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The 2025 Tribeca Festival’s audio storytelling lineup features star-studded live events and world premiere podcasts in competition.

The program will begin with the Excellence in Audio Journalism Gala, which will celebrate 30 years of This American Life as Ira Glass looks back at the series with novelist and podcaster Ira Madison III.

The festival will also host live tapings of The New York Times‘ The Interview with Sandra Oh, Slate‘s Death, Sex & Money with Allison Williams, Radiotopia’s The Memory Place with live performances from Carrie Coon and Lili Taylor, Pushkin’s Broken Record and Lemonada’s Talk Easy.

Tribeca is additionally set to host world premieres of Apple’s Easy Money: The Charles Ponzi Story, followed by a live conversation with lead voice actor Sebastian Maniscalco and financial journalist Maya Lau; Audible’s What Could Go Wrong?, from Contagion screenwriter Scott Z. Burns; and a new audio adaptation of Hamlet from the Make-Believe Association,...

Netflix has developed a reputation for canceling shows prematurely, and 2024 only bolstered this idea. Netflix canceled the most shows of any major network or streaming platform last year, including some surprise cancelations that left fans disappointed. Netflix seems to know fairly quickly whether a show will be a hit or not, so it cancels shows after only a few weeks if they don't achieve their targets. Some Netflix shows wrapped things up on their own terms in 2024, like Arcane, but this is a rare luxury.

Many of the shows Netflix canceled in 2024 only had a single season to prove their worth. Some of the shocking cancelations include Dead Boy Detectives, The Brothers Sun and Kaos. All of these shows received positive reviews and could have developed as they continued, but Netflix's ruthless approach struck them down. One major complaint from fans during the streaming era is that new shows aren't...

As Alex Horne tells it, Taskmaster was born out of professional jealousy. In 2009, he became a parent and so broke with almost a decade of tradition by not taking a show to the Edinburgh Fringe. That same year, his friend and former flatmate Tim Key won the festival’s top comedy award, for which Horne had been nominated in 2003.

At home and envious, Horne sent out emails inviting 20 comedians – including Key – to take part in a new competition in which he would set them a different task each month for a year. The results would be shared in a live performance at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe called The Taskmaster.

The result was organised chaos. An overdraft of comedians (a Fringe-specific collective noun) plus a pianist joined Horne on stage to reveal the results, set tie-break tasks, and eventually crown a winner.

“So this is The Taskmaster,” Horne told the crowd, “It...

A new documentary, Your Fat Friend, details Aubrey Gordon’s journey from blogger to bestselling author. It debuts in the UK early next year.

After premiering at the Tribeca film festival earlier this year, Jeanie Finlay’s latest documentary has finally nailed down a UK release plan. The film arrives in UK cinemas nationally on 9th February, following a preview Q&a tour with Finlay and the film’s subject – author and podcaster Aubrey Gordon – across the UK and Ireland.

Made over six years, the film follows Gordon’s journey into the public eye, as she works to re-configure societal perceptions of fat people and the fat on our bodies.

Director Jeanie Finlay had the following to say about it:

“Experiencing audience reactions to the film I have made as we have toured film festivals around the world has been so moving. People have connected very strongly with Aubrey, her...

More than 2,000 figures from the UK’s arts and culture world have signed an open letter calling for the immediate cessation of Israel’s blockade and bombing of Gaza.

“We are witnessing a crime and a catastrophe. Israel has reduced much of Gaza to rubble, and cut off the supply of water, power, food and medicine to 2.3 million Palestinians,” reads the letter. “In the words of the Un’s undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, ‘the spectre of death’ is hanging over the territory.”

The signatories include acting stars Tilda Swinton, Charles Dance, Steve Coogan, Miriam Margolyes, Peter Mullan, Maxine Peake and Khalid Abdalla.

The Israeli action is in retaliation for a brutal terror attack out of Gaza by Hamas on October 7, which killed more than 1,400 people and resulted in the taking of 199 hostages.

More than 2,750 Palestinians are reported to have died in Israel’s subsequent bombing campaign, while electricity, food and...

Since 2011, the Edinburgh Film Festival’s Talent Lab has nurtured a number of rising filmmakers through an assortment of masterclasses, workshops and individual mentoring sessions: Talents like Ben Sharrock (“Limbo”), Eva Riley (a recent winner BIFA winner for “Perfect 10”) and Rob Savage (“Host”) are alumni of the program. In 2019, however, the program yielded the Talent Lab Connects offshoot, in which a smaller selection of writers, directors and producers are given the chance to develop specific feature film or series projects with a range of industry mentors.

Now in its third year — and its second of the program taking place online — the program will be headed again by renowned U.K. script editor Kate Leys, whose recent credits include Simon Amstell’s “Benjamin,” Bart Layton’s “American Animals” and John Maclean’s “Slow West.”

Six projects have been selected for Talent Lab Connects:

“A Man at the Window”: Yorkshire-born...

