Chortle

Circle of Life composer had sued Learnmore Jonasi A judge has officially thrown out a $27million  (£20million) lawsuit brought against a comedian for mocking the Circle Of Life song from The Lion King. Composer Lebo Morake had sued stand-up Learnmore Jonasi for joking that the line ‘Nants’ingonyama bagithi Baba’ in the Zulu chant which opens the number translates as: ‘Look, there’s a lion.

Cast and writers who helped make the British transfer such a hit Continuing our series of preview pieces for the Edinburgh Fringe, here are ten shows from comedians who helped make Sky’s Saturday Night Live UK such an against-the-odds success – on screen or off. Who’s Jonno? Only the head writer of SNL UK, that’s all. Though you might have seen the comic known as Daran Johnson to HMRC as part of the acclaimed Sheeps triple act alongside Liam Williams and Al Roberts.

'The best series yet' says creator Tom Basden Filming has got under way for the fourth series of BBC family sitcom Here We Go. The full ensemble cast is returning for the six new episodes including Jim Howick, Katherine Parkinson, Alison Steadman and series creator Tom Basden. Basden said: ‘Working with such an incredible comedy cast is a pleasure and a privilege so I’m thrilled to be bringing Here We Go back to the BBC for a fourth time.

Tim Harding reveals his comedy tips In a special edition of his diary, reviewer Tim Harding gives a personal rundown of the best comedy he's most looking forward to seeing at the Edinburgh Fringe next month. Those comics patiently waiting decades for the Fringe to collapse under its own weight and the greed of Edinburgh’s landlords must be heartened by the relentless heatwaves. If it carries on like this, there’s not going to be a single inhabitable venue in the city.

Comic says he'd turn down any offer to host the show He’s got a reputation for ubiquity, but Romesh Ranganathan has revealed one job in TV that he would turn down:  hosting Saturday Night Live UK. The comic praised the show for its unexpected success and for giving exposure to new talent but said: ‘I don't think I should be anywhere near it.’ He also suggested he wasn’t a big enough name to generate a ‘wow’ factor as a guest host.

Thanks to Broken News In an address to the nation 'like some sort of king or something', Nigel Farage this week quit as MP for Clacton. Broken News, like every outlet, covered the unchallenged statement in full as the Reform leader complained about not getting his story out into the mainstream media, Yet they did provide a 'subtext translator for the politically impaired', and keen viewers might spot a touch of treacherous cynicism in their commentary... Published: 10 Jul 2026

Police apologise for causing him 'considerable distress' Graham Linehan has received a £25,000 settlement over his arrest for anti-trans tweets. The Metropolitan Police has also apologised to the Father Ted co-creator over his arrest at Heathrow airport in September last year. A spokesperson said they ‘recognise the considerable distress caused to Mr Linehan, and have offered our sincere apologies’.

The Big Interview: Ola Labib The first Sudanese woman to perform stand-up at the O2 Arena in London, Ola Labib has just published How Not To Lead A Double Life, an account of dating and performing comedy in secret without her devout Muslim family's knowledge, while struggling with the workload, racism and sexual harassment of being an NHS pharmacist, and ultimately, risking her freedom to be with the Sudanese-American rapper Kashta.

Festival comedy shows based on machine learning Ten Edinburgh Fringe comedy shows with AI and tech at their core… Garrett Millerick’s show is billed as a unique live comedy experiment. The comedian has apparently partnered with one of the world’s leading AI experts to build a bot version of himself, putting it to the test to see whether the model can outperform him at comedy. If so, maybe then he can finally retire?

Alex Horne to challenge families in Your Time Starts Now Channel 4 has confirmed a new Taskmaster spin-off, Your Time Starts Now, devised and hosted by Alex Horne. Set in the ‘Taskmaster universe’, the new show will see British households compete against one another in tackling a host of his typically devious tasks without ever leaving their homes. The tasks are said to require a combination of ‘creativity, lateral thinking, speed, some general knowledge and teamwork’.