Nina Conti (unedited – 070309)

Nina Conti’s part of a double act. She couldn’t be more different from her partner, Monk, though – she’s friendly, gentle and eager to please, while he’s lazy, violently bad-tempered and fond of shouting out crude sexual insults onstage. He’s also a felt monkey, which means ventriloquist Conti is the one who has to be held responsible for his actions. Much of her act involves largely unsuccessful attempts to maintain a sense of decorum and curb Monk’s worst excesses, and it often feels like she’s using the puppet to vent the darker, less acceptable parts of her own personality. She’s the prim, timid one who’s filled with inhibitions, while he couldn’t give a toss about anything or anyone. As a result there’s tension, unpredictability, and the kind of satisfyingly big laughs that make the pair of them a dependable treat for audiences. Anyone who’s felt the urge to shout rude words at inappropriate moments will enjoy Conti’s innocently scandalised face as Monk lets fly with the expletives.

celebrity funny women (unedited – 07/03/09)

It doesn’t take much for a stand-up to become a TV presenter, as comedians from Clive Anderson to Alex Zane have found out in their time. Exactly how easy it is go the other way should become clearer by the end of this cheerful one-off event. Organisers Funny Women have been helping to develop female talent on the circuit for the last six years, thanks mainly to their annual New Act competition. Now they’re giving a group of celebrities, including sports anchorwoman Gaby Logan and Eighties Blue Peter siren Janet Ellis, one day to pick up the basics of stand-up before delivering a set at the London Studios. Each celeb gets their own mentor comedienne, so helping Janet to deliver some jokes she wrote earlier will be Jan Ravens, the virtuoso impressionist from TV’s Dead Ringers. The whole shindig will help to raise money for Put Your Foot Down, a campaigning charity working against violence to women and the spread of HIV and AIDS in the developing world.

laura solon (unedited – 07/03/09)

Seemingly poised for stardom thanks to a knack for creating instantly memorable and grotesque comic characters, it’d be easy to dub Laura Solon the next Catherine Tate. What makes her different is that she specialises in brilliantly written verbal comedy, displayed at hugely enjoyable length in this latest Radio 4 series. Almost every sketch is a showcase for ultra-deft characterisation and always surprising gags. There’s a real sense of superior craftsmanship about this series, making her seem more like a successor to the tradition of Fry and Laurie than anyone else on the contemporary scene. Her various alter egos allow Solon to mix it up a bit, with some characters offering delicate observational comedy (check out the divorcee entrepreneur perched forever on the verge of tears) and others diving headlong into the surreal – her shrilly demented Teutonic heiress, forever plotting coups in the company of a china model of a lion, is a blindingly original highpoint. Solon’s surely going to be bringing this stuff to TV soon (following her startling cameos as the Polish barista in Harry and Paul) – this release shows exactly why she deserves it.