New UK Sales Firm Strikes Slate Deal

Exclusive: New UK sales firm Mise En Scene has set a distribution deal with New York and European distributor Spi International which includes all six of the company’s first titles. Spi has picked up non-exclusive rights to What Lies Ahead, starring Rumer Willis and Emma Dumont; I Wrote This For You with Brennan Keel Cook; Eating Cars starring Lexi Pappas, Lauren Ashley Carter; Super November, starring Josie Long, Sean Biggerstaff and Heydon Prowse; Synchronicity, starring Sara Mitich and Ash Catherwood; and Reach, starring Garrett Clayton, Jordan Doww and Johnny James Fiore. London-based Mise En Scene was launched last March by Paul Yates and Netto Fernandes. Spi International and its aggregation service FilmBox operates a portfolio of 42 TV channels and digital services in multiple countries.

Crackle Plus Takes South African Feature

Exclusive: AVOD platform Crackle Plus has picked up rights to South African...

Without comedy panel show Taskmaster, the world would be a worse place. There’d be no Tree Wizard, no Bob Mortimer-designed pork pie presentation unit, a great deal less footage of the brilliant weirdness of Sally Phillips, Josh Widdicombe wouldn’t have a Greg Davies foot tattoo and the mayor of Chesham would never have been presented with the rare gift of 42 Calippos.

Created by Alex Horne and developed for television from his 2010 Edinburgh Fringe show, Taskmaster brings extreme and silly joy; it is to be cherished.

Nine series of the show that pits comedians against absurd and pointless challenges to see just how their minds work have aired on Dave since 2015. This year, it’s packing up and moving to a new home on Channel 4, a move confirmed in November 2019 with these words from Alex on the official website:

‘I promise the show won’t change & there...

Stitcher has unveiled its upcoming podcasts for the first part of 2019 and among the offerings are Seth Rogen’s mom.

Matriarch-turned-Twitter-celebrity Sandy Rogen will be making a guest appearance on a new podcast titled “We Called Your Mom.” Whether Seth knows yet, we aren’t so sure …

“We Called Your Mom” premieres Jan. 30 and will be hosted by comedian Beth Stelling. The podcast will feature celebrity moms dishing on what it was like to “raise their super talented children,” according to Stitcher. Along with Rogen, Maria Bamford and “Queer Eye” star Jonathan Van Ness will also have their moms on the show, TheWrap has exclusively learned.

Also Read: 'Queer Eye' Renewed for Season 3: The Fab 5 Road Trip to Kansas City

“We Called Your Mom” is part of the Earwolf podcast network and will be made available to Stitcher Premium subscribers.

Many Twitter users got to...

The 2018 British Independent Film Awards (The BIFAs) took place at Old Billingsgate in London this evening with The Favourite living up to its name and taking home 10 awards including Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz.

Disobedience’s Alessandro Nivola took home Best Supporting Actor while Peaky Blinders’ Joe Cole won Best Actor for A Prayer Before Dawn. American Animals and You Were Never Really Here were winners and won two awards apiece and we said hello to Star Trek Discovery’s Jason Isaacs, Bart Layton, Joe Cole, Black Mirror & Been So Long’s Michaela Coel, The Happy Prince’s Rupert Everett, Yann Demange, Barry Keoghan and Bart Layton on the red carpet.

Attending the event were Emma Stone, Yorgos Lathinmos, Michael Pearce, Lynne Ramsay, Gemma Arterton, Steve Coogan, Jessie Buckley, Maxine Peake, Rachel McAdams, Charlie Plummer, Joaquin Phoenix, Dominic West, Evan Peters, Karen Gillan,...

The Favourite leads the way with 13 nominations.

The 2018 British Independent Film Awards are taking place now in London.

Scroll down to see all the winners revealed so far.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ period comedy The Favourite leads the field with 13 nominations. Bart Layton’s American Animals has 11 nominations, while Michael Pearce’s Beast has 10.

At the previously announced craft awards, The Favourite won five prizes.

Judi Dench and Felicity Jones will both receive honorary prizes during tonight’s ceremony, which will be hosted by actor Russell Tovey.

Refresh this page to reveal the latest winners.

Winners list:

Winners in bold

Best Actor...

Long wrote and stars in this likable genre experiment about mates whose lives take a very weird turn

Scottish film-maker Douglas King makes a really intriguing feature debut with this flawed, but distinctly likable microbudget venture. King directs and edits and the standup comic Josie Long is the screenwriter and star. Together, they have devised a genuine genre experiment. Super November is half mumblecore relationship comedy, half dystopian nightmare.

Josie Long is Josie, who works at a library in Glasgow, where Janey Godley has a funny role as Donna, the permanently hungover chief librarian with an intense dislike of the children’s entertainer who comes in to do the weekly storytelling session (“He makes his own kites: who does that?”). Josie shares a flat with her best friend, the gentle Darren (Darren Osborne) and they hang out with their mate Roddy (James Allenby-Kirk).

The awards shows will continue until morale improves. That’s good news for Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite,” which got off to a great start by winning both Best Actress for Olivia Colman and a Special Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and now leads all movies with 13 nominations at the British Independent Film Awards. Following it are “American Animals” (11), “Beast” (10), and “You Were Never Really Here” (8); all are nominated for the top prize, as is “Disobedience.”

Also well represented is Rachel Weisz, whose roles in “Disobedience” and “The Favourite” have her up for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively; her co-stars in both films — Olivia Colman and Emma Stone in “The Favourite,” Rachel McAdams in “Disobedience” — are all nominated as well.

