Acerbic Ed Miliband jokes have Jack Straw rolling in the aisles

Labour adviser turned stand-up comedian Matt Forde (Ashley Maile )

The Labour adviser turned stand-up Matt Forde came face-to-face with one of his subjects when Jack Straw showed up at his show this week. "I was just kicking my shoes off in my dressing room after the show and the former Foreign Secretary popped his head around the door", he said.

In the show, Forde dissects some of politics' biggest personalities. "I think it must be a great novelty for MPs to go to a show that celebrates them as individuals", he said. It's not all positive affirmation, though. Straw was spotted laughing uproariously during a rather vicious section dedicated to the Labour leader Ed Miliband. "I have quite a go at him. I think he's awful, lacks authority, has no vision and shouldn't be a leader", says Forde. Perhaps Straw can pass the message on.

Comedian John Lloyd whose Liff of QI is at Underbelly Bristo Square

The Time Lord's creator has a stab at improv

It's the battle of the TV producers! First Blackadder/ QI comedy supremo John Lloyd turned to stand-up, now Dr Who creator Steven Moffat is trying his hand at improv.

Moffat will appear in Ad Lib, "an hour of spontaneous and unexpected conversation" alongside Frank Skinner and Fred MacAulay at the Assembly Hall on Wednesday.

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