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UNBELIEVABLE: Alexei sayle | History Defined

Robin Williams reportedly wanted to buy a comedy club to impress David Bowie

Comedic genius was prepared to give his best stand-up routine for music icon

The Independent UK

‘Robin Williams said: “I’ll buy the club!”’: how The Comic Strip set the UK comedy scene ablaze

It started in a strip joint and ended up bringing alternative comedy to our TV screens. Ahead of a new Edinburgh show, Peter Richardson tells us why his riotous creation still makes audiences laugh 40 years on

The Guardian - UK

‘Is it making a difference? Absolutely’: UK celebrities rally for Gaza

While some UK politicians refuse to speak against Israel’s war on Gaza, many artists are using their platforms.

Al Jazeera

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

More than 400 media figures urge BBC board to remove Robbie Gibb over Gaza

Miriam Margolyes, Alexei Sayle and Mike Leigh among signatories to letter criticising Jewish Chronicle ties

The Guardian - UK

Exclusive: Comic Strip Presents…to be screened at Edinburgh Fringe

The legendary TV comedy show The Comic Strip Presents is being celebrated at this year’s Fringe - the driving force behind it, Peter Richardson, tells us all about its groundbreaking and career-making status

Evening Standard

‘This is a ticking time bomb’: why are so many entertainers forced to work past retirement age?

From jobbing workers to familiar names, legions of entertainers are working well into their 70s and 80s. Why? Our writer uncovers an alarming story of shrinking budgets, axed royalties, misguided mortgages and paltry pensions

The Guardian - UK

David Stafford obituary

Other lives: Comedy writer and broadcaster who created the Guardian’s weekly Staffordshire Bull column

The Guardian - UK

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‘We took the sitcom and blew it apart’: how The Young Ones changed comedy for ever

With flying eclairs, falling beds and exploding buses, the anarchic antics of Rick, Vyvyan, Neil and Mike shoved alternative comedy into the mainstream. Forty years on, we ask the show’s creators how they pulled it off

The Guardian - UK

Beyond The Comic Strip: what does ‘alternative comedy’ mean in 2022?

A scene that started as a counter to straight standup at the end of the 1970s is still hard to peg – but it’s much more than just weird stuff that doesn’t work on telly

The Guardian - UK

Denise Coffey obituary

Actor and comedian who invested her many stage and screen roles with incomparable zest and cheek

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