This year’s Bifa ceremony takes place on Sunday, December 2 in London. Here’s the full list of nominees:

Best British Independent Film

American Animals Bart Layton,...

Yorgos Lanthimos’ Venice Special Grand Jury Prize winner The Favourite leads nominations for this year’s British Independent Film Awards with 13 in its court. The twisted take on the British monarchy and period cinema, which Fox Searchlight releases November 23 in North America, has nods for Venice Best Actress laureate Olivia Colman as well as for Best Film, Director, Screenplay and for its supporting cast Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz. The latter is also up for Best Actress in Oscar winner Sebastian Lelio’s Disobedience, which likewise scored a Best Film nom and put Rachel McAdams in the Supporting Actress category.

Following The Favourite is Bart Layton’s heist pic American Animals with 11 nominations, Michael Pearce’s Beast with 10 and Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here scooping eight. Each is also competing in the Best British Independent Film race.

Bifa noted today that the nominations list demonstrates a record year for female representation, with over 40% of the individual nominations recognizing women in the industry across directing, writing, producing, performance and craft. Female nominees make up over 50% of the talent nominated in Best British Independent Film and dominate both Most Promising Newcomer and Breakthrough Producer.

Ramsay notably continues her long association with Bifa, scoring her third nomination for Best Screenplay and her second for Best Director. With her You Were Never Really Here, Joaquin Phoenix scores his second Bifa Best Actor nomination for his role as a tortured hitman in the psychological noir thriller.

Joe Cole (A Prayer Before Dawn), Rupert Everett (The Happy Prince), Charlie Plummer (Lean On Pete) and Steve Coogan (Stan & Ollie) round out Best Actor. The Best Actress category also features Gemma Arterton (The Escape), Maxine Peake (Funny Cow) and Jessie Buckley (Beast).

The Bifa ceremony will be held on Sunday December 2 at London’s Old Billingsgate. Below is the full list of nominations.

Bifa Nominations 2018

Best British Independent Film

American Animals Bart Layton, Katherine Butler, Dimitri Doganis, Derrin Schlesinger, Mary Jane Skalski

Beast Michael Pearce, Kristian Brodie, Lauren Dark, Ivana MacKinnon

Disobedience Sebastián Lelio, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Ed Guiney, Frida Torresblanco, Rachel Weisz

The Favourite Yorgos Lanthimos, Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara, Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday

You Were Never Really Here Lynne Ramsay, Pascal Caucheteux, Rosa Attab, James Wilson, Rebecca O’Brien

Best Director sponsored by Broadsword Event House

Andrew Haigh Lean on Pete

Yorgos Lanthimos The Favourite

Bart Layton American Animals

Michael Pearce Beast

Lynne Ramsay You Were Never Really Here

Best Screenplay sponsored by BBC Films

Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara The Favourite

Bart Layton American Animals

SEBASTIÁN Lelio, Rebecca Lenkiewicz Disobedience

Michael Pearce Beast

Lynne Ramsay You Were Never Really Here

Best Actress sponsored by Mac

Gemma Arterton The Escape

Jessie Buckley Beast

Olivia Colman The Favourite

Maxine Peake Funny Cow

Rachel Weisz Disobedience

Best Supporting Actress

Nina Arianda Stan & Ollie

Rachel McAdams Disobedience

Emma Stone The Favourite

Rachel Weisz The Favourite

Molly Wright Apostasy

Best Actor

Joe Cole A Prayer Before Dawn

Steve Coogan Stan & Ollie

Rupert Everett The Happy Prince

Joaquin Phoenix You Were Never Really Here

Charlie Plummer Lean on Pete

Best Supporting Actor

Steve Buscemi Lean on Pete

Barry Keoghan American Animals

Alessandro Nivola Disobedience E

Van Peters American Animals

Dominic West Colette

Most Promising Newcomer

Jessie Buckley Beast

Michaela Coel Been So Long

Liv Hill Jellyfish

Marcus Rutherford Obey

Molly Wright Apostasy

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by Kodak & Pinewood

Richard Billingham Ray & Liz

Daniel Kokotajlo Apostasy

Matt Palmer Calibre

Michael Pearce Beast

Leanne Welham Pili

Debut Screenwriter

Karen Gillan The Party’s Just Beginning

Daniel Kokotajlo Apostasy

Bart Layton American Animals

Matt Palmer Calibre

Michael Pearce Beast

Breakthrough Producer supported by Creativity Media

Kristian Brodie Beast

Jacqui Davies Ray & Liz

Anna Griffin Calibre

Marcie MacLellan Apostasy

Faye Ward Stan & Ollie

The Discovery Award sponsored by Raindance

The Dig Andy Tohill, Ryan Tohill, Stuart Drennan, Brian J. Falconer

Irene’S Ghost Iain Cunningham, Rebecca Mark-Lawson, David Arthur, Ellie Land

A Moment In The Reeds Mikko Makela, James Watson

Super November Douglas King, Josie Long

Voyageuse May Miles Thomas

Best Documentary

Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story Steve Sullivan

Evelyn Orlando von Einsiedel, Joanna Natasegara

Island Steven Eastwood, Elhum Shakerifar

Nae Pasaran Felipe Bustos Sierra

Under The Wire Christopher Martin, Tom Brisley

Best British Short Film supported by BFI Network

The Big Day Dawn Shadforth, Kellie Smith, Michelle Stein

Bitter Sea Fateme Ahmadi, Emma Parsons

The Field Sandhya Suri, Balthazar de Ganay, Thomas Bidegain

Pommel Paris Zarcilla, Sebastian Brown, Ivan Kelava

To Know Him Ted Evans, Kellie Smith, Jennifer Monks, Michelle Stein

Best International Independent Film sponsored by Champagne Taittinger

Capernaum Nadine Labaki, Jihad Hojeily, Michelle Keserwani, Khaled Mouzanar, Michel Merkt

