Well, it is a funny old upside-down world. A couple of weeks ago I bemoaned the fact that spiky-haired rock rebel John Lydon was advertising Country Life butter. There was clearly a sudden vacancy in the market for a potty-mouthed TV personality, but I don't think anyone expected Jonathan Ross to fill it.

It has just been announced that Ross will not be presenting this year's British Comedy Awards for ITV in December, so that means that for the duration of his 12-week suspension his beloved speech impediment will not be heard courtesy of any broadcaster. This must be a truly bitter pill to swallow. As well as losing over a million pounds in wages Ross will not be heard by the nation. This is like keeping cream buns away from a cake addict.

The irony is that Ross has finally and unwittingly achieved the same kind of notoriety as his childhood heroes. He has always been a passionate punk rock fan, making a weirdly entertaining BBC documentary about the subject a few years ago. In fact I remember being at the Vortex punk club off Oxford Street in August 1977 coincidentally on the same night as Ross. He has often mentioned the event with a tear in his eye, it was the night that Elvis Presley died. Danny Baker famously got up onstage to make a speech defending Elvis and suggesting he was the very first punk.

Well, maybe Ross is the very last punk. Little did that kid in the safety pins and NHS specs think that 32 years on he would be arousing the ire of the establishment just like The Sex Pistols. But then again, this is a story packed full of ironies. Am I the only one to have noticed that Ross recently published a book entitled "Why Do I Say These Things?" I guess he now has time to write the sequel sooner than expected.

Typical. I go away for four days and a mega-big comedy story breaks out across the media like a bad rash. I stayed in touch with the Ross/Brand Granddaughtergate controversy in Spain and driving back from the airport just heard that the presenters have been suspended pending an immediate enquiry.

Now this is an odd one. Andrew Sachs has said that he doesn't want to take the matter any further, but there have been so many calls for the sacking of Ross and Brand – although only two complaints about the show before the story appeared in the press – that the BBC's Director-General, Mark Thompson has been forced to act swiftly.

I can't see Ross – the highest paid face in the BBC's history – being given the boot, though it may not help when his next pay negotiations come round. He is firstly too important and secondly there would be an even greater outcry if the licence-payer had to fork out the compensation for his contract being terminated. There is some talk about his remarks amounting to gross misconduct, but that might be for m'learned friends to discuss at the licence-payer's expense too.

As for Russell Brand his C4 series is still going ahead as planned, while his appearance on Never Mind The Buzzcocks will be shelved pending the enquiry results, which rather harshly harms all the other guests too. And now, hot off the airwaves, Brand appears to have done the decent thing and resigned from his £200,000 pa Radio 2 show, effectively taking full responsibility. With his Hollywood career taking off, however, and a big live tour planned for 2009, this may not be too much of a wrench. It may even give him some material for his stage show.

Regarding morality, Ross should have known better. Brand, on the other hand, has been marketed as an edit-free rock and roll lothario so his outrageous off-the-cuff remarks are surely part of his Unique Selling Point. Maybe he should wash his mouth out with soap or maybe they should both donate a wodge of earnings to the forthcoming Children In Need and put in an appearance in the stocks, wth Sachs' granddaughter chucking the rotten tomatoes.

Anyway, at least this whole matter has stopped us thinking about global economic meltdown for a while. After another few rounds of Beeb-bashing it may blow over. Ross will surely survive after, at the most, some kind of reprimand. In fact if it was possible I would suggest buying shares in Ross now while they are rock bottom.

So, what do readers think? Has the Beeb done the right thing in suspending them and if not, what should have been done?

Don't do it Ricky. Please. The hottest rumour on the blogsophere is that there is going to be another episode of Extras. Hurrah, and also, oh no. Apparently Ricky Gervais has said he'd like to write an episode following actor Andy Millman's adventures in Hollywood.

Now I was under the impression that Gervais had said that he wanted to wrap up Extras after two series and the Christmas special in the same way that he wrapped up The Office. Leave 'em wanting more. Or, as he put it to me when I interviewed him during the success of The Office many years ago, don't milk a sitcom dry. Gervais told me he had seen too many of his favourite comedies go on long after the laughs had run out. He always used to cite Fawlty Towers as a classic example of a series that bowed out at the top. Reading back over old features on Gervais, however, I now notice ominously that the 2007 one-off Extras Christmas special was described as a "series finale", rather than a final-ever episode.

It is always a perilous business bringing something back. The Legacy of Reginald Perrin – minus the dead Leonard Rossiter – rather stomped on the reputation of the classic series – with the living Leonard Rossiter. To The Manor Born did itself no favours by returning for a one-off last Christmas.

And if Gervais is reviving Extras Gervais should maybe pay special heed to the risks of shows with celebs. The formidable Blackadder gold standard was undermined by the Millennium special with everyone from Kate Moss to Colin Firth popping up in it. These revivals are always a bit icky. It feels a bit like EastEnders bringing Dirty Den back from the dead whenever the ratings are flagging.

