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New York, a city responsible for bands such as The Velvet Underground, Blondie and Ramones, was a cultural wasteland by the late 90s and the wider music scene was pumping out shlock like Limp Bizkit and Hoobastank.

As Adam Green says in the opening scenes of Meet Me In The Bathroom, a documentary based on Lizzy Goodman’s oral history of nYc’s musical rebirth, “Maybe New York wasn’t the kind of city anymore that produces iconic bands”.

Then came The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, LCD Soundsystem and many more over the next ten years, turning the Lower East Side and Brooklyn into hipster havens.

I remember the excitement when The Strokes, a gang of good-looking skinny boys with filthy hair and a filthier attitude, broke, in part thanks to the British music press, as I hustled for a copy of their Rough Trade debut...

Amazon has announced a series of 10 stand-up specials featuring Australian comedians to premiere exclusively on Prime Video in early 2020.

Set to be filmed this month at the Coopers Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne, the specials will feature performances by Lano & Woodley, Zoë Coombs Marr, Judith Lucy, Tommy Little, Anne Edmonds, Tom Walker, Celia Pacquola, Dilruk Jayasinha, Alice Fraser and Tom Gleeson. See details of each below.

“Amazon’s comedy series and stand-up specials have excited our customers around the world, and we’re looking forward to welcoming this talented group of Australian comedians to the Prime Video family,” said James Farrell, Head of International Originals for Amazon Studios.

Here are details about the specials and the comics, per Amazon:

Joy

Tom Gleeson

Gold Logie winner. Chief celebrity interrogator. Host of the highest-rated Australian quiz show on TV. All-round hard man (especially in Cairns). There’s not much Tom Gleeson didn’t...

Tropfest has given us a sneak peek at the 2016 lineup follwing the festival's relaunch with a new sponsor.

The festival, which was due to take place on December 6 prior to it's cancellation, will now be held on February 14 at Centennial parklands after insurance company Cgu stepped in the save the event. .

The 2016 festival will include stories about an Australian ex World Champion boxer battling the bottle, unlikely Taylor Swift fans, and a best friend with a dangerous secret, amongst the 16 finalist films.

Tropfest Founder and Director John Polson said it was a line up quite unlike any other screened at Tropfest, with documentaries, mockumentaries and animations making up more than half of the finalist films..

.The finalists this year have really brought film back to its core element, the art of storytelling," he said. .

"We have 16 very unique films to present to thousands of Tropfest fans around Australia that...

Have I Got News for You: BBC One, 9pm

The satirical panel show returns with comedian Jennifer Saunders taking the helm for the first show of a new series.

Regular team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton are joined by Armando Iannucci and Conservative politician Peter Bone MP.

The X Factor: ITV, 9pm

The journey to the live shows rumbles on as the hopefuls travel to glamorous locations in Judges' Houses.

Judges Simon Cowell, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, Mel B and Louis Walsh are joined by a host of superstars - and Sinitta - to help pick their final three acts for the live shows, with Dermot O'Leary of course on hand to offer comfort to those that fall at the final hurdle.

The Blacklist: Sky Living, 9pm

The conspiracy thriller returns for a second season as Red (James Spader) continues his battle with arch nemesis Berlin (Peter Stormare), however a new threat emerges.

The ABC is getting physical and there.s one man for the job: popular Aussie comedian Frank Woodley.

One half of the lovable duo Lano and Woodley, Frank is back with a new, entirely-physical show, simply titled Woodley.

Drawing on childhood loves such as The Goodies and Get Smart . not to mention comedians like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton . Frank is taking a unique approach for 2012: all jokes are visual. There.s very little dialogue.

"It's something that I.ve had this sort of weird obsession with for my entire performing career really," the Melbourne comedian explains of his love for physical humour.

.A lot of these ideas would.ve been things that maybe Lano and Woodley would.ve moved towards as well . so in some ways it.s something I.ve been thinking about for five years and in some ways it.s stuff I.ve been working on for 25 years.

Berkshire Theatre Festival's 2009 casting consists of some old favorites and some new faces. Randy Harrison will return to star in 'Ghosts', and David Adkins, Colin Lane and Keira Naughton will appear in 'Faith Healer'. 'The Einstein Project' cast will consist of Tommy Schrider and James Barry, while 'Sick' will feature Greg Keller. Stephen DeRosa, David Garrison and more will also make an appearance this season.