Cold War Pawel Pawlikowski, Janusz Glowacki, Ewa Puszczynska, Tanya Seghatchian

The Rider Chloé Zhao, Mollye Asher, Sacha Ben Harroche, Bert Hamelinck

Roma Alfonso Cuarón, Nicolás Celis, Gabriela Rodriguez

Shoplifters Hirokazu Koreeda

Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society of America & Spotlight

Dixie Chassay The Favourite

Julie Harkin Beast

Avy Kaufman American Animals

Andy Pryor Stan & Ollie

Michelle Smith Apostasy

Best Cinematography supported by Blackmagic Design

Ole Bratt Birkeland American Animals

Magnus Nordenhof JØNK Lean on Pete

Robbie Ryan The Favourite

Tom Townend You Were Never Really Here

David Ungaro A Prayer Before Dawn

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran Peterloo

Andrea Flesch Colette

Sandy Powell The Favourite

Guy Sperenza Stan & Ollie

Alyssa Tull An Evening With Beverly Luff Lin

Best Editing sponsored by Intermission Film

Joe Bini You Were Never Really Here

Marc Boucrot A Prayer Before Dawn

Nick Fenton, Julian Hart, Chris Gill American Animals

Yorgos Mavropsaridis The Favourite

Ben Wheatley Happy New Year, Colin Burstead

Best Effects

Howard Jones Early Man

Matthew Strange, Mark Wellband Dead in a Week (Or Your Money Back)

George Zwier, Paul Driver Peterloo...

It’s time to get your laughing trousers on as we round up what May in London has to offer when it comes to comedy! Open Mic Nights Hosted by New Yorker Lewis Schaffer, the Comedy Open Mic is a weekly comedy night every Monday (8 p.m.) at the Kings Arms on Newcomen St. in Borough. (Free) Venture into the unknown with Comedy Overboard, a new open mic night for unknown acts. The first event is being held at the Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre on May 11. Add May 15 to your diary: the next Open Mic Night at the London Improv Theatre will be hosted by vocalist Alex Williams on the third Friday of every month. Expect comedy, music, and performances of all sorts. (Ticket prices vary) Gigs + Events Taking over the Welsh town of Machynlleth from May 4–6 is the Machynlleth Comedy Festival. Last year, 6,500 people watched over 200 shows and...

Josie Long in Super November

Eye For Film saw Super November at its world première, in a packed cinema at the Glasgow Film Theatre. The capacity crowd for the sold out screening included all of the stars who could make it, though writer and star Josie Long was unable to attend because of the lingering after-effects of The Beast From The East. The crowd were in good spirits, giving the film a warm reception despite the cold outside.

Director Douglas King spoke briefly beforehand, saying that he "[wouldn't] give it an introduction as it'd be mostly disclaimers". He thanked Josie as a "brilliant collaborator", said that he hoped he "hadn't put [the audience] off already", and asked us to "please enjoy the film and don't heckle". We did both.

Allan Hunter talks to Douglas King, Sean Biggerstaff and Darren Osborne Photo: Glasgow Film Festival

This appeared to come as some relief to King,...

Den Of Geek Oct 23, 2017

Mark Thomas, Daniel Kitson, Josie Long and now Alexei Sayle are heading to the stage to help raise money for a very good cause...

A brilliantly diverse bill has been pulled together Tonight in London, for a really good cause. Robin Ince has put together a show called A Night For Helen & Barry. And on the bill are:

Mark Thomas

Charlotte Church

James Acaster

Daniel Kitson

Josie Long

Hollie McNish

Grace Petrie

Chris Stokes

Alistair Barrie

And the might Mr Ince himself.

Update: Alexei Sayle has now been confirmed too!

The gig takes place on Monday 23rd October at7.30pm, and it’s to help fund Helen Crimmins’ fight against cancer, with money also going to chosen cancer charities.

Please support the gig if you can and spread the word. It promises to be a very special evening.

More details can be found here: http://cosmicshambles.

Louisa Mellor Jun 19, 2017

BBC Radio 4 will scratch your sci-fi itch with a whole season of programming including Ray Bradbury, Kafka, and original comedy and drama…

Escape the rapidly unfurling dystopia outside by tuning into a season of sci-fi on BBC Radio 4. Dangerous Visions, the BBC’s yearly dose of classic and original sci-fi radio programming, returns this week… with a difference. The nation being sorely in need of a laugh, Dangerous Visions 2017 has made the decision to include some comedy alongside the existential nightmares.

