Frank Skinner

Frank Skinner: 'I thought I had lost everything'

Comedian Frank Skinner relives the moment he got the call saying the financial crisis could cost him all his money.

Frank Skinner rediscovers the stand-up bug

The comedian returns to the live stage with Man In A Suit - his first stand-up tour for seven years.

The best comedy podcasts

Pete Naughton's regularly updated selection of the best comedy podcasts, including Eddie Izzard, Frank Skinner and Richard Herring.

The gloves are off as a trio of talent show presenters go head-to-head-to-head. Bake Off's Sue Perkins turns up the heat as she tries to convince Frank Skinner mime artists should be silenced once and for all - and will Hair's raven-maned Steve Jones and Strictly's alarmingly décolleté Bruno Tonioli be able to conjure up pet hates to counter her case? Flat-pack furniture and gym etiquette are among the subjects nominated for eternal damnation.

Radio Times review

Radio Times still has in its trophy cabinet a golden bowling pin that our crack team won in Frank Skinner's press invitational bowling tournament some years ago (narrowly beating The One Show). So it's no surprise that the host isn't sympathetic when Sue Perkins suggests consigning one of his favourite sports to Room 101. Instead, he upstages it with a clip of "cat laser bowling", a heartless pastime that cat lovers should on no account watch.

Perkins is on good form, though. She describes a mime artist as "a clown you can't hear coming" and mail-order clothing catalogues as "40 pages of wan nymphets in clogs". Also on the panel are Steve Jones and, showing a ridiculous amount of chest, Bruno Tonioli.

Radio Times review

Who would have thought that Aled Jones could ever have experienced anything more alarming than the moment his voice broke. But apparently he did and the story he tells tonight elicits gasps from the studio audience and makes his fellow guests (stand-up comedian Josh Widdicombe and DJ Sara Cox) squirm uncomfortably.

Among this week's pet hates nominated for Room 101 are slogan T-shirts, car lashes (yes, false eyelashes for your headlights), fish bones, dill and The Lord of the Rings. Despite Josh Widdicombe's efforts, the best jokes still come from Frank Skinner, who does a fabulous impression of a Tyrannosaurus Rex trying to eat its dinner from a plate, and a laughable attempt at crowd surfing.

Radio Times review

Another enjoyable meander through the gripes of the rich and famous. The temptation is for celebrity guests to overstate their bugbears. Are sliding doors truly "an abomination", Miles Jupp? Is there really "nothing worse" than people with limp handshakes, Kelly Hoppen? But Frank Skinner always has a nice way of either undercutting the grumbles or trumping them with a funnier observation of his own. ("Don't you find that litter can brighten an otherwise grey pavement?" he enquires of Vernon Kay.)

The host also has viral video clips at his fingertips that are worth the price of admission on their own: tonight, the classic moment when a sleeping commuter is swept aside by sliding train doors, plus a man doing the washing up overreacts to a shock from his daughter.

Video: The internet interviews... Frank Skinner

West Bromwich's comedy superstar Frank Skinner is currently back on stage for the first time in seven years. So, given the opportunity to have a quick chat with the 57-year-old stand-up, we asked him the five most Googled questions about himself.

Frank Skinner talks stand-up return

Frank Skinner makes his long-awaited return to stand-up comedy touring later this year, taking his Man in a Suit shows nationwide after a successful short stint of shows in London at the end of 2013.