David Mitchell (I)

Mitchell and Carr host election night comedy on C4

Channel 4 is to offer a satirical alternative to swingometers and exit polls on election night, with a four-hour live comedy marathon hosted by David Mitchell and Jimmy Carr.

For this two-hour bonanza in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity, Channel 4 recently assembled 24 of Britain's best comedians to perform in front of a live audience at the O2 arena in London. So - deep breath - Jack Dee, Andy Parsons, David Mitchell, Fonejacker, Jack Whitehall, Jo Brand, James Corden, Jason Manford, John Bishop, Kevin Bridges, Kevin Eldon, Lee Evans, Mark Watson, Michael McIntyre, Noel Fielding, Patrick Kielty, Rich Hall, Rob Brydon, Ruth Jones, Sean Lock, Catherine Tate and Shappi Khorsandi take turns on stage to make it the biggest live stand-up show in British history. If that's not enough for you, Alan Carr and Bill Bailey perform with Stomp and Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Johnny Depp provide additional sketches.

Now here's a treat for an Easter Monday night; just as you look back fondly on the four-day bank holiday weekend and look forward not too fondly to returning to work tomorrow, Channel 4 have taken it upon themselves to cheer you up. They've skimmed the cream of comedy talent for a gala night dedicated to making us laugh, while raising funds for the Great Ormond Street Hospital's Children's Charity. The night will fund two new anaesthetic rooms, allowing parents to stay with their children right up until they enter the operating theatre. Make sure you watch tomorrow's brilliant documentary, Great Ormond Street (9pm BBC2), to get some idea of the astonishing work done at the hospital. The cast of comics is a glittering one: David Mitchell, Bill Bailey, Catherine Tate, Jack Dee, James Corden, Jo Brand, Jonathan Ross and many, many others will perform stand-up routines in front of a capacity crowd at the massive O2 Arena in London. As a nice little bonus, Robert Webb, Ricky Gervais, Derren Brown and Johnny Depp, who can't be there in person, have filmed comic sketches especially for the night.

This stand-up comedy show at the O2 Arena in London features a barnstorming roll-call of British comedians all stepping up to the mic in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. The bill includes Alan Carr, Bill Bailey, Catherine Tate, David Mitchell, The Fonejacker, Jack Dee, Jo Brand, Lee Evans, Michael McIntyre, Noel Fielding, Patrick Kielty, Rich Hall, Rob Brydon and Shappi Khorsandi. If you can't find somebody in that list who makes you laugh, it's possible that you have, indeed, had all your funny bones surgically removed.

I've taken a while to get round to this panel game, and can hardly believe it has already embarked on its fifth series, yet it does seem curiously appropriate to our times. Whereas a format like Just a Minute relies on old-fashioned verbal fluency, the success of this show, developed by Graeme Garden, rests on the modern taste for factoids coupled with our newfound habit of subjecting everything we hear to a kind of plausibility pre-screening.

The likeable David Mitchell, who has managed in a very short time to step into Stephen Fry's commodious shoes, rules with a kind of brainy decency and surely has Radio 4 engraved on his heart. But the result is quirky rather than hilarious.

Up for discussion were beer, babies and spiders and among the diverting facts that emerged were that "most babies cry in the key of A", that Germany has a unique species of flea that is only found near beer-mats, and that Isaac Newton's only reported speech in the House of Commons as an MP was to ask someone to close the window.

Some of the alleged truths seemed a bit suspect to me, though. A spider is the only animal that sleeps on its back, for example. What about my cat, as I and a lot of other listeners protested? Then again, these truths are probably as reliable as anything else you'll hear this side of a general election.

Radio Review: The Unbelievable Truth

Everything about this Radio 4 panel show, hosted by David Mitchell, is a delight, says Elisabeth Mahoney.

Charity gigs come in all shapes and sizes, from a bunch of stand-ups passing the hat round in a room above a pub to this, a Channel 4-backed night to benefit Great Ormond Street which features one of the most celeb-heavy lineups you're likely to see anywhere this year. As Peep Show is unequivocally the network's biggest comedy hit in recent years, it's all the more fitting to have David Mitchell as one of the main attractions, doing a relatively rare live turn. Among those joining him at the O2 are Channel 4 regulars like Sean Lock, Jack Whitehall and the Fonejacker, but the net's also been spread wide enough to include the likes of Jonathan Ross and Gavin & Stacey stars Ruth Jones and James Corden. And given the charity involved, you can't rule out a last-minute cameo from Sir Alan Sugar. If you can't get a ticket, you'll be able to see the whole thing on TV next month.

It's a good remake - written, performed and produced by talented professionals - but of a brilliant original. Why do we have a broadcasting environment where the skills displayed in the remake aren't channelled into a new idea, a different comic take on a middle-aged man undergoing a breakdown, rather than an attempt to recreate the unbetterable. I expect those that made and commissioned it would argue that the remake actually was a new take. Well, if so, have the confidence to give it a new name, to forget the original other than as a subliminal influence, rather than to piggy-back on people's fondness for it and consequently dilute their perception of its excellence.

What We've Been Watching: The Bubble

On the face of it, the show's premise might sound a little dull and repetitive. But The Bubble is presented by the endearing and razor-sharp David Mitchell. Watching him banter with some of comedy's keenest observers and broadcasting's sharpest minds is a joy.

The Bubble 1.3 review

After three episodes, I find it amusing enough to pass the time (mainly because of David Mitchell's celebrated wit), but the game itself doesn't involve me until the final quick-fire round.