See related Pokemon Go has already made $14m

First up on the comic side of things is a version of Kafka’s absurd satire The Metamorphosis starring Tim Key, Tom Basden and Felicity Montagu. Alongside that is original dystopian comedy Perimeter, a tale of two siblings living in a city divided by an enormous electric fence, written by and starring Liam Williams and Josie Long.

A new reading of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is joined by two original dystopian dramas, Siege and Culture. The former is a three-part thriller telling the story of the Far Right coming to power in 2020 France, while the latter is a vision of the world in which antibiotics have stopped working and the lives of those without medical insurance are decided by the shadowy ‘Quartermaster’. Finally, there’s an adaptation of Arthur Koestler’s 1940 totalitarian nightmare Darkness At Noon.

The season kicks off on Saturday the 24th of June with Kafka’s Metamorphosis at 2.30pm. Here's a short clip to whet your appetite.

All episodes will be available to listen to on BBC iPlayer for a period after transmission and the full listings can be found here.

BBC Radio 4...

Seeso has picked up Night Train With Wyatt Cenac stand-up comedy series for a second season. Hosted by Cenac, the series features performances from comedy favorites such as Chris Gethard, Jonah Ray, Brooks Wheelan, Janelle James, Marcella Arguello, Seaton Smith, Alex English, Josie Long, , Marina Franklin, Chanel Ali, Will Miles, Giulia Rozzi, Dina Hashem, Shane Torres, DC Benny, Alzo Slade, Claudia Cogan, Violet Gray, Joel Kim Booster, Emma Willmann, and more. Night Trai…...

Rob Leane Aug 15, 2016

The Doctor Who TV movie is heading to Blu-ray, with extensive extras, on Monday the 19th of September...

The Doctor Who TV movie is heading to Blu-ray. An 'upscaled' version of Paul McGann's debut as the eighth Doctor (and Sylvester McCoy's last on-screen appearance as the seventh one, to date) will be available on Blu-ray disc from Monday the 19th of September, with this extensive list of extras...

Disc 1 Extras

• Commentary #1

From director Geoffrey Sax (recorded 2001)

• Commentary #2

By Paul McGann and Sylvester McCoy, moderated by Nicolas Briggs (recorded 2009)

• The Seven Year Hitch

Documenting the return Doctor Who to the screen. Narrated by Amanda Drew.

• The Doctor’s Strange Love

Writers Joe Lidster and Simon Guerrier discuss The TV Movie with comedian Josie Long.

• The Night of the Doctor

The Night of the Doctor was a mini-episode released in 2013 in the run-up to the show’s 50th anniversary special.

Comedy Central UK (or Ccuk) has renewed the UK adaptation of the Us Comedy Central series, Drunk History, for a second season, consisting of eight episodes.

Returning as narrator is Jimmy Carr. Per TV Wise, Ccuk has quite the list of performers lined up for season two, including: Emma Bunton, Jack Whitehall, Olivia Colman, Michelle Keegan, Hugh Dennis, Phil Jupitus, Tom Rosenthal, Vicky Pattison, Josie Long, Joe Lycett, Mathew Baynton, Nick Helm, Sara Pascoe, Jessica Knappett and Nish Kumar Read More…...

The Look of Silence and new music from members of Sigur Ros to open festival; Monty Python documentary to close.

Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 5-10) has revealed the line-up of its 2015 edition, which will open with two events.

The first is the UK premiere of Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence, the follow-up to critically acclaimed The Act of Killing, in which a family that survives the genocide in Indonesia confronts the men who killed one of their brothers.

The second is the world premiere of Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson’s The Greatest Shows on Earth: A Century of Funfairs, Circuses and Carnivals – a music and archive film that will feature a new score by Georg Hólm and Orri Páll Dýrason of Sigur Rós and the head of the Pagan Church in Iceland, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson.

The film centres on the lives of travelling showpeople and has been created with exclusive access to the University of Sheffield...

While there'll always be a place for down-the-line observational stand-up, there are thankfully also some comics doing stranger stuff at the fringes.

From the mid-1990s on, Simon Munnery has intrigued and innovated. Ahead of his spot on Stewart Lee's The Alternative Comedy Experience, Digital Spy got on the phone with Simon to talk singing Kierkegaard, "fylm" and whether or not we'll ever get Attention Scum! on DVD.

Asked about The Alternative Comedy Experience, Munnery said: "It's a different selection of acts - it's acts you don't see on Michael McIntyre's Roadshow or Live at the Apollo.

"It's perhaps less mainstream acts, a bit more quirky, a bit more interesting."

Of almost half the comics on the show being women, he added: "There are a lot of very good women comics and quite a lot of them are on this.

"There just are quite a lot of good...

The Alternative Comedy Experience is returning to Comedy Central in July.

Created by comedian Stewart Lee, the stand-up show goes both in front of and behind the curtain and features performances from some of the best cult comedy acts.

Lee said of the show: "I am delighted that Comedy Central have had the vision to bring back the connoisseurs' stand-up comedy show of choice."

The series will be 13 episodes long with performances from Bridget Christie, Tony Law, Isy Suttie, David Kay, Simon Munnery, Maeve Higgins, Josie Long, David O Doherty, Paul Foot and Henning Wehn.

