Charlie Brooker

Charlie Brooker's take on 2012 was enjoyable for many reasons, no more so than the fact it took place after the year had ended - unlike all the other comedy reviews of the year.

Another reason, of course, was because the show covered quite a lot of events that people forgot about; the sinking of the Costa Concordia in January, for example, which Brooker covered by showing the idiotic comparisons made by Entertainment Weekly between Concordia and the film Titanic, including the probing question: "Was Celine Dion playing when it sank?"

There were other decent moments too, but some of these, like the campaign against Joseph Kony and Brooker's mocking of both Kony and the strangely cult-like people campaigning against him, were covered more in-depth by Brooker himself on 10 O'Clock Live. Speaking of which, 10 O'Clock Live also appeared on the show when Brooker covered Jimmy Carr's taxes.

However, when it comes to Brooker the most interesting part is when he stops going on about how awful things are and actually finds the positive things around us. In the case of 2012 it was the Olympics and Paralympics, and while these are, on a whole, not the funniest moments, they do provide us with a glimmer of joy in an otherwise gloriously miserable show.

With more Wipe programmes coming up in February, Brooker's work is perhaps the most satirical comedy around. Other shows should be encouraged to be as cutting and thought-provoking as this is.

Gigglebox weekly #71

This week Ian Wolf gives his nightmare vision of the forthcoming royal birth, learns about a nude swimming pool and hears Charlie Brooker talking positively about something.

Charlie Brooker's 2012 Wipe - Brief Thoughts

For what it's worth, this round-up format always seems kinda rushed to me, and I'd like to see him pick a few bigger topics and do more detailed pieces.

Armchair Paralympian to Paedosavile: my words of 2012

Never mind omnishambles - my personal dictionary tells you all you need to know about the past year.

Easy to mock the cliches of crime dramas in, say, a sketch show; much harder to do it at full length. Charlie Brooker and Daniel Maier managed triumphantly, writing the kind of extended, fizzing spoof that brought back happy memories of the Naked Gun films. It didn't hurt that the cast had form in the genre - leads John Hannah and Suranne Jones have both played detectives in straight dramas and proved just as good at po-faced parody. Plus there were enough throwaway visual gags to make it a DVD banker.

2012's been a great year for Charlie Brooker. His satirical anthology Black Mirror (which, by the way, is coming back early next year) and cop spoof A Touch of Cloth were massive hits, he was named 'Best Comedy Entertainment Personality' at the British Comedy Awards and he welcomed his first child with wife Konnie Huq.

Despite all that though, Charlie still has tons to moan about from the last 12 months in his annual Wipe programme - like the Olympic Games, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the US presidential election. Thankfully we won't have to wait another year for our next slice of Brooker grouching - a new weekly series will follow 2012 Wipe on BBC Two.

As ever in these media-saturated times, there is plenty for Charlie Brooker to sink his satirical teeth into over the last 12 months, though for once, not all of it has been bad. He'll be reflecting on the Olympics, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the jailing of members of Pussy Riot and, of course, the US presidential election in which the Republicans both scared us and added to the gaiety of nations. Limmy, Sharon Horgan and Peter Serafinowicz also contribute.

Not many shows this year, if any, were as hilarious as Charlie Brooker's Sky1 comedy. A Touch of Cloth maintained its alarmingly high rate of jokes throughout the entire two hours, delightfully mocking the clichés of crime procedurals - littering the show with sight gags (the absolutely spot-on opening titles), silly wordplay ("Bi, Jack." "Don't leave!") and one-liners ("Sarge says to go there during the ad break").

It's a genius idea that could have backfired terribly if the execution was lacking. Fortunately, that wasn't the case, and we couldn't stop laughing. The stars - including leads John Hannah and Suranne Jones - brilliantly deadpan the whole script, while Todd Carty's unexpected and inexplicable appearance was the icing on an entertaining cake.

Charlie Brooker on 2012's Christmas adverts

This year's crop of festive high-street commercials feature fey, irritating cover versions and sexist scenarios.

Charlie Brooker triumphs at International Emmys

Black Mirror was amongst the shows to pick up an award at the International Emmy ceremony in New York.