Showing titles in Performing Arts

David Mitchell hosts the hilarious panel show which turns honest men into lying cheats. In this devious and delightfully funny competition, four comedians have the audacity to lie through their teeth for victory.

If Audible was a bottle of milk, then the cream of comedy would rise to the top. In this series of live showcases, Audible puts the spotlight on some of the established stars and emerging newcomers of the stand up scene. Expect hilarious, unadulterated, stand up fun from the masters of laughter.

Few can forget where they were in September 1993 when they first heard Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation. The show was an immediate smash-hit success, causing pubs to empty on a Saturday night, which was particularly astonishing since the show went out on Thursdays. Since that fateful first series, the show has gone on to win Sony awards, Writers Guild nominations and a Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Included here are all 10 series of Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation.

Have you ever experienced something you just can’t explain – an uncanny encounter with things that go bump in the night? Did it leave you with an unshakable belief in the paranormal? Or feeling like an idiot when your flatmate pointed out it was just your cat treading on the squeaky floorboard? Either way - you’re not alone! Join comedian Jamali Maddix as he asks fellow comics and celebrities to reveal their spookiest real-life tales and most uncanny experiences.

Ade Edmondson smashed onto the comedy circuit in the 1980s, stormed The Comedy Store and, alongside Rik Mayall, brought anarchy to stage and screen. How did a child brought up in a strict Methodist household – and who spent his formative years incarcerated in repressive boarding schools – end up joining the revolution? Well, he is part Norse. Could it be his berserker heritage? With wisdom, nostalgia and uniquely observed humour, Ade traces his journey through life and comedy.

David Mitchell’s 2014 best seller Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse must really have made people think - because everything’s got worse. We’ve gone from UKIP surge to Brexit shambles, from horsemeat in lasagne to Donald Trump in the White House, from Woolworths going under to all the other shops going under. It’s probably socially irresponsible even to try to cheer up.

Where do comedians come from? Why is it that one person is a funny bloke down the pub while another actually makes a living by standing up in front of an audience telling jokes? And where does all that material come from? Well, young Lee McKillop used to wonder that too. Growing up in his parents’ pub, small and wiry in a world of bigger and chunkier specimens, Lee quickly learned that cracking jokes was a way to get attention.

It's the complete second season of The Ricky Gervais Show - six episodes in one tidy package. It's packed full of all-new drivel, as Ricky and Steve Merchant forage through the long grass of Karl Pilkington's brain.

David Mitchell, who you may know for his inappropriate anger on every TV panel show except Never Mind the Buzzcocks, his look of permanent discomfort on C4 sex comedy Peep Show, his online commenter-baiting in The Observer or just for wearing a stick-on moustache in That Mitchell and Webb Look, has written a book about his life.

Barney and Cathy. Evan and Fiona. David and Alice. Three couples who have beaten the odds and stayed married - but is that simply because they haven’t got around to divorcing yet? In these three series, we follow this group of friends throughout weekends away and tricky date nights, weddings and funerals, Christmas celebrations and counselling sessions - all of which give them plenty of opportunity for flirting, fighting, competitiveness and reprehensible behaviour. We listen in to their innermost thoughts, feelings and motivations as they break the fourth wall.

A finely matured selection of episodes from the long-running topical Radio 4 panel show, chaired by Barry Norman, Barry Took, Simon Hoggart, Sandi Toksvig and Miles Jupp. These 14 archive editions, all published for the first time, span the decades from 1978 to 2017 and recall the headline-grabbing issues, incidents and individuals of yesteryear.

Comedian Pierre Novellie was on stage when a heckler suggested he was autistic. Usually, this disruption would be water off a duck's back but two things made this heckler different: first, he was himself autistic. Second, he turned out to be absolutely right. This random encounter led to a diagnosis of autism at the age of 31 that unravelled his world, explained his struggles and answered questions that had bothered him for his entire life: why were the other kids obsessed with Britney Spears instead of The Goon Show? Why don't people ever say what they mean? Why is everyone chewing so loudly?

A searingly honest, funny and moving family memoir in which David Baddiel exposes his mother’s idiosyncratic sex life, and his father’s dementia, to the same affectionate scrutiny. My Family: The Memoir is David Baddiel’s candid examination of his childhood, family and memory offering a twisted love letter to his parents.

Fern Brady was told she couldn't be autistic because she's had loads of boyfriends and is good at eye contact. This is a story of how being female can get in the way of being autistic and how being autistic gets in the way of being the 'right kind' of woman.

In the olden days, people used to learn about things from encyclopedias. And that was really good, because you could read it, and learn it, then you could stop worrying about thinking. But now, with the Internet and more people and science and research, there's just too much knowledge - more every year - and it's overwhelming. So, after years of asking the big questions - like 'what did people do before evolution?' and 'what is clocks?' - intrepid reporter and visionary philosopher Philomena Cunk is bringing the encyclopedia back.

Which lottery numbers should I pick? Is it true that we are made entirely of stardust? Can dogs tell the time? Why do songs get stuck in my head? If Rome wasn't built in a day, how long did it take? Do plants make noises? Where is last Wednesday? This audiobook is a collection of their cracking, unexpected and frequently hilarious answers. Chock full with extra facts from the Elves, 222 QI Answers to Your Quite Ingenious Questions will spark wonder and joy.

Sex, money, religion...all topics that we’re told to avoid in polite company. But exactly the kind of conversations you should be having with your bestie, according to best friends of more than 20 years, Mae Martin (Feel Good) and Sabrina Jalees (Roast Battle). Romantic couples are often guided through the conversations they should be having before committing to each other–but what are the topics that best friends should be covering to truly get to know each other?

Jack Whitehall throws open the doors to his Safe Space, the place where we can all share our most embarrassing stories and try to feel better about ourselves along the way. With a career built on getting into awkward situations, Jack knows more than anyone the power that sharing can have in getting over the moments we most regret. So come in and settle down as Jack asks listeners, his best friend James and big name guests to share their personal humiliations so we can all move on, cringe-free.

Written to take advantage of the brief window between the end of lockdown and Jimmy getting cancelled for saying something unforgivable to Lorraine Kelly, this book is as timely as it is unnecessary. Because you might be interested in Jimmy's life but he's damn sure you're a lot more interested in your own, Before & Laughter is about both of you. But mainly him.

Michael Palin's diaries begin when he was newly married and struggling to make a name for himself in the world of television comedy. But Monty Python was just around the corner...Enjoying an unlikely cult status early on, the Pythons then proceeded to tour the USA and Canada. As their popularity grew, so Palin relates how the group went their separate ways, later to re-form for stage shows and the celebrated films The Holy Grail and Life of Brian.