Funny Festival Live review – BBC series puts standups back on stage Brian Logan
Victoria Wood, Harry Hill and Eddie Izzard are among the comics celebrated in the BBC’s new Festival of Funny. But standup strand Funny Festival Live platforms less heralded names – including those rookies to whom the closure of pubs and theatres has dealt a particularly severe blow. It began last night with a likable, lightweight gig from the Bedford Arms in Balham, hosted by Jason Manford in front of an actual, flesh-and-blood, non-digital audience.
How do they pull off this transgressive feat? The audience, two-dozen strong, are all members of the production team, Covid-secured to their sanitised fingertips. But their presence is still a treat, to armchair comedy fans like myself and comedians starved of in-the-room appreciation. It’s a tonic to see standups address Covid and our new normal, and not buffer and pixelate while doing so.
TV Editor
Today s telly is dominated by the Meghan and Harry show, but there’s also some international women s day-related viewing, Funny Festival Live, and the finale of of Would I Lie to You?
Pick of the Day
CBS Presents Oprah with Meghan and Harry, 9.30pm, RTÉ2
Less than 24 hours after its airing in the USA, here s the much-hyped Oprah Winfrey sit-down with Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, for an intimate conversation and a few digs at Harry’s dysfunctional and outrageously privileged family.
This spat between them and the rest of the Windsors is far from edifying, but - of course - it offers a major distraction from real life for many and is manna from celebrity heaven in a tabloid culture.
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