Yeh ive noticed the beard getting longer and longer. Love the bit where he goes 'if i walk into a school playground with this beard how long is it before parents take their children away' LOL
2) I think i saw a advert that Frankie was doing another stand up tour, so he probably doesn't want to give away all his new material. When he was on live at the Apollo the majority of jokes he used i had already heard on mock the week.
My Dad used to say 'fight fire with fire' which is why he got thrown out of the the fire brigade
Who knows, perhaps he's growing that beard for comedy purposes so he can make jokes like that one? Would be a bit of an extreme measure to go to in order to make jokes though.
2) I've just taken that as the makers feeling Frankie is starting to dominate the show so they've cut back on his stand up parts.