There will also be a host of new names appearing on the show, some of which are making their first ever appearance on a TV stand-up series.

Filmed at Edinburgh's iconic The Stand Comedy Club in front of a live audience, the programme sees short clips of each act stripped across the series.

Lee chats...

"I hate that my friend always looks so good in her Instagram photos."  "Facebook elevates social nicety to an art form."  "As soon as you hit 1,000 likes or views, it grips you - it's become something more."  If any of this sounds kind of familiar, you'll really enjoy watching a couple of comics and filmmakers commenting on the fakability of Facebook, the laziness of online dating, what happens when Twitter becomes your boyfriend, and the habit of Instagraming food.  The Nfb and the Guardian launched "The Seven Digital Deadly Sins," an interactive documentary divided into a clickable map of the seven deadly sins, with brief activities and articles grouped topically according to sin (Lust, Sloth, Wrath, Pride, Gluttony, Greed, and Envy). The doc features appearances from singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, comic Mary Walsh, novelist Gary Shteyngart, comic Josie Long, Bill Bailey, writer and filmmaker Jon Ronson and comic Ophira Eisenberg.  Here's an.

Shorts starring Sally Hawkins and Maxine Peake among those in the line-up.

Sini Anderson’s feature documentary The Punk Singer, about Bikini Kill and Le Tigre frontwoman Kathleen Hanna, is to open the 11th London Short Film Festival (Jan 10-19). The opening night is presented in associated with Birds Eye View.

There will be a record 32 programmes of new short films in this year’s Lsff selected from open submission entries.

They include the opening night selection Funny Sh*t which will feature work ranging from Benjamin Bee’s one-minute Orange Charlie to Rémy Bazerque’s 15-minute Have You Seen Napoleon?.

Regular programmes include Femmes Fantastique featuring Mat Kirby’s The Phone Call starring Sally Hawkins, and Douglas King’s Let’s Go Swimming, starring Josie Long.

Lo-Budget Mayhem will see 29 inventive works in the running for the Lomography Award, and Global Stories will present British filmmakers illuminating the world in works that will include Karen Martinez...

To mark the release of Alternative Comedy Experience Season 1 on 18th November, we’ve been given 5 copies to give away on DVD.

This critically acclaimed series, which proved a ratings success when it first aired on Comedy Central earlier in the year, with a second season to follow in 2014, is curated by Stewart Lee and features a cast of highly individual award-winning and break-through comedians, including Tony Law, Simon Munnery, Isy Suttie, David O’Doherty, Paul Foot, Andy Zaltzman, Henning Wehn, Josie Long, Eleanor Tiernan, David Kay and Bridget Christie.

The Alternative Comedy Experience was filmed in front of a real comedy club audience at The Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh, faithfully capturing the unique atmosphere of one of the UK’s favourite and longest established live comedy clubs. It showcases a mix of modern day comedians offering material possibly too clever, thoughtful, radical, satirical, strange, or downright stupid to...

With less than a week to go till the week-long events kick off (taking place 17th – 24th November), we thought we’d run down even more highlights from this years Though Bubble, the largest celebration of comics and animation in the UK – a celebration of sequential art in all its forms, including everything from superhero comics to independent and small-press artists and writers.

The festival programme for this year’s Thought Bubble comprises 90 events, spread across more than a week of festival fun, and will feature free art and writing based workshops for young people and adults, a two-day academic conference, talks and masterclasses led by industry professionals, and a programme of sequential art related film screenings, all building up to the awesome two-day convention on 23rd and 24th November.

The Thought Bubble Convention includes an incredible line-up of industry leading artists and writers, as well as independent creators from around the world,...

As a stand-up comedian, Josie Long is well used to laying her life bare for other people’s entertainment. So when it came to making the transition to writing and starring in short films, it only seemed appropriate that the protagonist not only share her name, but also have a similar set of experiences to draw upon, “They’re definitely about what I feel and what I’m up to and things I’ve experienced, but at the same time, they’re not explicitly about my actual experiences,” Long explains, “it’ just sort of transpositions of things that I’ve felt, hopefully.”

“I think, coming from a stand up background, you are always operating in this really weird, blurry place, where it is you on the page, but it’s not, and it is you relaying your experiences, but it’s filtered how you want to filter it. You’re...

Interview Andrew Blair 6 Nov 2013 - 06:51

Doug King and Josie Long are taking their short comedy films on the road. We caught up with them for a chat...

This month, stand-up comedian Josie Long and director Douglas King are touring their short-film double header across England, Scotland and Wales. Let's Go Swimming and Romance and Adventure were both filmed in Glasgow and made for next-to-no money. We talked to Doug and Josie about these short-films, a possible feature length movie, and the mechanics of getting the films made. Because they're both more enthusiastic than that dog in the park that has just met you but wants to be your friend, we've got too much material to fit into one piece. Plus, that way, you get a double-dose of positive thinking.

First up is director Doug King, who we met in a den of scum and iniquity on Sauchiehall Street. They had beer.

