Frank Skinner

Expect an arched eyebrow and plenty of sardonic quips as Sandi Toksvig reprises her role as literary quizmaster. Filmed at the Hay festival, this tongue-in-cheek series invites the likes of Rick Wakeman, Jan Ravens, John O'Farrell and Frank Skinner to test their know-how: whereupon Toksvig will separate the truly bookish from the blusterers. Also parading their Eng. Lit. credentials will be returning team captains Sue Perkins and Chris Addison.

They're trying to spice it up, you know. They're doing online bits, they're trying to make the rounds more interactive-y, they're getting hot young comedians as hosts like, um, Frank Skinner. But at heart it will remain the same. And that's okay, really. It sags a bit sometimes but Hislop and Merton are still capable of raising a laugh and are very rarely compromised. We still have no idea how they vote, despite this being the 32nd series, which is quite interesting.

Frank Skinner is Dave Gorman's guest, and among the ideas competing for the title of "genius" tonight is a face mask lined with razor blades to make shaving easier. That one was a nonstarter. There is a lady who suggests that all maths teachers should have to use dance as a teaching aid. The most popular idea is a proposal to attach prisoners to dynamos as an alternative source of energy. Skinner himself is in favour of it. "I like the idea of old age pensioners saying 'Cycling is too good for them'," he says.

Week two of this clever and entertaining new comedy (new to TV, at least) and host Dave Gorman is joined for this one by Frank Skinner. The idea, remember, is to weigh up viewers' suggestions for a better world, with tonight's ideas including melon-flavoured cucumbers and a cunning new way to power the national grid, using prisoners on exercise bikes.

Skinner and Dee - funny men at work

Dee did his bewildered, world-weary thing perfect well, although it could have been genuine - and frankly was not unreasonable given his team mates. The combination of the comedian, pop singer Stine B and TV presenter Anna Richardson was not a comfortable one. At one point, Richardson said she felt like Dee was her dad at a wedding. Yes, I imagine he did too.

Overall, Skinner took a workmanlike approach to the show. He proved to be a decent captain and, most importantly, helped turn the show into more of an ensemble piece - something that's been lacking since Bill Bailey's departure. Let's hope whoever gets the gig has that skill in spades.

Tell you what, that Frank Skinner's wearing well, judging from the gig being shown on Channel 4 tonight. Mind you, it could be something to do with the fact that Frank Skinner Live At The Birmingham Hippodrome was recorded 11 years ago. Tonight just happens to be the first time it's been televised.

Filmed during a performance at the Hippodrome more than ten years ago, this stand-up routine has become a classic of sorts. Don't be misled by Skinner's look of boy-next-door innocence: roughly two thirds of the material is pure filth, with an entire riff on the subject of what he calls 'the solo road to sexual pleasure'. The content might be dated, but the laughter is loud and infectious.

Following his 2007 stand-up tour comes the first terrestrial showing of Skinner's 1997 performance at the Birmingham Hippodrome. This itself was part of a record-breaking 100-date tour that returned Skinner to the stand-up map. Sex features prominently and it's very saucy indeed, yet his audience never feels the need to squirm.

Rather less amusing was Russell Howard's unbroadcast episode of ITV's Tough Gig, a quickly shelved series in which the likes of Frank Skinner, Dara O'Briain and Patrick Kielty hung out with disparate groups of people for a week before performing comedy to them. 'Hopefully, it'll never appear,' Howard mutters. 'I spent a week with these extreme surfers in Ireland and though it was a lot of fun, I was quite naive about how they would edit it. They left out all the fun to give the gig a sense of jeopardy. Luckily, loads of great stories came out of it that ITV couldn't show. One of these surfers' initiation ceremonies is to go to a post office and try to buy pornography, which led to me being bollocked by a very angry old lady.

Frank Skinner said his favourite sitcom of the moment was Jack Dee's Lead Balloon. A surprising choice, perhaps, because it had more of an impact on BBC4 than it did when it transferred to BBC2, and suffered from comparisons with Curb Your Enthusiasm?

Nonsense, said Skinner. It's the best sitcom that anyone from the comedy circuit has done, obviously I was hoping it would be shit.