Frank Skinner

This isn't the first time Frank Skinner has paid tribute to music hall star George Formby. At The Secret Policeman's Ball in 2008, Skinner performed a highly amusing (and YouTube-able) ditty about Osama bin Laden on a ukelele in the manner of Formby, complete with OTT Lancashire vowels. In this biopic, Skinner plays some of his real-life songs, charts his rise to fame and looks at the exploitation that surrounded his sudden death.

The most loquacious comedy on the airwaves comes to a close this week as the verbose partners from hell fall out over celery, Androcles and the lion and the use of parentheses on notes stuck to the fridge door. Frank Skinner's writing has been a revelation.

There's a lot of Frank Skinner in this affectionate appraisal of the life and times of George Formby but that's not such a bad thing, particularly as Skinner proves adept at playing the ukulele, the instrument associated with the toothy comic. Formby made a mint from his role as the king of the underdog and Skinner aims to find out why he was so loved.

I once sat through an edition of Would I Lie to You? without laughing. No, you're right - that's a lie. You try keeping a straight face as Sarah Millican tells the story of what she did when caught short while stuck in her car in a traffic jam. Or as Jon Richardson turns into "Trevor Travel-Planner" in his attempt to discredit Frank Skinner's tale about being taken to A&E in an ice-cream van while on holiday. But it's Lee Mack and David Mitchell who steal everyone's thunder with their by now familiar posh-versus-common, southern-versus-northern tirades.

My secret life: Frank Skinner, comedian, 54

An interview with Frank Skinner.

Frank Skinner's show changes tune for Absolute Radio

Absolute presenter's Saturday show will also air on four digital stations, with different music for each but the same links.

Divine comedy: how sacred is stand-up?

Catholic comedian Frank Skinner wants stand-ups to take on the so-called 'atheist establishment'. But does this even exist?

Subversive believers will have the last laugh (Frank Skinner)

Frank Skinner is in good company with his attack on the atheist establishment.

Frank Skinner: Ant and Dec are pure evil

Frank Skinner has branded Ant and Dec "pure evil" in an over-the-top comic rant about their latest game show.

Frank Skinner: Atheists are a threat

Frank Skinner has claimed that atheists are as big a threat to humanity as climate change deniers.