Kevin Eldon - almost live...

This is any excuse to show Kevin Eldon, Mark Heap and Amelia Bulmore together. Jam was a quite extraordinary programme. Ostensibly a comedy sketch show, many of the episodes contained little in the way of traditional comedy narrative - instead the content was jarringly surreal, at times, genuinely unsettling, but always, and this is the important bit, incredibly funny. Eldon will be titting about in Edinburgh, as part of the comedy fringe, from the 6th of August 'til the end of the festival. Get your tickets now - if only to see one of this country's finest comedy actors in his stand-up 'kind-of' debut.

The wrath of Gods...

David Lynch producing a Werner Herzog film? Who could resist...

Timperley mourns...

Of course, Frank Sidebottom was an acquired taste. Papier-mache headed comedians have rarely been in vogue, incredibly more so even now - his brand of reverency appears entirely anachronistic when compared to today's sickly, glitzy diet of pomp and no circumstance. Chris Sievey's creation was everything that conventional pop music and Royal variety performance wannabe's could never be - genuine. And, often, genuinely funny. Thanks, Chris. And thanks too, to Frank.

Showing at a DVD player near you...

Hal Hartley has been making feature films for over 20 years. The furrow he has continued to plough is similar to that of the Coen Brothers and John Sayles - with success strikingly contradictory to theirs. Hartley often concentrates his film-making energies on short films, even music videos - witness his continuing relationship with Microcinema International, who distribute and promote his latest releases. Hartley is an enigma. His films have very much a populist agenda - good storylines, great acting performances and wonderful, wonderful music - often written and performed by himself and artists such as Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth, yet they attract only a very small, dedicated audience. Artificial Eye have recently issued a box-set; containing three of his most memorable films: Trust, Henry Fool and The Girl from Monday - if incisive social commentary and pitted black comedy is for you, then so is Hal Hartley...