Frankie Boyle

What more could you want from a panel show than the brilliant Frankie Boyle and Andy Parsons? Well, probably just one more thing - the sharp and sure David Mitchell, always a hoot on these sorts of things. His fellow guest is the likeably down-to-earth Sarah Millican.

The funniest thing that's ever resulted from this show is definitely Newsnight having to repeat Frankie Boyle's joke about the queen. The repetition is absolutely hilarious. She's shouting at him by the end, and he's her boss. Anyway, this week will see Frankie Boyle try to make the sickest joke about Jacko, Hugh Dennis doing a rubbish impression, Russel Howard letting himself down by gooning and Andy Parsons delivering lines in a really irritating "de-de-DEE, de-de-dur" fashion. Of the guests, Frank Skinner will be laconic and Gina 'Did I mention that my parents are Nigerian?' Yashere will be practically edited out. Really, it's not awful.

Other than the editor and owners of The Daily Telegraph, the only folk actively praying for the expenses ballyhoo to continue are Dara O'Briain, Russell Howard, Frankie Boyle, Hugh Dennis and that bloke who looks like Matt Lucas' character out of Krod Mandoon (Andy Parsons). Let's hope they make the most of it as guests Frank Skinner and Gina Yashere join the teams.

Frankie Boyle Interview

The Radio Times dares to quiz Frankie Boyle, the mocker-in-chief.

The topical comedy show returns for a new, 13-part series. No matter how funny it gets or how outrageous resident panellist Frankie Boyle tries to be, for comedy value it'll be hard to beat Newsnight's Emily Maitlis relaying one of Boyle's ruder lines - which modesty prevents from repeating here, but is available on YouTube - to BBC director general Mark Thomson.

Creating comedy from controversy demands more than regulars Marcus Brigstocke and Rufus Hound merely spouting near-nonsense loudly and provocatively. Still, the guests in this show, including Dara O'Briain, Johnny Vegas and Frankie Boyle, show how it's done.

Another BBC clampdown

The BBC has promised to take tighter control of Radio 4 comedy Political Animal, following a complaint that a Frankie Boyle gag was anti-semitic. One listener complained that the programme used the word 'Jew' in an offensive way - and the BBC Trust agreed. Ironically, one of the show's hosts, stand-up John Oliver, is Jewish.

Frankie Boyle can add the people of Norwich to the increasingly lengthy list of those whom he has offended during his guest slot on the debating panel show this week. Phill Jupitus also appears, spending most of the time in hysterics when Marcus Brigstocke invents a new word. Still very funny.

Never mind the other panellists... here's Frankie Boyle

The Guardian says that acerbic standup Frankie Boyle is the not only saving grace of Mock the Week, he is also the antidote to the smug and anaemic world of primetime comedy

The impressive thing about this featherweight panel game (apart from how funny it manages to be) is how hard it often is to tell when the panellists are lying and when they're telling the truth. I know they're all professional performers, so we shouldn't be surprised, but even so. There are exceptions, of course: at one stage Frankie Boyle, famous as a comedian red in tooth and claw, finds it hard to pretend that he once wrote a collection of love poems, but it's still fun watching him try - not very hard.