Alan Carr

"A roast is where we show someone we love them by constantly ridiculing them. It's a bit like a marriage," explains host Jimmy Carr, as he lines Barbara Windsor up for the affectionate comedy drubbing. After 50 years in showbiz, she has plenty of friends willing to step up and insult her age, upbringing and career, including Bernard Cribbins, Christopher Biggins, Sean Lock and Alan Carr. Although the jokes are cruel, it's surprisingly loving, and more wholesome than it seems.

"A roast is where we show someone how much we love them by constantly ridiculing them. It's a bit like a marriage," says host Jimmy Carr in one of the funnier lines from tonight's "tribute" to Barbara Windsor. For reasons known only to herself, the 73-year-old Carry On actress agreed to sit through this hour of public humiliation at the hands of comedians such as Alan Carr, Patrick Kielty and Rich Hall. Although some of the observations are affectionate, they're mostly cruel jokes about her age and sexual history. Windsor gets her own back with a scathing riposte at the end, but otherwise it's pretty uncomfortable viewing.

Remember what 50-year-old Mary Bale threw into a wheelie bin, briefly bagging her the title of most hated woman in Britain? And ten points and a moulding turkey leg to anyone who can name the lady Gordon Brown dubbed "ignorant" during his doomed election campaign? Jimmy Carr knows, but do the celebrities whose agents have signed them up to be interrogated on his daft end of year quiz? These include Jonathan Ross, Ruth Jones, Alan Carr and Michael McIntyre. But Channel 4 haven't yet let slip who the A-list question-setters are - previous guest coups included Bono, Ricky Gervais and Quentin Tarantino. Let's hope the celebs have been devouring the tabloids all year on the off chance that they're called upon to regurgitate it with an amusing trim, for a generous fee, naturally.

If you've decided to spend New Year's Eve on the sofa, this feast of funny will see you through a hefty chunk of the evening. Earlier this year, two dozen of the nation's finest comics performed at London's O2 Arena to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital. They included Bill Bailey, Alan Carr (both backed by Stomp), Ricky Gervais and Catherine Tate. Not that it'll affect your viewing experience at home but, in case you're interested, this comedy extravaganza (first broadcast in April) was the self-proclaimed biggest stand-up show in UK history.

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are Radio 2's red hot (now that they've stopped doing TV) signings. The big coup is having Miranda Hart among the special guests. As she is undoubtedly the best new TV comedian in ages, sharper than Donal McIntyre, wittier than John Bishop, infinitely funnier than Alan Carr, more likeable than all three, this should be fun, especially as she'll bring her real-life mother for the Me and My Mum segment.

Alan Carr wants to reunite with Justin Lee Collins

Alan Carr wants to work with Justin Lee Collins again.

Another Monday; another hour of Alan Carr squawking at celebrities in the name of light entertainment. This week, the guests included Cheryl Cole, Michael McIntyre and the unfathomable loudness of Stacey Solomon, all of whom were surrounded by tinsel and general festive tat, just in case we'd forgotten that Christmas was almost upon us.

Jungle queen Stacey and jungle profanity-provider Shaun Ryder appeared first on the show, covering such topics as Gillian McKeith and Solomon's disastrous appearance on the X Factor final.

The questions were rightly light-hearted and as the always-watchable McIntyre came on to talk about his impending Britain's Got Talent gig, the show became even more festively cheery.

All that energy seemed to rub off on our host, as his pre-chat stand-up was on much better form than last week and he generally seemed less nervous, bouncing off his sprightly guests.

But what would happen when the omnipresent Ms. Cole came on stage? Could she maintain the energy of the programme? It seemed unlikely, given her propensity to talk at a speed suggestive of strong sedative consumption.

Sure enough, once an ill-advised acoustic performance of one of Cheryl's songs was out of the way, the show got bogged down in conversation about X Factor controversies. As Cole (very slowly) defended herself, it all became a bit bleak, but she soon perked up and though she did discuss her brush with malaria, not a single tear was shed.

This show is only ever going to be as good as its guests and tonight it was very good indeed.

Alan Carr dresses up as Lady GaGa

Alan Carr has gone GaGa, taking on one of the pop star's most bizarre costumes.

Alan Carr returned tonight with a new series of Chatty Man and a plethora of half-decent guests, including David Hasselhoff, Colin Farrell and Cee Lo Green.

It would be all to easy to compare his talk show to Graham Norton's Friday-night programme and indeed, it would also be unfair to do so, because Alan Carr's efforts amount to nothing more than a pale imitation of Norton's show.

Without the celebratory atmosphere of a primetime weekend slot, Chatty Man felt listless and tired, which is never a good sign for a series-opener. As Carr limped through a weak preamble full of forgettable gags, he appeared to be lagging before the show had even started.

His first guest was David Hasselhoff, whose main purpose seemed to be providing a variety of Hoff-based puns (most notably, 'f*** hoff' and 'six-and-a-hoff') but who struggled to command the full attention of both the audience and Carr himself.

In fact, the host appeared slightly distracted throughout the programme and as the endless stream of guests flowed on, his focus waned and he seemed to be listening to them less and less.

Carr is an amiable little chap, but given that he's suppose to be a comedian, his jokes were far too thin on the ground. When the cast of The Inbetweeners discussed their show's success, they outshone him to a considerable extent.

The boys were witty and charming, but they pretty much led their own interview, a large portion of which centred on the burgeoning career of Joe Thomas' left testicle.

Unless Chatty Man can pull in more guests like them, this series is going to be a disappointing one.

Alan Carr's Chatty Man is the right talkshow for now

Who needs the pretentious over-emoting of other chatshow hosts? It may be frivolous, but Alan Carr's innuendo-filled banter works for me.