Now it can be told! The 2025 Linda Smith Lecture will be given by the mighty Bridget Christie. We are so chuffed that Bridget is going to be this year's speaker.

All the upcoming Funny Rabbit shows in one handy place! And with a cartoon I'm ridiculously proud of! Four fab shows with ace comedians Aaron Simmonds Blank Peng Sooz Kempner Laura Quinn Goh Morgan Rees Sam See and Mark Thomas!

Chocolate and Guinness cake for Jac's birthday. Not pretty, but I bet that creamy head's going to taste pretty good.

Funny Rabbit's coming back soon, which means I've been busy with scissors, glue stick and scans of pics from vintage magazines to produce the funny/scary artwork for the next run of posters. I call the piece I created for this poster "Georgia Brown in Tooth and Claw".

Favourite sentences, ep. 2

Farage's vocal delivery increasingly reminds me of something. And I couldn't work out what it was. Until I heard a soundbite from his recent conference speech, and it all suddenly fell into place. So I've spent part of my weekend making this animation. Enjoy!

Under 25? I'm updating one of my comedy songs and I need YOUR help with the references. It's a song about how I don't understand young people stuff, and I need advice on whether the references are up-to-date. So if you have any thoughts on these questions, please stick 'em in a comment.

To celebrate The Cambridge Companion to Stand-Up Comedy being published by Cambridge University Press I present episode one of a series of videos. In each episode, I'll read out my favourite sentence from one of the chapters.

Just got back from holiday to find these bad boys waiting for me. My copies of The Cambridge Companion to Stand-Up Comedy - out now! With chapters from a fab array of international authors. And edited by, er, me.

Tesco's selling Christmas stuff - this is not a drill!

Turns out Robert Webb was a ventriloquist all along

Here's a bit from my set at Gardenbury 2025 yesterday evening. Really pleased with the segue between two popular songs - one from 1892, the other from 1976. 84 years apart and both absolute bangers!

When I was a teenager and I first started seeing bands, I wanted to somehow mark that I'd seen them. So I made a poster with "GROUPS I HAVE SEEN" at the top. Every time I saw a new band, I'd add their name to the poster with felt tips.

Tomato salad made with fresh tomatoes and parsley grown by @mindfulfelting in our little garden

Still getting used to using Promarkers in my cartoons. So I made myself this handy colour chart. Which colour do you like best? What other colours of Promarker do I need to add to my collection?

Sun setting by ten past eight in Whitstable tonight. Autumn's round the corner.

Also on the bill for this 1981 gig but not listed - alternative comedy pioneer, anarchist and general legend Tony Allen

Lovely piece about our son Tom on the Creative Lives in Progress website: creativelivesinprogress.com/articles/tom...

What are you trying to tell me, academia.edu? That I've been mentioned in two thousand and three different papers? Or that I've been mentioned in papers published in 2003? Holly crap, I think it means two thousand and three different papers. Whoopee!

Recently read Lowborn by @thatkerryhudson - although what it's talking about is grim, it's so brilliantly written that you can't put it down. And what it has to say is so important. Highly recommended.

Love this bad fan art of the late Queen on Herne Bay pier

As a long-term fan of bad fairground art, I really like this sunburnt Mickey Mouse on Herne Bay pier.

Two new Catman pieces in Whitstable.

World's shortest game of hopscotch

The mighty Shonen Knife at the Garage last night. I'm tempted to say something like "The Ramones are alive and they're super-cool Japanese women." But Shonen Knife are their own thing and don't need comparing to anybody else to show how shiningly brilliant they are.

And lo a lamb was born with a Hitler moustache. A miracle!

Spontaneous opinion about Ed Sheeran as last night's Funny Rabbit

Always weird doing a comedy gig when it's still light outside

A bike helmet makes everyone look cool

Bit late to the (VE Day) party here, but how about this photo of a victory party in Bath Street, Ipswich in 1945, that I found in my Dad's house. Not sure which one he is in the photo. Any guesses?

🚨🌱 The Chancellor is reviewing all public spending from scratch. Please join me in signing the @campaignforthearts.org petition to remind the UK Govt: the arts make our lives happier & our communities stronger. Now is the moment to invest in them. www.campaignforthearts.org/petitions/sp...

Mmm...new shoes!

Whitstable May Day 2025. Don't let the sun freeze you. Bloody freezing! We could have done with a wicker man just to keep us warm.

Sampling local beer on a scorching Brighton mini break. Even the glass is cool.

I know I've banged on about my birthday this year, but I can't fail to share this card my friends' 14-year-old son drew for me.

Pete Shelley brought back to life by the magic of cardboard.

Made a 60th birthday playlist. One song for every year I've been alive. Soul, reggae, glam, punk, electronica, 2 Tone, indie, hip hop and unclassifiable. And now you can listen to it too. You're welcome! open.spotify.com/playlist/1d4...

Easter nightmare fuel spotted in Whitstable High Street shop window display.

Another old performance shot. This is from 1995 - but looks like it could be 1955.

Something else unearthed from my personal archive - a contact sheet of possible publicity shots, dating from some time in the late 1980s.

Always a thrill to spot @magdaarcher art in the wild. Saw this in Brighton.

Here's me on TV last night, apparently transfixed by by own name.

My attempts to create the equivalent of Abba Voyage for at Buzzcocks comes a cropper at Funny Rabbit on Friday.

How creepy are the little girls in the poster I made for our May show? Seriously, how creepy are they? Rate them on a 10 point scale below, with 0 being not creepy at all to 10 being crap-in-your-pants creepy. Let the voting begin!

Look what I spotted on the way home from Funny Rabbit last night. Cute!

More unearthed photos, these taken by my sister. This is me compering at the Last Laugh in the Lescar pub, Sheffield, in 1995. I also designed and painted the backdrop. Tonight I'll be compering Funny Rabbit at the Gulbenkian, Canterbury - wearing very similar shoes. Ah, the circle of life!

Going through some old photos and stuff for a talk I'm giving next week. Here's me performing in Exeter c.1987.