Ian Wolf

The first episode of Watson & Oliver was, on the whole, pretty poor. It began well - I was especially fond of the opening sketch in which Lorna Watson draws eyebrows on her face in response to Ingrid Oliver's feelings, which became more and more ridiculous as the conversation went on. The duo are good physical performers.

However, I didn't enjoy the second half of the episode nearly as much.

The problem seems to be the writing. Some of the sketches seemed lack any purpose, like the friendly conversation between a prisoner and a warden. It totally stumped me, and I think judging by the audience reaction the studio didn't realise understand it either (mostly light tittering and nothing more).

Concerning the writing, I think that the most interesting aspect of Watson & Oliver is that while Watson and Oliver are the main writers, there is a larger bunch of writers providing "additional material". In the opening episode, for example, Kevin Cecil, Ali Crockatt, David Scott, Alex Lowe and Robert Mills all contributed. In other words, apart from the two stars, all the writers are men writing for female roles. Perhaps if Watson and Oliver wrote all their material there'd be a fluidity to the show and it might, well, be a bit better.

Still, it's probably best to see what comes up in future episodes...

Channel 4 must have faith in 10 O'Clock Live, considering that it got quite a bashing during the first series.

It suffered from many problems; chief amongst them was the hype surrounding the first series with people comparing it to The Daily Show, which was suicidal given how hugely successful and respected The Daily Show is.

However, the second series has come around with almost no fan fair at all. The regulars are still the same. Jimmy Carr's still filling the role of gag-man newsreader; Charlie Brooker's still filling the role of grumpy man who looks at the TV; David Mitchell's still filling the role of grumpy man who interviews people; and Lauren Laverne's still filling the role of the sensible token northern woman that leaves people asking, "Couldn't they find a female comedian instead?"

While there were some laughs, much of the show was still below par. One routine, which featured Jimmy Carr as Vladimir Putin wearing a fake padded muscle suit and wrestling a man in a bear costume, just didn't grab me at all.

It's nice to see that the channel still has some faith in the programme, but I just don't think it is going to work.

Gigglebox weekly #36 - Harry Hill's TV Burp

This week I've been reviewing what I'm hoping will be the final series of Harry Hill's TV Burp. When I say "hoping will be the final series", what I really mean is that I hope if Harry Hill leaves this'll be the final series of TV Burp.

Once again we come across another example of a great comedy programme that is only on in Scotland (thank goodness for the iPlayer). Late 'n' Live Guide to Comedy is a six-part documentary series about the Late 'n' Live comedy show at the Gilded Balloon venue during the Edinburgh Fringe.

For those who don't know, this is a series of late night stand-up shows featuring several comedians performing on stage in front of an audience who are usually loud, drunk and willing to heckle at any given opportunity. To quote Jenny Eclair, the greatest error made when you're try to avoid heckling at Late 'n' Live is when "you make the mistake of breathing," and thus leave a short enough pause for someone to shout: "Fuck off!"

Other than learning about the history of the late-night show, the best thing about this documentary is watching some early stand-up performances by famous names. These include Johnny Vegas encouraging his audience to throw coins at him while he sang and Russell Brand in 2001, who at the time had only performed between 20-30 gigs. His stand-up involved deliberately angering and provoking the audience - what a surprise. But this lead to a storm of abuse and Brand getting an encore.

During the encore someone tried to throw a glass bottle at him. It missed Brand, but a shard landed in the leg of the next act, Fiona O'Loughlin, meaning she was bleeding when she went on stage...

Noel Fielding's new sketch show has been publicised widely - there's not a bus shelter in my hometown of Stockton without a poster of Fielding in some bizarre costume.

When you watch the show it gets even weirder. Fielding is living in a treehouse in a jungle, with an aardvark butler (played by Noel's brother Michael) and with Andy Warhol (Tom Meeten) as his cleaner. Then there are other characters played by Fielding, including a New York cop with a talking knife wound, a lion in a zoo going slowly insane, and a games teacher with shell shock - who is also a chocolate finger.

Normally I like it when comedians push at the extremes, whether it's in terms of language, situation or realism/surrealism. However, Luxury Comedy appears to be one of those rather rare cases of going too far instead of not far enough. His earlier work, The Mighty Boosh, was itself bizarre and wonderfully funny, but also had the added advantage of Julian Barratt keeping things in control and from going too off the wall. This show is just bizarre, though - all surrealism and seemingly without comedy.

For me the best bit was seemingly the sanest, which was Fielding's drawing of Pele holding a china cup and kicking what was either a ball or the saucer for the cup. I think it worked because at least you can connect the show with something that exists in the real world. The same is true with the 'Warhol' character.

Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy is too far disconnected from anything recognisable to make it funny. A good piece of art perhaps - totally maverick - but that's about it.

Gigglebox weekly #35

This week Ian Wolf talks about a bottle being thrown at Russell Brand and an intriguing picture of Pele.

Gigglebox weekly #33 - Milton Jones's House of Rooms

Having seen this pilot, I can sum up my reaction to it with one word: brilliant. This is possibly the best TV pilot I've seen, so much so I was laughing all the way through.

Before I start I should point out that I've never really been a huge fan of Lenny Henry, but I must admit that The One Lenny Henry wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. For me his stand-up was better than his sketches, particularly the material about film piracy and trying not to be funny when performing Othello.

However, most of the sketches were a bit dull, lacklustre in places and in several cases thought he was overshadowed by those alongside him; in particular Peter Serafinowicz and Omid Djalili.

On a final note, during the show Henry gave a short rant about obituaries, saying that when he dies his will probably read "Premier Inn Bloke Dies." I'd just like to say: "Whose fault is that exactly, Lenny?"

Written by Guy Jenkin (co-writer of Drop the Dead Donkey and Outnumbered), Hacks is a satirical comedy about the phone hacking scandal.

This comedy wasn't as funny as it could have been for one simple reason: what happened in real life was much funnier and shocking than what happened in this programme. I know this to be true personally. During the actual phone hacking scandal I thought, "There's no way that this can get any weirder." Then I found out that one of my old university lecturers had been arrested on suspicion of phone hacking and, well, you get the point.

The thing with the phone hacking scandal is that it's so ridiculous and stupid that i''s almost impossible to think how you can make it even funnier than it really was. For me, the funniest thing in the whole show was this world's version of an enquiry in which the Murdoch-esque owner (played by Michael Kitchen) was attacked with silly string and then the attacker was nearly beaten to death by his owner's wife (Eleanor Matsuura).

Shooting Stars fans will no doubt be keen on seeing at least one vestige of the surreal panel game live on in this Comedy Showcase pilot - which has already been commissioned for a full series in 2012.

Dan Skinner plays the award-winning burger van owner Angelos, making his own somewhat shambolic show alongside his friends Gupta (Adeel Akhtar), Kenny (Seymour Mace) and Margaret (Hannah Walters). The show features sketches, interviews, songs and audience participation.

As with any sketch show, these are always measured on their "hit and miss ratio". I would say that it's certainly more on the hit side, especially with it's range of physical and visual humour.

Yes, I know it's not the most sophisticated, but it's just pleasing to see.

Everything from the opening silhouette of Angelos at a mike, which turns out to be a chicken drumstick, to him taking a bath in the house of an unsuspecting audience member, is just... pleasing. And no doubt the more troublesome sketches will be ironed out in the forthcoming series, which should be well worth a watch.