Karen Koren - A year is a long time in comedy but the Balloon show goes on

TODAY marks my first year of writing a column for The Guide and I’m chuffed that I have managed to think of things to ponder every week for a full 12 months.

I spoke to a former columnist for the Scotland On Sunday, a sister paper of the Evening News, and he told me that he was fine for a year and then the material started to peter out... I’m going to keep going. I hope!

I’m just having to decide what would interest readers. I know what I want to tell you, but sometimes worry that it will get me into trouble.

Time to change the subject... we, that is my producer/director, editor and I, are at the final stages of a series for BBC Scotland. I never thought it would be so hard to make a television series. There are so many rules and regulations, people to please and views to be listened to.

Next week we go into the recording studio to record the voice over, which is being recorded by Lynn Ferguson, who now lives in Los Angeles and has been writing comedy for her brother Craig, star of the Late Late Show on CBS.

Lynn is one of 12 writers, which is not a lot for a show that size. I understand David Letterman has 40 writers - and it’s not even that funny.

Craig’s show on the other hand is funny and very clever. Lynn is our icing on the cake as we have more than 40 comics in the series from Johnny Vegas to Russell Brand, Rich Hall to Dara O’Briain, Bill Bailey to Adam Hills, Ross Noble to Russell Howard, Daniel Kitson and so many more.

The premise is that we interview the comics and show them the footage of their performance at Late’n’Live (the Late Show at the Gilded Balloon which has been going 25 years). They then reminisce about what was going on then. It’s funny and interesting all at the same time.

Hopefully viewers will think so too. The big question is when it will hit TV screens. Well, watch this space and I will be the first to tell you.