Bruce Dessau's Titter feed: this week's comedy news (June 2)

Bruce Dessau on the gigs, gags and gaffes from the world of comedy
Hot on the web: The new album from The Midnight Beast features an unusual cameo from Cliff Richard
Bruce Dessau2 June 2014

On the buses

One of the biggest web hits coming out of America is Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee — series four is available (and it’s free) later this month. In each episode the sitcom legend drives celebrities — the likes of Larry David, Louis CK and Ricky Gervais — to a café in one of his vintage cars and interviews them. In England we do things differently. Rising star Alfie Brown has just launched Comedians on Buses Getting Tap Water, in which he meets fellow comics at the bus stop in Acton to pick up the number 94. With echoes of the Coogan-Brydon banter in The Trip, Brown and his fellow travellers exchange deadpan anecdotes and embarrassing stories. No classic cars, just classic comedy conversations.

Time to spill, Hill

The latest conceptual stand-up night we’ve spotted on the circuit, It Might Get Ugly, challenges performers to be honest to the point of regret. The show heads to Edinburgh after a special night in at north London’s The Pleasance on June 23 when the star attraction is Harry Hill. Perhaps, following the early closure of the X Factor Musical I Can’t Sing!, Hill will spill some beans about the show’s co-producer, Simon Cowell.

Silent treatment for Matt Lucas

There has been industry chatter recently about Matt Lucas making a silent comedy for BBC1. Titter feed can now reveal that the cameras are about to roll on Pompidou, in which the Little Britain star plays an eccentric aristocrat down on his luck. Filming starts in Hertfordshire this month and the series should air in early next year. Though one suspects the makers have an eye on global Mr Bean-sized sales.

Cliff’s comedy moment

Online musical comedy sensation The Midnight Beast features some interesting cameos on their new album, Shtick Heads. Rapper Sway and New York hipster Reggie Watts guest, but the most intriguing inclusion is Cliff Richard, who appears on the track #Holiday. It transpires, however, that it is only a sample of Cliff singing Summer Holiday, as the trio didn’t actually meet him. “Though we’d love it if he joined us onstage. It’s our least pottymouthed song,” singer Dru Wakely tells us. He could always pop down to HMV in Oxford Street at 6pm on June 3, where the band is making a special appearance. Access is limited to 200 fans via wristbands, which you can only get by buying the new album in the store from today. Though we suspect the scamps would smuggle Cliff in without one.

Twitter: @brucedes

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