Channel 5's The Gadget Show try out robot comedian

The Glee Club in Birmingham has revealed that Channel 5 tech programme The Gadget Show are to film the debut TV gig of a robotic stand-up comedian this week.

The Midlands venue will play host to the high-tech android as part of its weekly 'Best In Live Stand-up Comedy' night.

Modelled on presenter Jason Bradbury, 'RoboJase' (pictured) will perform a five minute set alongside professional comedians including Michael Legge and Rob Deering. The bill also features Lee Ridley, the comedian with cerebral palsy who performs with the help of an iPad speech app.

RoboJase will be pre-programmed with material that was tested out via nine performances at Gadget Show Live earlier this month. It is also equipped with advanced facial recognition technology to help it determine which jokes are working.

Jason Bradbury explains: "For any comedian, playing their first major show at one of the UK's top comedy venues can be intimidating. In order to give RoboJase the best chance we are using SHORE (Sophisticated High-Speed Object Recognition Engine) technology, which has been set to detect audience reactions. Out of the top performing jokes we're looking to hone five minutes of material for the discerning Glee Club crowd."

Bradbury, who started his entertainment career as part of a double act with David Walliams, talks about how the project was first formed: "The idea for RoboJase came about when North One TV, makers of The Gadget Show, tasked us with replacing ourselves with artificial intelligence in Series 15. Since then RoboJase has developed from a talking head to a life-size fully functioning robot. Naturally I'd like to keep my job, so we thought we'd test him out on the comedy circuit instead, a career I set aside to work on The Gadget Show."

Bradbury and fellow Gadget Show presenter Rachel Riley will be in attendance at the club on Thursday (14th November 2013) to witness the performance.

Glee Club owner Mark Tughan says: "Technology tends to get a bad press in comedy routines, whether its Peter Kay's nana getting to grips with the answering machine or Flight of the Conchords' song The Humans Are Dead, so it'll be interesting hearing what technology makes of us.

"While we're sure RoboJase will do well, we've booked some top comics just in case his material flops. At the Glee Club we regularly feature the best up-and-coming new acts on the scene, so if he does perform well it could be the start of a whole new career for RoboJase."

The footage of RoboJase in action is planned to be broadcast as part of the Monday 16th December 2013 edition of The Gadget Show.