Ed Byrne

Dave Allen broke into British TV on Val Doonican's BBC TV show in the mid-1960s, soon graduating to a series of his own where a relaxed raconteur style, cigarette in one hand, glass of whisky in the other, distracted from his daring in choice of topics. Sex, death and religion were well within his witty compass and all, from time to time, got him into trouble with the press. He's been followed by observational comics such as Jack Dee, Dara O'Briain and tonight's presenter Ed Byrne, but he was funnier than any of them.

I was not that impressed by Reunited - Mike Bullen's pilot for a potential comedy drama series about former housemates meeting at a reunion eight years on. Rather than resurrecting dormant friendships, the emotional scars re-open, jealousies resurface and old flames are quickly fanned.

Although Reunited was well constructed and amusingly written, I can't say the pilot left me clamouring for more. The characters just weren't sufficiently appealing. My tolerance for self-satisfied, middle-class thirtysomethings is never strong at the best of times, but this lot struck me as particularly unpleasant - not to mention unbelievable. Even Ed Byrne failed to convince as a charmer, and Ed Byrne is nothing if not charming. I was also deeply offended at the criminal waste of casting Jemima Rooper in a thankless and insipid girlfriend role.

This pilot will probably win a proper commission, which wouldn't be a bad thing. It wasn't badly written (by Cold Feet's Mike Bullen); some fine lines, plenty of frotting looks and the promise of much sex, and you can easily see the overall idea, which is This Life for the Facebook generation. Two worries. First, without there having yet been the space to expand the characters, we've simply seen their situations, and frankly it's hard to care about what happens to any of them; hard, actually, to even like any of them, with the possible exception of Ed Byrne, and even his charmer of a failing photographer - lopsided grin, bedroom eyes, and Ed's doing a fine job following Dylan Moran into this territory - is too unreconstructed to ring quite true. Second, it's this Facebook generation thing, which actually makes you query the whole premise (and, actually, much of Facebook.) Were they really ever such good friends? They've even been brought together under false circumstances, Hannah toying with the idea of ruining one of their forthcoming marriages. As Sara's sister, Fran (Sarah Jane Potts) says, counselling her vulnerable sibling against getting back in with a group she hasn't heard from for eight years and who are likely to hurt her again (while also, of course, shagging one of them), "You can't say that you just 'lost touch'. Because friends don't lose touch." Fair point, actually.

Don't ask Ed Byrne to play squash

Some scripts are easier to write than others. This one came together quite quickly and didn't change massively between the first and final draft. That's either a sign of extreme laziness on my part or - hopefully - an indication that we were in good shape from the start.

Bill Bailey set to headline Greenwich Comedy Festival

Bill Bailey, Adam Hills, Phill Jupitus and Ed Byrne are set to headline Greenwich Comedy Festival's comedy line-up for 2010.

Ed Byrne Interview

Ed Byrne. Globally adored for his easy, chatty style, a household name due to numerous telly appearances, and a much-heard voiceover artist for Carphone Warehouse.

Alternative Christmas cracker jokes

Catherine Tate, Ricky Gervais, Ed Byrne, Chris Addison... can these and other top comedians make your festive dinner go with a bang?

You know what? I've been thinking that TV is complete garbage for ages... and then I realised... I've been watching, and laughing, and enjoying, Mock The Week.

Dara O'Briain, the wonderful, affable giant of a host, is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He looks and sounds for all the world like a bloody nice bloke. That is until he shoot you down with his heat seeking wit.

Same goes for Frankie Boyle. Boyle seems to be more at ease on the telly now, but hasn't lost his (f)ire. He can still pull out the jokes that make you wince and laugh simultaneously, but thankfully, gone are the 'rape' jokes. He's stopped trying too hard.

The rest of the gang are, in fairness, bit part players. That may seem a little unkind, but only Ed Byrne gets a look in when Frankie and Dara go off on one.