The Britain's Got Talent judge says she was attacked by an unnamed comic, 21st-century comics grapple with homosexuality, and David Brent realises his rock-god dreams

Not much to laugh about in today's top story, as Amanda Holden writes in her autobiography that she was once assaulted by "a famous comedian". The Britain's Got Talent judge claims she was cornered by the unnamed comic at a public event, during a period when she was patching up her marriage to Les Dennis after an affair with Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey. "[Dennis and I] went to an event together," Holden writes, "and on my way back from the loo, I was cornered by a famous comedian, who tried to kiss me and put his hands in places they shouldn't have been. I was scared and tried to push him away … but he wasn't put off … My body went limp, and I just stood there...

Coming off the back of a nomination at the BAFTA Scotland New Talent Awards, director Doug King and comedian Josie Long are about to embark on a nationwide tour of their two short films, Let’s Go Swimming and Romance and Adventure.

The tour, naturally entitled Doug & Josie: The Let’s Go Adventure Tour, will set sail (in a camper van) on November 2nd, kicking things off at the Greenwich Comedy Festival, and will cross up and down Great Britain with dates in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge, and many more, before finishing things off down in Brighton at the start of December. And with tickets about to go on sale this coming Monday, 2nd September, the teaser trailer has launched to give you a taste of what to expect.

In Let’s Go Swimming, Josie has left her life in London for a better one in Glasgow, the...

The countdown to this year’s Thought Bubble Festival in Leeds has begun! From 17th – 24th November, in association with Leeds International Film Festival and Allied London, the largest celebration of comics and animation in the UK will take over Yorkshire – a celebration of sequential art in all its forms, including everything from superhero comics to independent and small-press artists and writers.

The wider festival programme for this year’s Thought Bubble will feature free art and writing-based workshops for young people and adults, a two-day academic conference, talks and masterclasses led by industry professionals, and a programme of sequential art-related film screenings, all building up to the, typically amazing (we’ve been each and every year) two-day convention on 23rd & 24th November.

The Thought Bubble convention features a fantastic line-up of artists and writers and over 400 tables, spread across three halls, showcasing the best sequential art has to offer.

Stewart Lee will play London's Union Chapel on July 6. The comedian headlines the venue with support from Phil Nichol, Josie Long, Pete Firman and Elis James Mc.

[L: Stewart Lee, R: Josie Long] > Stewart Lee interview The show is part of the 2013 spring season of Live at the Chapel, produced and promoted by The Invisible Dot. Other headliners for the season include Adam Buxton, the Pajama Men, Mark Thomas and Kevin Eldon. Tickets are available now and are priced at £18 or £16 for concessions. The full spring season 2013 dates for Live at the Chapel are (more)...

The full list of nominees has been unveiled for the 2012 Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Josie Long has been nominated for the third year in a row and is up against Claudia O'Doherty, Doctor Brown, James Acaster, Pappy's and Tony Law. Awards producer Nica Burns said: "The nominees sum up an extraordinarily inventive year for comedy at this year's Fringe. "The shows demonstrate all the comedic art forms - standup, mime, sketch and multi-media experimentation. "The performers are all immensely charismatic and often thought-provoking whilst being extremely funny." Now in its 32nd year, the awards have previously been sponsored by Perrier (more)...

Richard Herring, Noel Clarke, Dawn Porter and Josie Long have all appeared in a new video about internet trolls. They are joined by Misery Bear, Steve Furst, Jocelyn Jee Esien, Helen Lederer, Tom Price and Isy Suttie in the clip from Clever Pie and Isabel Fay. (Warning: Adult Content): "Dedicated to hard working internet trolls everywhere," the track description reads on YouTube. "Love ya, keep on trollin'! X Isabel & all the Clever (more)...

A new 'Doctor Who' book featuring celebrities' childhood memories of the sci-fi show has gone on sale. 'Behind the Sofa' includes contributions from over 100 famous fans, such as Charlie Brooker, Jonathan Ross, Josie Long, Rufus Hound and Stephen Merchant. It also contains the recollections or several former stars of the long-running BBC series, including Hugh Bonneville - who appeared as pirate captain Henry Avery in 'The Curse of the Black Spot' last year - and Tracy-Ann Oberman - who starred opposite Tenth Doctor David Tennant in the 2006 episodes 'Army of Ghosts' and 'Doomsday', in which she battled Cybermen and Daleks. Surprisingly,...

The Skins gang return in style on Monday 23rd January at 10pm on E4,  burning their way through a holiday in Morocco.

But what begins as a hedonistic fortnight before their return to college turns into a living hell. By the time they return to Bristol everything has changed.

Friendships fall apart whilst complicated and toxic relationships begin. And there are strangers in the mix who could either save or destroy them...

Franky (Dakota Blue Richards) goes through a sexual awakening that unleashes a wild and unpredictable side to her when she meets Luke (Joe Cole).

In Franky's wake trails Matty (Sebastian De Souza), deeply in love and about to get himself into even deeper trouble. Meanwhile Nick (Sean Teale) slowly begins to realise just what his brother sees in Franky.

Grace (Jessica Sula) and Rich (Alexander Arnold) are closer than ever, but the future holds something unexpected in store for them.

