<?php
                                        global $wpdb;
                                        $recent_comments = "SELECT DISTINCT ID, post_title, post_password, comment_ID, comment_post_ID, comment_author, comment_author_email, comment_date_gmt, comment_approved, comment_type, comment_author_url, SUBSTRING(comment_content,1,110) AS com_excerpt FROM $wpdb->comments LEFT OUTER JOIN $wpdb->posts ON ($wpdb->comments.comment_post_ID = $wpdb->posts.ID) WHERE comment_approved = '1' AND comment_type = '' AND post_password = '' ORDER BY comment_date_gmt DESC LIMIT $number";
                    $the_comments = $wpdb->get_results($recent_comments);
                    foreach ($the_comments as $comment) { ?>

<div class="block-item-small"> <?php echo get_avatar($comment, '50'); ?>
  <h2><?php echo strip_tags($comment->comment_author); ?> says:</h2>
  <a class="comment-text-side" href="<?php echo get_permalink($comment->ID); ?>#comment-<?php echo $comment->comment_ID; ?>" title="<?php echo strip_tags($comment->comment_author); ?> on <?php echo $comment->post_title; ?>"><?php echo string_limit_words(strip_tags($comment->com_excerpt), 12); ?>...</a> </div>
<?php } ?>