Humphrey Ker

BBC Three has launched a new comedy show starring a comedian called Russell, to go alongside its other big comedy series, also starring a comedian called Russell.

Live at the Electric is a show which mixes stand-up from Russell Kane with sketches and songs from a huge range of different performers: Humphrey Ker, Nick Helm, and American Hari Kondabolu, as well as sketch troupes Two Episodes of Mash, Jigsaw, Wittank, Lady Garden and Totally Tom.

As with any show featuring so many acts, the quality varies from skit to skit. However, you can almost find something you like. For me, my favourite moment was Wittank's sketch in which a man finishes a job interview, only for his suitcase to open a huge torrent of porn mags falls out of it.

If I were to criticise anything it would be the camera work, mainly duringl Kane's stand-up. I don't mind it if it cuts to Kane talking to camera, but often it would cut to a shot from the back of the stage, filming through a broken window for the supposed purposes of being cool. No, just stick to Kane, or the audience reaction. Don't cut it so you can't actually see anyone.

I would urge readers to give Live at the Electric a go, partly because it's highly entertaining but mainly because it attracted less than half-a-million viewers when it went out on Thursday. So it will only be a matter of time before Zai Bennent, head of BBC Three, axes this along with the rest of the channel's comedy output...

Russell Kane presents the sort of show we've all been crying out for: a showcase for various up-and-coming comedians.

Kane introduces sets from Joe Wilkinson (the scruffy oddball upstairs in Him & Her), Diane Morgan, Nick Helm and the Helmettes, and Totally Tom. We're promised music, short films and sketches as well as stand-up, with sketches tonight from Lady Garden, Jigsaw, WitTank, Humphrey Ker and Hari Kondabolu. That's a lot of names to squash into half an hour, so the pace should be quick.

A profoundly off-topic chat with Humphrey Ker

The tall one from The Penny Dreadfuls; the posh one from The Penny Dreadfuls; The Penny Dreadful who won last year's Edinburgh Fringe best show prize. Humphrey Ker is many things to many different people, but what's roundly agreed is that Dymock Watson: Nazi Smasher, which is passing through London on Monday and is doing one week at Edinburgh this summer before being retired, is a wonderful show.

Heroes, Nazis & dreams: an interview with Humphrey Ker

Emma McAlpine speaks to winner of the Edinburgh Best Newcomer Award 2011 - Humphrey Ker.

An interview with Humphrey Ker

Humphrey Ker is a comedian who, as one third of The Penny Dreadfuls - a sketch-based comedy troupe with a penchant for Victiorian-era silliness - has achieved success in both stage and radio comedy.

Edinburgh fringe comedy roundup

From Humphrey Ker and The Pajama Men to Vikki Stone and Tim Key, Stephanie Merritt reviews the best of this year's Edinburgh comedy.

This is a special hour-long comedy drama about the French Revolution, written by and featuring the usually Victorian-based sketch troupe consisting of David Reed, Thom Tuck and Humphrey Ker.

However they were not the main stars of this special. These were Richard E. Grant playing the role of Robespierre, leader of the Terror; and Sally Hawkins as Marie-Therese, daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The main story is an imagining of a conversation between the two that was never recorded.

The programme tells the story of the Revolution in a humorous way, although the history is very much a back drop to jokes and characters best described as daft. For example, Marie-Therese complains about the book she has been given to read while she has been in prison - an atlas so out of date that it does not include Spain. Also there are sketches featuring peasants having stone soup, because eating shoes is a luxury.

However, out of all the characters that appeared in the programme, my personal favourite was Marie-Therese's brother Louis-Charles (aka Louis XVII) who was portrayed as being rather dim and naïve. For example, he gets too excited about helping France's poor so he wants to donate all of his toys. In the end he gets a job making shoes, but gets beaten up by his master for making shoes which are too decedent.

There are other nice moments, like how the French revolutionary calendar would result in problems for Father Christmas; and also some nice quotes such as Robespierre's remark that: "You can't make a crème brûlée without burning some sugar."

It was an entertaining hour, although I would recommend that if you're looking for a comedy show which is more educational in its dealing of the French revolution, you may want to look at Mark Steel's Viva la Revolution.

New comedy improvisation show with a very talented cast. Hugh Dennis hosts and the performers include The Thick Of It's Justin Edwards, Perrier-winner Laura Solon, The Penny Dreadfuls' Humphrey Ker and Greg Davies from The Inbetweeners. It's a pacey mix of Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Dan Patterson created that and this) and Mock the Week but in a good way. It's new comedy, so try to give it at least two episodes before you whine endlessly on Twitter about how rubbish you think it is.

This improvised show promises to leave viewers gasping like Gillian McKeith facing a bucket of maggots.

Created by veteran producer Dan Paterson, it sounds like his Whose Line Is It Anyway? for a new generation no bad thing.

Comedy talent, including Laura Solon, Justin Edwards, Marek Larwood, Pippa Evans, Humphrey Ker, David Armand and Greg Davies, will be pitting their wits in a series of games spoofing films, TV programmes and music.

Host Hugh Dennis says: "We have electronic trickery, animated chickens, songs and games including a fantastic sideways scene. It's half an hour of controlled improvised silliness and there is no scoring and no stars."