Frank Skinner

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.

Sent to a self-discovery commune in Dorset, Frank Skinner lived with them for five days and then had to perform a stand-up routine about his experiences to the commune members, who were understandably afraid of being mocked.

Showing a kinder side to his nature, Skinner very skilfully won them over while poking gentle fun at their foibles, but mainly mocking his own insecurities. It was attractively warm.

The trouble is that the camera had shown us a screamingly funny tantric sex session in which one screechingly quasi-orgasmic woman "really went for it", according to Frank, who laughed uncontrollably to camera. In his act, this was watered down.

Is his responsibility to the joke, the feelings of his victim or telling the truth?

Frank Skinner's Tough Gig dragged the comic from his comedy comfort zone and sent him off to live amongst hippies and huggers at a New Age retreat in Devon. At the end of the week, Skinner had to perform a brand new stand-up routine, based upon his experience, with his former hosts becoming his audience.

What made this programme so delightful was Skinner's positive approach to the task. A lazier, less confident comic would have taken the opportunity to ridicule a particularly soft target. Instead, Skinner was open-minded, sensitive, inquisitive, respectful and polite. He was also, I should add, very funny as well. Being embraced on a regular basis didn't hug all the humour out of him.

Any mockery was of a gentle, affectionate nature. A particularly enthusiastic participant in the tantric sex workshop set Skinner off into an uncontrollable fit of the giggles. "Who puts their arms in the air when they orgasm?" Skinner later asked his video diary. "Unless it's at gunpoint."

By the time Skinner took to the stage, he had so thoroughly ingratiated himself into the community that his "tough gig" must have been one of the easiest he's ever played.

Watching the first episode, two things became apparent: firstly, Frank Skinner isn't actually that funny and bluffs his way through much of the show with a kind of rogue-ish charm; secondly, the respective profiles of Baddiel and Skinner are becoming more and imbalanced. If the audience's reaction was anything to go by, Baddiel is now little more than Skinner's stooge.

Unlike the doomed Sessions, to whom we were almost compelled to feel indebted, Baddiel and Skinner make us feel as though we are their contemporaries. This isn't a performance we're watching, it's a happening (albeit a low-key happening) that we're part of.

I award five funny bones to Health And Efficiency (BBC1) and Bottom (BBC2). Four to Ellen and Roseanne (both Channel 4). Three to Fantasy Football League and Darts (both BBC2). Two to The High Life for Cumming and Masson, a double act working with a pair of scissors.