The Aristocrats - September 2005 The Sunday Times - September 4th, 2005

The American comedians Paul Provenza and Penn Gilette (?) have made a documentary about stand-up comedy called The Artistocrats, released here next week. It features clips of over a hundred principally American comics telling variations on a joke, known as The Aristocrats, which concerns an obscene vaudeville act. The film becomes an hilarious and often…

In Defense Of Laughter - August 2005 New Statesman - August 1st, 2005

In my capacity as a stand-up comedian, I was asked by the New Statesman to produce a defence of comedy in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The problem was that, like Josef K in The Trial, I was not aware of the exact nature of the charges. Apparently, comics attend Edinburgh only in the hope of…

Derek Bailey / Ruins / Aristocrats – Epiphanies - June 2005 The Wire Magazine - June 1st, 2005

At the Royal Festival Hall in 1997, Derek Bailey played a double header with the Japanese duo Ruins. I seem to recall a moment where septuagenarian genius, lost in concentration, actually bumped into the back wall of the stage, his guitar making a resonating clang. Looking down, he appeared to consider what had happened, and…

Johnny Vegas: Instrument Of God - December 2004 Esquire Magazine - December 1st, 2004

Michael Pennington was born in St Helens, Lancashire, in 1971. He gave birth to Johnny Vegas sometime in the early 90’s, after a difficult pregnancy involving pottery, the priesthood and at least one severe beating. Pennington is one of our most misunderstood and maligned talents, and Johnny is one of the greatest comedy characters ever…

Julian Cope - October 2004 The Sunday Times - October 10th, 2004

Julian Cope, the former lead singer of the chart-topping 80’s pin-ups The Teardrop Explodes, is playing a secret solo show in the back room of a community arts centre in the Berkshire frontier town of Aldershot. Union Jacks flutter in all the pubs. Cope’s hair is, by some margin, the longest in the surrounding area.…

Music Theatre - October 2004 Esquire Magazine - October 1st, 2004

Music Theatre, the genre which gave us Andrew Lloyd Webber and the tribute show, combines the worst aspects of music with the worst aspects of theatre to create a mutant hybrid that is the worst form of live art that exists. There are few aspects of human artistic endeavour that are of less moral or…