January might not be the most welcoming month - it's all a bit chilly and grey. So it's just as well that staying in is a pretty attractive option with all the fabulous television that's coming up. One of our most-anticipated returns has to be series six of Skins, of course. So when we got our hands on these brand new and beautiful promo photos, we couldn't wait to share them with you! Aren't they gorgeous? As well as seeing our favourites from series five, it's also our first chance to get a proper glimpse at newbie Sam Jackson, who's joining the cast as Alex. Exciting, right? We're also getting return guest appearances from Chris Addison, Giles Thomas, John Sessions, Clare Grogan, Dan Black and Josie Long - while new stars popping up (more)...

Once the famous just fronted charity appeals. Now an increasing number are putting their weight behind political causes. Leo Benedictus investigates the rise of the celebrity activist

These are early days, of course, but it is possible Hugh Grant has changed the world. It was only at the last minute that his former partner, Jemima Khan, recruited him to write for The New Statesman, but now his article turning the tables on the phone hackers has created a sensation around the world, crashing the magazine's website, and being tweeted nearly 10,000 times.

What Grant did was not, in itself, extraordinary. Following a chance encounter with Paul McMullan, a former News of the World journalist and self-confessed phone-hacker, the actor arranged to visit him again in the pub he now owns. What McMullan did not realise was that Grant, himself a victim of the phone-hackers, planned to record their conversation secretly. Though mildly brave,...

Welcome to the The week in review, the Guardian's new podcast looking back on the biggest news stories of the past seven days.

For this first show, Jonathan Freedland is joined in the studio by the writer and broadcaster Jon Ronson, the comedian Josie Long and the Guardian's legal affairs correspondent, Afua Hirsch. They begin by discussing the debate over extreme rhetoric in America, and ask, in the wake of the Arizona shootings, is the Tea Party now over for the likes of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck as the nation searches for a kinder, gentler political conversation?

Also in the podcast, the panel examines the case of Mark Kennedy, the secret policeman who apparently had a ball – working undercover as an eco-protester, and apparently regarding multiple affairs as part of the job description.

Finally, with the new James Bond film at last given the green light, we look forward...

There's a double helping of the Dane, Wall Street returns, Wallace and Gromit take up presenting – and Robyn goes for broke. Our critics pick this autumn's hottest shows

Theatre

Hamlet

Prepare for the latest battle of the princes. John Simm is first in the field at the Sheffield Crucible; then Rory Kinnear enters the running in a Nicholas Hytner production for the National Theatre. It's not, of course, a contest – but comparisons will be inevitable. Crucible, Sheffield (0114-249 6000), from 16 September; and Olivier, London SE1 (020-7452 3000), from 7 October.

The Thrill of it All

Forced Entertainment continues the British experimental tradition with an evening of vaudevillian capers, Japanese lounge music and tarnished sequins. Nuffield, Lancaster (01524 594151), 12-13 October. Then touring.

Tribes

Nina Raine follows her impressive debut play, Rabbits, with a drama about an unconventional family that has its own private language and rules. At its centre is Billy, who is deaf and...

Josie Long has expressed her praise for the "rite of passage" that is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Writing in The Guardian, the comedienne explained that she had mixed feelings about the event after her earliest gigs there. Long said: "I first performed at The Fringe when I was 17 years old. It's been the focal point of my year ever since, an irresistible, horrible, wonderful pilgrimage. "Doing Edinburgh is a rite of passage for standups: it can be both ecstatic and crushing in the same day. You arrive at the station, full of anticipation (more)...

Ever sat there and wondered how you get a world famous film star to follow you on twitter? Wonder no more, as Tom Felton, aka Harry Potter’s nemesis, Draco Malfoy, has agreed to follow one Twitter user for a week.

Felton’s decision to temporarily turn stalking on its head stems from his involvement with the ‘It’s No Joke’ campaign, which is aimed at encouraging parents to talk frankly to their children about alcohol.

Alongside Felton, the campaign features videos by comedians, Bill Bailey, Jo Brand, Russell Kane and Josie Long, which are available to view at their website, ItsNoJoke.tv.

If you would like the Harry Potter star to take an interest in your life for seven days, you need to join the It’s No Joke Facebook group, and leave a message about the campaign on the wall. You can find out more about it at the official competition page.

Jo Brand and Bill Bailey are to front a new publicity campaign aimed at discouraging underage drinking. The pair will be joined by fellow comedians Josie Long and Russell Kane for an online viral scheme which is to provide young people with information on the dangers of alcohol. The internet messages, which are to be launched in the New Year, have been billed as an opportunity to educate children in a "friendly" (more)...

All the quick news while shooting at the moon and waiting for stories from Baltimore Comic-Con to come in...

Alan Moore is launching Dodgem Logic, "the 21st century’s first underground magazine from his home town of Northampton, a community that is right at the geographical, political and economic heart of the country; one which has half its high street boarded up and is at present dying on its arse, just like everywhere else." Josie Long, Graham Linehan, Kev O'Neill, Melinda Gebbie, Steve Aylett, Leah Moore and John Reppion will be contributing. (Hat tip: Cory Doctorow.)Dark Horse Comics just announced that, in honor of their imminent publication of Drawing Down the Moon: The Art of Charles Vess in December, they are offering the entire book online for free viewing for an indefinite time. All two hundred-plus pages of Drawing Down the Moon can be found on the Dark Horse website.