Adam Hills

Channel 4's annual charity event returns with a troupe of performers large enough to make the Polyphonic Spree look on in envy. As ever, it's a mix of the established and the incipient, so Jo Brand and Jonathan Ross line up alongside men of the moment Adam Hills and Josh Widdicombe. Elsewhere, comedians dancing seems to be a thing just now, so Miranda Hart and Warwick Davis duly join up with Diversity to show off their moves, while Russell Brand absents himself from Hollywood to partake in some audience interaction.

This week's new live comedy

Reviews include Adam Hills and Micky Flanagan.

Adam Hills: this much I know

The comedian, 42, on sandals, politeness and being disabled.

This news-comedy show was the unexpected star of the 2012 Paralympic Games: led by comedian Adam Hills, its irreverent round-up of the day's events won a following all of its own. So much so that it's now back, not to comment on sport but simply on the week's news. That's a crowded marketplace in which The Last Leg has found a niche: along with the wry, sideways look at some of the quirkier stories you might have missed, there' a convivial, inclusive atmosphere that softens the sharpness of the gags.

What do you call a comic with a positive slant? Adam Hills

Adam Hills is the comedian with one foot whom David Cameron and Samantha Cameron like to watch while in bed.

Another entertaining alternative review of the week with the team behind the popular Paralympics comedy round-up. Comedians Adam Hills and Josh Widdicombe are joined by guests who have been in the news this week, plus there are live studio challenges and sports reporter Alex Brooker gives us another update on his continuing quest to qualify for the 2016 Paralympics in Rio.

Having become something of a success during the Paralympics last year, Channel 4 has brought back this live chat show looking at the week's events - and trying to ask questions no-one else would.

Hosted by Adam Hills (disabled - one foot), and featuring contributions from Josh Widdicombe (not disabled) and sports journalist Alex Brooker (disabled - one leg, hand deformities), The Last Leg features interviews with guests (this week it's actor Idris Elba - not disabled), as well as topical discussion.

However, the main feature is the contributions from online, especially under the Twitter hashtag #IsItOk, where people are encouraged to ask more uncomfortable and difficult questions, without fear of judgement. In this case I would like to ask my own question: #IsItOk that the mentally disabled get so much less TV coverage than the physically disabled?

I ask this because I'm disabled myself, but my disability is Asperger's syndrome. It's something I have written about before but I'm willing to bring it up again; the only disabled people you ever see on TV are those who look different, whether it's in terms of their appearance (e.g. missing limbs) or whether have to use some form of equipment (e.g. artificial feet). If you're disabled but look perfectly normal - because the part of you that's been affected is your brain, like mine is - then you might as well forget getting any coverage.

Over the next few days the Winter Special Olympics, which are the games for the mentally disabled, will be held in South Korea. The amount of coverage being given to it is minimal. The British have got seven alpine skiers going to the games, but will we see their efforts on national television? I somehow doubt we will. I fear that the names Wayne McCarthy, Jane Andrews, Mikael Undrom, Elizabeth Allen, Luke Purdie, Clare Lines and Robert Holden will not be remembered, or even acknowledged by most people.

However, for what it does, The Last Leg seems to cover most things rather well. My main problem, other than what I have already mentioned, is that half-an-hour seems too short. A live show like this needs more airtime to get comfortable.

Radio Times review

Ross welcomes two Australians into his green room. Rose Byrne came to most people's notice as the heroine of TV thriller Damages, then shot to another level of fame in Bridesmaids. Given how pretty and talented she is, expect Ross to get a little overheated. The host of Channel 4's late-night talk show, Adam Hills, is also around.

Adam Hills: Comedy shouldn't aim to offend

Digital Spy caught up with Adam Hills ahead of The Last Leg's return to talk about whether the Paralympics really had a lasting legacy, his worst ever heckles, and if he finds Frankie Boyle offensive.

Jonathan Ross - who, depending on your taste, is either likeably energetic or irritatingly garrulous - is tonight joined by Australian actress Rose Byrne (Damages, Bridesmaids). She'll be discussing her role in the new British romcom I Give It a Year. In the studio, too, are comedian Adam Hills, whose news review show The Last Leg has become a cult hit, and entertainer Jools Holland. Music comes from Alicia Keys.