David Mitchell (I)

This new ITV1 documentary sees Ronnie Corbett meeting up with some of his favourite comedians, past and present, while also looking back at key comedy moments.

As a result, this programme, on the whole, is not going to suit a die-hard comedy fan; because it covers lots of things that they will already know about, such as how The Two Ronnies came together, or the early radio history of Little Britain. This show is really more for the casual comedy observer who wants to learn more.

One thing that got me thinking, however, was that this first episode was all about comedy partnerships. However, Corbett didn't actually meet up with any double acts - just half of them, namely Miranda Hart, Stephen Merchant, David Mitchell, Matt Lucas and John Cleese (although admittedly there is a very good reason why Cleese's comedy partner was not on, seeing as how Graham Chapman has been dead for over 20 years).

If anything, this show seemed to be a comedian's version of Jim'll Fix It, with Corbett giving many of his comedians some exciting experiences. For example he allowed Miranda Hart to walk on to a stage where Morecambe and Wise had one of their greatest ever stage shows to the tune of "Bring Me Sunshine". Another segment saw Corbett getting Merchant a brand new tailor-made suit; another featured Corbett doing a Little Britain radio sketch, attempting to do Vicky Pollard - badly.

To be honest I was almost expecting Corbett to be sitting in his chair, holding a cigar and saying something along the lines of: "Now then, now then, I've got a letter from a Jim Davidson of London what says; 'Dear Ronnie, I haven't been on telly for years due to no-one liking my act because it is racist. So could you fix it for me to appear on your show?' Well, goodness gracious, unfortunately Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain does have a very tight budget, so Jim how would you like it if Ronnie fixed it for you to sing with the black and white minstrels?"

Having said all this I did like some of the archive clips that they showed, graphically onto any flat surface such as walls, clothing displays and theatre curtains. Some of them also featured clips I hadn't heard before such as one clip from The Goon Show which I found absolutely hilarious.

So, this show does contain the odd comedy laugh that you won't have heard of 50 times already, but other than that it is just a series of interviews and pleasant surprises.

If you have never seen Monty Python's parrot sketch, or are unfamiliar with Eric Morecambe's demolition of "Andrew Preview" ("I am playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order"), then this is for you. Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain is a handy primer for anyone who needs to work on their history of British comedy. For everyone else, it's an easy-going, if sometimes uncomfortably loose, hour of very familiar comedians talking about comedy. As Corbett is beloved of the new wave of Brit-coms - he had cameos in Extras, where he snorted cocaine from a toilet seat, and Little Britain, where he was confronted by the grotesque Bubbles DeVere - his pals are modish. So he has an odd little interlude with Miranda Hart, whom he accompanies to the Fairfield Halls in Croydon, spiritual home of Hart's beloved Morecambe and Wise. Then Corbett has lunch with Stephen Merchant, a picnic on a punt with David Mitchell and afternoon tea with John Cleese. And with Matt Lucas he tries to be Vicky Pollard, and is terrible.

David Mitchell defends Little Britain

Peep Show star David Mitchell has defended a recent slur on Little Britain after an Observer writer branded it 'cold-hearted' and 'nasty'.

David Mitchell's best rants

David may play a timid sort of fella in Peep Show but in real life he's a satirical tiger, like Rambo with a copy of Private Eye tucked under his arm. Always railing against the system, crushing politicians with his wit and going off on one about unfairness, David's a people's champion with a side parting. Here's a guide to some of his best rants to date.

For those not aware of this show, The Unbelievable Truth is a panel game, and as is law when it comes to panel games, it involves David Mitchell.

He acts as host of "the panel game built on truth and lies", in which four comics deliver a lecture on a subject which is mostly lies, except for five pieces of unlikely true information which have to be smuggled past the rest of the panel.

In this week's edition, Tony Hawks gave a 'lecture' on mice, Arthur Smith on Sir Walter Raleigh, Rhod Gilbert on soup, and Mitchell's 10 O'Clock Live co-star Charlie Brooker on his specialist subject of television.

The show is rather like QI, in that it is partly about unlikely trivia. Among the things mentioned were the fact that Bruce Forsyth first appeared on the TV before World War Two began and that Raleigh's widow kept his severed head in a velvet bag which she carried around with her (although this fact has already been on QI).

Mind you, a lot of the lies mentioned are things you really hope are true, such as Swindon having a "Day of the mouse" in which the mice get to rule the town, or Raleigh farting during the coronation of Charles I.

My only problem with The Unbelievable Truth is that I think some of the facts might be wrong. One of the things that regularly crop up is obscure but daft American laws, like how in Nebraska you have to brew soup if you are also selling beer. I always suspect that these 'laws' are just made up and just included because they sound funny.

David Mitchell: What real harm can one little cross do?

We spend too much time listening to small minorities who are incensed by other small minorities.

Channel 4's 10 O'Clock Live does show some signs of structural adjustment, which, coincidentally or not, address objections made by reviewers of January's opening programme.

Critics complained, for example, that the content was relentlessly verbal - with Jimmy Carr, Charlie Brooker and David Mitchell delivering exaggerated rants in rotation - and, in the progress to last Thursday's 12th edition (of a scheduled first series of 15), the visual material has progressively increased. Carr's opening monologue is now illustrated with punningly captioned pictures, and the comedian also performs more and more dressing-up sketches.

Two flaws, though, are stubbornly consistent. Lauren Laverne, whose original duties amounted to little more than introducing the boys, has not been permitted much evolution, and the first show's unrelieved liberal agenda continues: the four main performers, the majority of the guests and most of the audience seem to be on the same side over most of the issues.

Even so, I think this show can justifiably claim to have suffered at the beginning from the seeming eagerness of some journalists, bloggers and tweeters to see Carr, Mitchell and Brooker flop: late-night satire shows have generally launched newcomers, and there was a slightly smug sense of a celebrity benefit concert about this one. But, three months on, 10 O'Clock Live maintains a high gag rate and, last week, a terrific bust-up over phone-hacking between John Prescott and a News of the World journalist.

Mitchell accuses Radio Times of stitch-up

David Mitchell has used his Observer column this week to air an apparent grudge against that most malicious and manipulative of UK media outlets... the Radio Times.

More standups in the return of Charlie Brooker's So Wrong It's Right show on Thursday on Radio 4. This is a strange show. Brooker is a scurrilously witty man, but his humour, like David Mitchell's, lies in his anger. There is no anger in this programme. And although it purports to be about failure - asking its competitors to tell anecdotes about when they've made fools of themselves - it's actually about comedians shoe-horning little bits of their routines on to the radio. In the hope of getting more broadcasting work.

No joke as BBC college of comedy is binned

A BBC training scheme that was set up to nurture emerging comedy writers and endorsed by leading creative talents such as Armando Iannucci and David Mitchell has been scrapped after it failed to secure funding for a fourth year.