Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi tie the knot, while Tina Fey lets rip at Republicans

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/oct/30/ian-mckellen-derek-jacobi

Version 0 of 1.

This week's comedy news

How's about this for high-end casting? ITV has announced a new sitcom about an elderly gay couple, Vicious Old Queens, which will star two of Britain's most illustrious actors, Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi. The show is written by Gary Janetti (Will & Grace and Family Guy), and will screen in six half-hour episodes, reports the Pink News. McKellen is best known as Gandalf in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies, and as a recent RSC King Lear; Jacobi has starred as I, Claudius, The Master in Doctor Who and – most memorably of all, of course – Iggle Piggle, Upsy Daisy and friends in the CBeebies hit In the Night Garden.

Julian Clary has been in the news, hitting out at the Scottish Catholic church for its campaign against the SNP government's plan to introduce same-sex marriages. Clary, who was raised Catholic, said: "Given there are so many gay people in the Catholic church, I thought they'd be all for it. It's fear and ignorance masquerading as intelligent opinion." In happier news for pioneering gay comedians, Ellen DeGeneres became the 15th recipient of the Mark Twain award for American humour. (Or "humor".)

Also Stateside, 30 Rock star Tina Fey has used an address to the Centre for Reproductive Rights in New York to attack recent Republican pronouncements on rape. "If I have to listen to one more grey-faced man with a $2 haircut explain to me what rape is," Fey told her audience, "I'm going to lose my mind!" Animated comedy's getting topical too, as South Park takes on Lance Armstrong and the doping scandal. Back in Blighty, rent-an-unpleasant-quote standup Jim Davidson has been sounding off on his blog about the Jimmy Savile scandal. "The witch-hunt is getting silly," says Davidson. Savile was "just another pervert" and "there are lots of them in showbiz". So that makes it all right, then.

Other comic talents are branching out this week. Gavin and Stacey creator James Corden has tried his hand at standup, and was greeted at his debut gig by "muchos laughter", if Chortle's sources are to be credited. David Walliams has been nominated for another fiction prize for his children's book Gangsta Granny. And comedy-cabaret act Piff the Magic Dragon, the creation of comedian John van der Put, is to support Mumford & Sons and their forthcoming UK tour.

In this week's screen news, we learn that Fry and Laurie are to reunite for this first time in a decade – but only to voice an animated film, of the 1887 Oscar Wilde tale The Canterville Ghost. Channel 4 has announced its new comedy lineup, which includes Full English, "an animated sitcom about a quintessentially English family", a new series of Peep Show, Ricky Gervais's Derek and a new sitcom about a man with a flair for mimicry. John Bishop is to present a comedy review of the year for the BBC, and the Vicar of Dibley may return – with Dawn French's character elevated to the role of bishop. Finally, Chortle reports that the creators of the Misery Bear online comedy shorts are developing a new show for America's Fox network.

Oh, and US standup Doug Stanhope has fooled a radio interviewer into thinking he was Johnny Rotten. Read Stanhope's account of the confusion here.

The best of the week's Guardian comedy coverage

"I want someone who plays from his fucking heart!" It had to happen: Leo Benedictus's compendium of great comedy performances reaches many people's greatest comic of them all, Bill Hicks.

"I will control what you're laughing at … Call me a massive control freak, but it's just a way of being" – Dawn French reveals herself in an interview with Aida Edemariam

"Among the special adviser community it is seen as spookily close to real life." As its final episode airs, its creators reflect on The Thick of It.

"Astoundingly tasteless", "cringeworthy", "disgusting" … Girls creator Lena Dunham's campaign ad for Obama sounds like a must-see

"Satirical yet sentimental, prosaic yet potty," says blogger Hannah Davies, sparking argy-bargy below the line as to the merits of BBC3 sitcom Cuckoo

Controversy of the week

Four days ago on this website, an article by Ben Lyons of Intern Aware protested that E4's hidden-camera show The Work Experience "exploits interns' real desperation". The series, "a new reality show based in the madness of the fashion PR agency", secretly films two real-life interns as they are confronted with a series of bizarre goings-on in their new workplace. "Unknown to them," purrs the show's publicity, "the entire agency is fictional and the employees are a cast of actors." But what precisely were we laughing at, asked Lyons – "how ridiculous the fashion industry is, [or] that young people are prepared to humiliate themselves in their desperation to get a job"? An article at the Independent quoted one student who was "incredibly offended" by the show. "I honestly can't describe how much personal offence I took just from watching the advert," said journalism student Libby Page. "It goes beyond tasteless."

The comedy website Chortle has since given the show's producer Samantha Martin a right of reply. "It hurts me to see this E4 show besmirched by so many of my beloved lefty papers," Martin says. "I believe that exploiting desperate young people for work is wrong, of course it is. [But at] least, during their time at the fictional Grade PR, our interns had ridiculous experiences that they could share and laugh about at the end of each day.

"Far from feeling put-upon," Martin added, "these fired-up young bucks spent their time gloriously gossiping over the ridiculousness of their coworkers, and bigging each other up for their mettle in each increasingly bizarre situation." Episode 2 airs tomorrow.

My pick of the best reader comments

The life and work of Scouse standup and primetime king John Bishop were put under the microscope in comments following my review of his O2 show last week. Chizzle summed up the prevailing view:

<blockquote>The problem lies within the source of his comedy. Much like Peter Kay, once he left the ordinary working-class lifestyle it has become much harder to write about that kind of life. He's much funnier these days when riffing off of others, as anyone who watches A League of Their Own will tell you – he's faster and wittier than in his standup, which is way too measured and slow-paced at times.<br />I think Bishop's standup career is struggling, but because of his ability to think quickly around others he will always have a top-notch TV career … The best comedians, and the most long-lasting ones, are the ones that don't talk about their own lives in their comedy, or at least don't make it the primary focus. I prefer comedians like Bill Bailey or Ross Noble – their inherent ability to find comedy in just about anything sets them apart from those that talk about their lives in their comedy shows.</blockquote>

Bruce Dessau wrote about Frankie Boyle's victory in court, where he won libel damages in a suit against the Daily Mirror, which had called him racist. The article triggered a(nother) spirited debate about the Glasgow comic's virtues and vices. Kathwg writes:

<blockquote>Used to find Frankie Boyle deliciously, wickedly, maliciously hilarious. Then I watched Tramadol Nights and realised it was the same tripe trotted out over and over again, picking on sitting targets and acting rebellious. No one has told [Boyle] that a 40-year-old rich white man picking on handicapped children makes him part of the establishment and a distasteful bully, not a rebel.</blockquote>

But Markster's feelings about Boyle has undergone the diametrically opposite journey:

<blockquote>I use to hate him because he played on my woefully underchallenged liberal sensibilities, but now I like him; a lot. His slap-in-the-face comedy reminds us that you can't challenge injustice in the world merely by rearranging the dictionary. In a world which thinks buying Fairtrade coffee absolves you of any further responsibility for the shit that gets done, good taste should be the first enemy of the outspoken.</blockquote>