibly talented young comedian, who has so far starred alongside some comedy veterans as well as building up a loyal online fan base for his own work.

"We are delighted to have commissioned a pilot featuring some of his best characters and look forward to a host of new ones." 

The show will be filmed in September and air later this year. To see more of Lewis on the BBC click here.

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Bill Bailey, Adam Hills, Phill Jupitus and Ed Byrne are set to headline Greenwich Comedy Festival’s comedy line-up for 2010.

The festival, which takes place between 6th – 12th of September at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, has established itself as the last big comedy festival of the summer season.

The line-up also includes Stephen K Amos, Jenny Éclair, Reginald D Hunter, Adam Buxton, Jerry Sadowitz, Eugene Mirman, Rhona Cameron and John Cooper Clarke.

London based comic Jenny Éclair said: "I’m almost overly excited to be playing Greenwich this year- I'm a South London girl so it's nice to play somewhere local, especially in such beautiful surroundings"

Launched and run by Will and Cass Briggs, who were introduced to comedy by their stepfather the late, great Malcolm Hardee, the pair aim to establish the festival as one of the big highlights of the comedy calendar.

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A Facebook campaign has been launched to lift comedy character Frank Sidebottom’s World Cup song to the No 1. spot.

Frank Sidebottom’s creator Chris Sievey passed away earlier this week, and to mark his death a facebook campaign has been launched to drive his single Three Shirts on my Line – a song inspired from the Frank Skinner song Three Lions – to the top of the charts. The group, and a similar twitter group have attracted 4,000 followers between them.

Sievey passed away on Tuesday after a long battle against cancer. With his giant papar-mache head Sidebottom was one of the cult characters of the ‘80s. 

According to The Daily Telegraph, Mof Gimmers, who created the facebook group said: "A lot of comedians get quite famous and leave Manchester, but Chris stuck around. I think most people in Manchester had some connection to him.

"The World Cup single might give everyone a bit of cheer in what has been a pretty miserable campaign so far.

"Unfortunately it does not seem to exist on iTunes - we need to get onto them so that people can buy it and make some money for charity."

Frank Sidebottom was a singer song-writer who had several chart hits including Christmas Is Really Fantastic, Timperley EP, and a Smiths parody Panic!

Writer Jon Ronson and comedian Phill Jupitus have also helped raise awareness of a fund set-up to raise money for Sievey's funeral. The fund can be found by searching #franksfund on the micro-blogging site.