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As Alex Horne tells it, Taskmaster was born out of professional jealousy. In 2009, he became a parent and so broke with almost a decade of tradition by not taking a show to the Edinburgh Fringe. That same year, his friend and former flatmate Tim Key won the festival’s top comedy award, for which Horne had been nominated in 2003.

At home and envious, Horne sent out emails inviting 20 comedians – including Key – to take part in a new competition in which he would set them a different task each month for a year. The results would be shared in a live performance at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe called The Taskmaster.

The result was organised chaos. An overdraft of comedians (a Fringe-specific collective noun) plus a pianist joined Horne on stage to reveal the results, set tie-break tasks, and eventually crown a winner.

“So this is The Taskmaster,” Horne told the crowd, “It...

A mother’s love can move mountains. It must in the case of Paul Dood (Tom Meeten) since he doesn’t really have anything else propelling him forward. Did he aspire to be a superstar? No. He merely asked his mom (June Watson’s Julie) if she thought he had what it took while watching an episode of Britain’s Got Talent. She of course said yes. She said he was “better than anyone else on that show.” Love is blind, though, and unwittingly creates lies—Paul is hardly a Susan Boyle with talent to spare if someone would simply give him a chance. He’s not even a William Hung earning views for second-hand embarrassment. He’s lucky to get three viewers per stream: Mum, Clemmie (Katherine Parkinson), and Bruce (Jarred Christmas).

Director Nick Gillespie and co-writers Matthew White and Brook Driver nevertheless introduce their lead with extreme confidence as...

Priscilla Presley is set to make her pantomime debut alongside Warwick Davis and Jarred Christmas in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the New Wimbledon Theatre this Christmas. The 67-year-old actress and former wife to the late Elvis Presley will star as the Wicked Queen in the theatre production and is said to be "delighted" at the prospect. Speaking about her upcoming role, the '80s Dallas star said: "I have heard such wonderful things about British pantomime. The script is hilarious, my costume is sensational and I can't wait to get started and give the people of London my Wicked Queen. What a wonderful (more)...

I hope you’ve been following our coverage of Let’s Dance For Comic Relief tonight! The results were a bit of a shocker though – the first act guaranteed a place in the live final was Charlie Baker and John Thornton, whose tap dance routine we thought was a bit old fashioned. Seems Britain did not agree!

The battle for second place was between Lulu’s brilliant Soulja Boy dance and Noel Fielding’s stellar Kate Bush impersonation. And as much as we loved Lulu’s routine, it was only right that Noel Fielding followed Baker and Thornton through to the final.

Although it wasn’t a dead cert that Fielding would survive – the judging panel got split quite quickly. Lee Mack chose Noel while Jack Whitehall voted to save Lulu (though we suspect that he was trying to avoid making the casting vote in favour of Fielding!) This left...

Jarred Christmas is the last contender to entertain us on Let’s Dance For Comic Relief. He correctly deduces that Let’s Dance is a thinly-veiled cross-dressing competition and decides to wax his man bits.

Taking to the stage in a blue tracksuit, Jarred quickly strips down to a hot pink leotard. He’s dancing to Madonna’s Hung Up. There’s nothing sexy about this routine at all, folks. Well, that’s not true, watching a slightly overweight man dressed up as Madonna-with-mutton-chops is always going to be funny.

And as Jack Whitehall later points out, Jarred’s hairstyle is uncannily like Keith Lemon’s. Not a bad routine – he was a surprisingly good dancer, our Mr Christmas. Wasn’t he?

Lee Mack: “There are three women in life I’ve always found very attractive. Madonna, Deirdre from Coronation Street, and Dawn French. I never thought I would...

Details of the lineups, judges and musical acts on the second and third Let's Dance For Comic Relief heats have been revealed. Previously announced to be taking part in this week's comedy fundraiser were Lulu, Noel Fielding, Penny Smith and Andi Osho. It has now been revealed that they will be joined by comic Jarred Christmas and a double act featuring Emmerdale's James Thornton and comedian Charlie Baker. McFly will perform on this weekend's show, while Lee Mack, (more)...

Absolute Radio has announced the launch of its new Comedy Live night. The broadcaster debuts the show on February 15 at The Y as part of the Leicester Comedy Festival. The launch night is hosted by Mc Jarred Christmas and features Isy Suttie, Josh Widdicombe, Carl Donnelly and headliner Brondan Burns. Tickets are available now and are priced from £10. Absolute Radio chief operating officer Clive Dickens said: "Comedy (more)...

Leigh Francis's Keith Lemon character and his Celebrity Juice co-star Rufus Hound have teamed up for a charity gig at Manchester's Frog and Bucket on Oldham Street. They will be joined by Jarred Christmas for the Pot Noeldle-sponsored show on December 8 in aid of Stand up for the Raf. Money raised on the night will be donated to the Miles More Minutes charity to give troops stationed abroad more time to speak to their families (more)...

Ultimate Big Brother star Nadia Almada has hit out at show bosses and Davina McCall for driving her over the edge.

The Portuguese transsexual was evicted from the Bb house on Friday 3rd of September and attempted to commit suicide less than a week later.

Nadia was reportedly found by a friend who was staying in her council flat, having overdosed on prescription drugs and painkillers. Almada was rushed to hospital and a friend told The Sun:

“This is a cry for help. She is very unhappy.”

In a newspaper interview last week Nadia talked about the Coolio situation and claimed that Big Brother was covering up the worst of his behaviour. She added:

“I just feel my life isn’t worth living any more. I’m in the gutter and completely distraught.”

Speaking to Star magazine this week (Nadia sure does seem to be giving a lot of lucrative...

The new series of 8 Out Of 10 Cats kicks off with a Big Brother Special this Thursday night.

The comedy panel show will feature a wealth of ex-housemates, including BB11 winer Josie Gibson and her boyfriend John James Parton. Josie walked out of the Ultimate Big Brother house just three days after winning the non celebrity series.

Big Brother 7′s Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, Big Brother 8 winner Brian Belo and recently evicted Makosi Musambasi will join Charlie Brooker and Jarred Christmas on the show. Jarred and Makosi clashed on the set of Big Brother’s Big Mouth last Friday, so expect some sparks again this week.

The show airs on the penultimate night of Big Brother and aims to be a fitting tribute to the iconic programme as it’s finally put to rest.

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