The Seinfeld star discusses the episode that ended his standup career, Daniel Radcliffe and Jon Hamm get revolutionary – and an unexpected side to Bruce Forsyth
The week's comedy news
This week, we finally get the perpetrator's version of one of the most notorious blowouts in recent comedy history, as Seinfeld star Michael Richards opens up to Jerry himself about his racist tirade in a comedy club six years ago. Richards was Seinfeld's guest last week on the latter's new web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, and towards the end of the video the erstwhile Kramer addresses the onstage rant – which took place at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood in 2006 – that seems to have ended his live comedy career. (He hasn't performed since.) In the footage, Richards is undeniably penitent: "Somebody interrupted my act," he remembers, "and said some things that hurt me, and I lashed out in anger … It was a selfish response. I took it too personally … I should have been working selflessly." But, as the Splitsider comedy website points out, his mea culpa doesn't address the issue of racism in any way.
In Britain, meanwhile, another comedy star is grappling with a problematic past. The Independent reports that Royle Family star Ricky Tomlinson is at the Labour conference this week, campaigning to overturn a 39-year-old conviction for picketing offences. Tomlinson was one of the so-called Shrewsbury 24: building workers who, in 1973, were charged under the 1875 Conspiracy Act and – in Tomlinson's case – jailed for 16 months. Supporters say the picketers were victims of a "government plot to intimidate trade union members", and are now raising a petition to reopen the case. "We want the convictions quashed before we snuff it," says Tomlinson.
In other comedy news, the Clydebank Post reports that Scottish standup and Rab C Nesbitt star Raymond Mearns is to tour hospitals with a comedy musical about health issues. Health Scare: the Musical is directed by Mearns's fellow standup Paul Sneddon (aka Bob Doolally; Vladimir McTavish) and promises – how could it not? – to have patients in stitches. Moving south, the Tyne and Wear comic Chris Ramsey got in hot water with the law this week when he was arrested trying to break into his own home, and – moving further south still – Salford University has launched a new degree in "comedy practices". Properly south now, and David Walliams has written in his new book about the depression that saw him check into the Priory just weeks before finding stardom with Little Britain.
The beast of telly needs constant feeding, and this week, a second series of Citizen Khan has appeared on the menu, Chortle reports. We also learn that Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe and Mad Men's Jon Hamm are to star in a comedy drama about the Russian revolution on Sky Arts. Steve Coogan, meanwhile, (branded a "prat" this week by the Daily Telegraph for his views on private education) migrates from comedy to drama with Philomena, in which Judi Dench plays an Irish mother searching for the son she was forced to give up for adoption in 1950s Ireland. Fans of surreal standup will rejoice to hear that mad-as-a-bat Sam Simmons has been given his own show in his native Australia. Problems will also star recent Edinburgh comedy ward nominee Claudia O'Doherty.
And finally – "he has a tremendous amount of sex appeal", says Bruce Forsyth's ex-wife Penny. Those of strong stomach are hereby invited to consider the following "news", in which the youthful sexual indiscretions of the talent behind Play Your Cards Right are at last laid bare.
The best of this week's Guardian comedy coverage
• This week's least comedic comedy story – the ongoing trial of Justin Lee Collins. The latest is here.
• "No piano, no keyboard, no screen with slides. I thought it would be cool to simplify it" – Demetri Martin on his new TV standup show.
• "You could watch standups for another half a century and still never see another one like her" – Leo Benedictus on Phyllis Diller, in this week's Comedy gold.
• "If one day my face turns blue, I don't want suddenly to not be in the industry" – Fresh Meat star Zawe Ashton talks to the Observer.
• "A standup Terminator, assembled backstage by hi-tech gadgetry" – that's how Michael McIntyre sees himself, as he takes up residence at the O2.
Controversy of the week
"Fury as BBC documentary suggests government plotted 7/7 attacks to boost Iraq war support", howled the Daily Mail – fury made worse, incidentally, because the show in question is presented by "an Irish comedian". (Andrew Maxwell, as it goes.) "Parents of victims brand programme 'disgusting' and in 'really bad taste'", the Mail rants, and sure enough, here is June Taylor, whose daughter Carrie died in the London bombings. "The BBC can't get any lower than this," she says, at the Daily Mail's prompting.
Buried deep in the article is a quote from the BBC whispering that the documentary, one of three in Maxwell's series Conspiracy Road Trip, doesn't endorse conspiracy theories but exposes them to sober investigation. The Mail is indignant that the "producers blow up a double-decker bus in a bid to recreate the explosion in Tavistock Square that killed 13 people", without mentioning that it's done to disprove claims that buses can't be blown up by homemade bombs. Talking on Chortle earlier this year, Maxwell describes the show as "rationalist" in impulse. "[It's] about the internet and how it acts as an echo chamber … These people will question anything from a verifiable news source, one that's willing to back what it says in the courts. But they will believe anything they read on the internet."
He goes on: "You can't dispense with suspicions about the British establishment and I don't think you should. But that still doesn't add up to the government being behind 7/7." These quotes, needless to say, went entirely unreported.
Over to you: best reader comments
Last week's Laughing stock recounted Alan Davies's recent gig in Liverpool, where he thanked fans for sticking by him after his remarks about the Hillsborough tragedy raised hackles. Our readers were divided over the wisdom of said remarks. Tron9 felt Davies had been misrepresented:
Did anybody actually listen to the podcast that Alan made referring to Hillsborough? He asked why only Liverpool did this – he mentioned the Rangers disaster and many more. [This] was then twisted out of control by the Mail and the Mirror who were having slow news days. Maybe he went over the top and if you listen to his podcast he can be ranty at times, but he said many times he wasn't trying to disrespect the families or people involved. It's a shame so many jumped on the bandwagon of hate without listening first to what he said and the context of the discussion.
Alarming, however, saw things otherwise:
Davies might have realised that the recent revelations about what went on in Hillsborough happened precisely because the families didn't let it lie and did what they could to keep the cover up in the public eye.
The Rangers tragedy didn't involve such levels of corruption as far as I can remember. If it had done I'm sure the families of the victims would have followed the same path as the Liverpool families.
I'm sure he didn't mean any harm but it was an extremely pointless observation.
Meanwhile, the debate rages on about The Thick of It. Funnier than ever, or a fading force? This week's episode satisfied all those who'd been missing Malcolm Tucker, although Domfloyd thinks that, even in the absence of Peter Capaldi's character, his influence is felt in a highly topical way:
A brilliant episode. And unlike others, I really enjoyed the first three too. This series seems darker, more paranoid and "messy" than the earlier series, and therefore more fitting to these optimism-free times.
I like that all the other characters attempt to be Malcolm Tucker. It shows he left his mark on the entire political system, even though no one does it quite like Tucker.
The Labour government was masterful at spin. The coalition tries to be, but fails. It seems only apt that the coalition in The Thick of It should try to be like Tucker was in previous series but fails …
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/oct/02/michael-richards-daniel-radcliffe-jon-hamm
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