Stand-up Comedy

2.1.11

Jennifer Saunders admits: '2010 not my best year' after cancer battle

Jennifer Saunders, the Absolutely Fabulous star, has disclosed she will finish her chemotherapy in March in a radio programme looking back on a difficult year.

The 52-year-old comedienne also spoke how her discovery of breast cancer made 2010 "not my best year".

Saunders has been treated for breast cancer for several months and has now set herself a series of challenges for the coming year.

She speaks candidly about her difficulties during a Radio 2 show on Saturday, which she co-hosts with Dawn French, her comedy partner.

Saunders tells listeners: “2010, not my best year. Some misery, some uplifting moments, a bit of a learning curve and all that stuff.”

She had kept her ill health under wraps for many months and it only became apparent in the summer. The comedienne underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy after a number of malignant lumps were found.

Jennifer Saunders admits: '2010 not my best year' after cancer battle

Jennifer Saunders, the Absolutely Fabulous star, has disclosed she will finish her chemotherapy in March in a radio programme looking back on a difficult year.

The 52-year-old comedienne also spoke how her discovery of breast cancer made 2010 "not my best year".

Saunders has been treated for breast cancer for several months and has now set herself a series of challenges for the coming year.

She speaks candidly about her difficulties during a Radio 2 show on Saturday, which she co-hosts with Dawn French, her comedy partner.

Saunders tells listeners: “2010, not my best year. Some misery, some uplifting moments, a bit of a learning curve and all that stuff.”

She had kept her ill health under wraps for many months and it only became apparent in the summer. The comedienne underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy after a number of malignant lumps were found.

Matt Lucas receives a standing ovation as he takes to the stage in Les Misèrables

He's the rotund comedian who made a name for himself in BBC comedy show Little Britain.

But Matt Lucas took to the stage in a different capacity earlier this year, when he played Thénardier in a huge production of Les Misèrables at London's O2 Arena.

The 36-year-old comedian's journey from originally learning the role to the eventual performance in October was documented in BBC2 show Les Mis At 25: Matt Lucas Dreams The Dream.

Speaking about playing the comic villain Thénardier, and his love of Cameron Mackintosh's hugely popular musical, Lucas said: 'As a child, I fell in love with musicals. My parents took me and a friend to see Oliver! when I was five or six and I was just blown away by it.

'I continued to go and watch shows, my parents would take me and my grandparents would take me. It felt like a safer world than the one I was in. For me the world of musicals was a real refuge - long before I was gay.

'For my 13th birthday I was taken to see Les Mis and from that moment on it has been my favourite musical.'

Matt Lucas receives a standing ovation as he takes to the stage in Les Misèrables

He's the rotund comedian who made a name for himself in BBC comedy show Little Britain.

But Matt Lucas took to the stage in a different capacity earlier this year, when he played Thénardier in a huge production of Les Misèrables at London's O2 Arena.

The 36-year-old comedian's journey from originally learning the role to the eventual performance in October was documented in BBC2 show Les Mis At 25: Matt Lucas Dreams The Dream.

'For my 13th birthday I was taken to see Les Mis and from that moment on it has been my favourite musical.'

27.12.10

Belgian fan's on-pitch marriage proposal rejected

It might have been part of a TV stunt, but still it makes classic comedy.

"A would-be groom was humiliated on Belgian TV - when his girlfriend snubbed an on-field marriage proposal before Cercle Brugge's Boxing Day match against Standard Liege.

The hopeful lad, called Frank, sank to his knees in front of the cameras and, after throwing away a prepared speech, asked pretty Natalie to be his wife.

But she shook her head and ran off the pitch and out of an exit in tears, leaving him to be led away by the stunned stadium announcer."