Extras was brilliant – particularly in the last episode when it put the boot into reality TV. But there is usually a natural time to stop and driving off into the sunset in Maggie's battered old 2CV was probably it. I thought that meant Andy Millman was rejecting the notion of stardom. The thought that he was actually driving towards Sunset Boulevard fills me with a little bit of sadness.

Then again, if there is a chance of seeing Andy Millman acting alongside Al Pacino, who can blame Gervais for being seduced? He is certainly big enough to get real stars rather than the likes of Kerry Katona. An open request to Ricky – who I'm sure reads this blog avidly – if you do do another Extras, just don't screw it up, otherwise in twenty years time another sitcom writer will be saying comedians should quit while they are ahead, not like that Ricky Gervais. Oh, and if you do do another Extras, can I have a part please?

Just back home from French & Saunders at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Not a brilliant gig, but not a bad gig either if the celeb-count was any guide, with everyone from Gok Wan to Eddie Izzard laughing their proverbial socks off in the stalls. Alongside the classic and not-so classic sketches was an interesting throwaway aside by French. While doing a little arm-waving reference to David Brent's dance in The Office, she sarcastically said: "That is hilarious, apparently." The remark got a decent laugh, but astute comedy fans may suspect that this may be the latest episode in something that is starting to sound like a bit of a comedy feud. In Extras, Gervais's character Andy Millman famously couldn't name a funny black comedian, even though he was standing underneath a picture of Lenny Henry at the time. Then in Gervais's live show the comedian complained about being described as fat and in the same obesity category as Dawn French. Gervais argued that even if he was a little on the podgy side they were nowhere near each other in terms of size. Then last Christmas French seemed to strike back. She presented the documentary series about comedy, Boys Who Do.. and said that she had decided not to interview Ricky "because he’s been very unkind to me and to Len and he’s been quite personal." Gervais's cruel remarks might have been in fun, but they seemed to have struck a nerve. Which may explain French's remark onstage last night. A case of sense of humour failure, or good-natured banter amongst comedy pros? Stand well back, this one could run and run...

I've had an unusually high number of online comments following my lukewarm review of Lee Evans at the O2 Arena earlier this week. More than when I blogged about Russell Brand's bawdy brilliance, almost as many as when I blogged about Victoria Beckham's naked ambition and hidden comedy potential. I didn't realise Lee's fans were so passionate. But I guess that as 80,000 tickets were snapped up for his O2 shows that should have been a clue.

Most comments were of the classic "Was Bruce at the same gig as me variety?". Well, yes, I was, and I've got the ticket stub to prove it. The trouble is that however good Evans was, the venue was simply too huge – perhaps he should have called his 2008 tour Too Big rather than simply Big. The stage alone was the size of a small principality.

Evans wasn't bad, but 20 minutes into his set I realised I wasn't even watching him, I was watching the enormous screen behind him. And I had a good seat. Given that his face-pulling and funny walks are integral to the act it was important to see them in detail. But I might as well have been watching a DVD at home. With another 15,999 people in my lounge.

However good a stand-up comedian is, no-one has been more enjoyable because they are in a larger venue. This is not just nostalgia for the fact that I used to see Evans playing to a couple of hundred people at Jongleurs. Comedy is about connection and however much Evans connected in the night – which was quite a bit, judging by the laughter – he would have connected more in a smaller theatre.

The trouble with a gig this large is that even if lots of people were absolutely loving it, statistically some probably weren't quite as enthusiastic. From the moment Evans first left the stage there was a constant stream of people walking past me on the way to the exit. Even during his 20-minute encore they were still leaving.

This wasn't an angry storm-out, probably more the fact that they wanted to beat the rush to the station. But it was still not something that would happen in a tiny venue and highly distracting. Though not as distracting as the hair-gelled lad next to me chomping on a hot dog and crisps throughout the first half. I moved after the interval only to have the most chatty twosome in England behind me this time. Never mind the acts, it's probably the audiences at big gigs that really bother me. But I'll save that for another blog.

Easily the funniest thing I've heard in years. Emma Thompson being interviewed about appearing in the new Brideshead Revisited movie on Film 2008 (and probably on various other promo watering holes too). She says she didn't see the original TV version in 1981 because she was a punk rocker and thus not interested in that sort of thing*

Well, in August 1981 punk rocker Emma Thompson was not in the front row of a UK Subs gig but up at the Edinburgh Festival winning the inaugural Perrier Award with the Cambridge Footlights (Fry, Laurie & co). Take a look at the picture on this website and tell me how punk rock the future Academy Award winner looks to you...

Then again, I've just seen this advert featuring John Lydon plugging Country Life butter. Maybe I missed a meeting and the world has turned upside down.

*In another interview I've just read she says: "I was wandering about in London with chains and black eye-shadow". Can't see any chains in that picture or in the one on this website...

http://footlights.org/1980.html