Entertainment

London SketchFest returns for its fourth annual festival on 5th & 6th November 2016 at Hackney House in Shoreditch. The festival showcases the best up-and-coming comedy talent and is becoming the biggest alternative comedy festival for launching new and emerging comedians. We caught up with the organisers for a chat. Can you tell me more about SketchFest and how it came about? Sketch comedy has a long history in Britain, from Monty Python to The League of Gentleman but for...

I was stood waiting for a train on platform 14 at Manchester Piccadilly station about 10 years ago. I was going to see my Mum who was in hospital in Chester, she was not very well at all, I was very worried about her. Whilst on the platform, I noticed a lady standing quietly by the entry to the waiting room wearing a raincoat, and clutching a handbag. She had perfectly set hair, like ladies of a certain age and...

By Alex Lodge (@alexlodgemusic | Insta @alexlodgemusic7) Alex Lodge is a music supervisor for film, TV and advertising at Thirty Two.  Winter is coming, so get your ears round this box-fresh new list of weird electronica, spiritual jazz, broken beat, soul and other peculiar aural curios. We’re one week off 52 editions of the Weekly Report now. Reach out on Twitter or Instagram if you’re listening and enjoying. https://open.spotify.com/user/11123730619/playlist/4RPYt3uaXUVH8wVH8e5CiU

Olivier nominated actress and west end star of Kinky Boots Amy Lennox will play the lead role ‘Elly’ in the new Bowie’s Lazarus show at King’s Cross Theatre. Can you give us any details on what to expect for David Bowie’s Lazarus theatre show? It’s loosely based on the sci-fi novel “The man who fell to Earth” by Walter Tevis- a kind of sequel. It’s difficult to describe in a nutshell (you’ll know exactly what I mean when you see...

For a reason that I can't identify though accept to be stupid, my first listen of the new Nitkowski album came part way through reading a review of a festival I organised last month. Why I chose to pit two opposing centres of concentration against each other is beyond me. More understandable however, is how the sonic information passed to me from the north-east London four-piece kicked me off my reading, the two unable to exist concurrently, the frontier of...

A twisted son pretended to be his own father so he could swindle a small fortune from him. Ian Huntley, 63, managed to pass himself off as his unwell 94-year-old dad in phone conversations with an insurance firm. Using his devious methods he obtained £246,333 in June 2013. But he wasn’t finished there, in June 2104 he claimed to have power of attorney over his father’s livelihood and withdrew £78,405 from his dad’s ISA at a major high street bank....

Why do bands insist on finding a ‘new sound’? It’s like the musical equivalent of a mid-life crisis. You’ve released a couple of records, toured more times than you can count and embarked on a brief hiatus before being compelled to reform and re-invent yourself into some refined version of your former self. Waste of time if you ask me, you’d be better off buying a Porsche. And so it was with some dismay that I trawled over a Pigeon...

Joyce Manor, turns out, is a weird place, Shining style. Today, Joyce Manor (the band, obvs) premiere the video for “Last You Heard of Me,” a track appearing on their highly anticipated fourth album Cody, released this Friday. Check the vid out below Directed by Christopher Good (who’s also worked with Okkervil River and Perfume Genius), “Last You Heard of Me” finds the California-based band performing at an ill-fated dinner party complete with roller-skating maids, fire-eaters, dancing skeletons, and a murderous house...

Even as the temperature begins to dip, signaling the end of another summer season, London’s event schedule is just heating up. Every day of October offers something new; festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, and many more extensions of the Big Smoke’s historic lore and dynamic culture. So no matter your interests, the month ahead is sure to provide enough entertainment for everybody to enjoy. Take a look at the list below to find an eclectic mix of events taking place this...