A former parliamentary researcher, theatre PR and gossip columnist, Julian Hall has been the comedy critic of The Independent since 2003. His book, The Rough Guide to British Cult Comedy, was published in 2006 and he was a judge for the comedy awards in 2007 and 2008. As well as numerous appearances on radio and television Julian wrote the Radio 2 series Alexei Sayle's Alternative Take. In 2009 he became the first journalist from a British national newspaper to extensively cover the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal.