LAUGHING MATTERS
The pick of this week’s comedy...
NINE LESSONS AND CAROLS FOR SOCIALLY DISTANT PEOPLE
Even in the bleak midwinter, curious insomniac Robin Ince (above) has stamina. Not only will his latest Christmas show be in front of an actual audience, livestreamed AND interactive, but it’s also lasting for a whopping 24 hours straight.
What to expect? Well, as usual there are a whole heap of fun boffins from the Cosmic Shambles stable involved — they’ll be helping you hunt for a new supernova, mapping brain activity, and finding everyday science in your home photos (courtesy of Dr Helen Czerski’s brainiac advent calendar). Plus there’ll be talks and performances from every continent, and live songwriting and muraldrawing over the day. Phew!
‘What worries me most over the 24 hours is the increasing incomprehension as my sleepy brain goes from “hungry for quantum cosmology” to “can I have a lullaby about twinkly stars that doesn’t include so many equations about nuclear reactions?”’ says Robin. ‘I am hoping that at least one physicist will have invented that time machine that will keep me looking perky, if not I am relying on a system of wormholes.
‘Otherwise, it’s coffee, bananas and perpetual small chocolates.’ Tickets are £27.50 if you want to watch a chunk of it live at King’s Place from midday tomorrow, and free if you stream it online, though donations are still encouraged, as profits are shared between four charities. Tomorrow, live-streamed from King’s Place, London, kingsplace.co.uk/ninelessons
A CHRISTMAS WITHOUT TEARS
You can’t get much jollier than a festive sing-song with The Simpsons star Harry Shearer and his Welsh singer-songwriter wife Judith Owen, so it’s great to have them back with a virtual version of their annual variety show/house party. Guest turns from Jeff Goldblum, John Goodman, Ringo Starr and, most excitingly, Schitt’s Creek legend Catherine O’Hara (is she really tone deaf?!), are highlights on a line-up that contains enough stars to cover an entire Trafalgar Square Christmas tree. It’s live-streaming from Le Petit Theatre in New Orleans for this 15th iteration, and proceeds go to numerous UK and US music charities. Cheers to that!
Tonight, 10pm, nugs.tv