Ian Wolf

This week saw the return of Rhod Gilbert's panel show in which he, his two regulars (Greg Davies and Lloyd Langford) and a selection of celebrity guests attempt to answer all manner of odd questions.

This week's guests included Phill Jupitus (good comedian) and Kimberly Wyatt (not sure who she is). There was also David Hasselhoff in the role of the "Authenticator", making sure everything discussed was correct and providing extra information. I suppose it is a suitable title as you can't really call him an "Expert", unless you want to know how to make rubbish TV programmes and make it big in the German music charts.

Ask Rhod Gilbert mixes obscure knowledge and debate with very cheap laughs. In the first edition of the new series we learnt that a dog is as clever as a two-year-old, how many words we use on average in a lifetime, and that it was Hugh Heffner who brought Pamela Anderson into Baywatch (I think we can skip past that last one).

However, we also experience the traditional end-of-show humiliation in which Langford always gets mocked in some stupid way. In this week's edition it was to see which was the most dangerous foodstuff, which was tested by firing different items of food at him. This included water balloons filled with gravy and a gun firing 99 ice creams at him.

One issue I have with this show is that Gilbert announces who has won each round, despite the fact that there is no winner. Now, obviously there are some panel shows in which the scoring is irrelevant like I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, but it's not as if there is any "competitive element" in it like ISIHAC has, so why have winners in the first place?

Ask Rhod Gilbert does have some laughs, but it's not the most brilliant show by any stretch of the imagination.

The third Comedy Lab pilot of the series is a mockumentary tackling the issue of disability, an issue rather important to me as I suffer from Asperger's syndrome.

Rick and Peter begins with T4 presenter Rick Edwards (whom I'd never heard before) becoming an internet sensation following a YouTube montage clip of him repeatedly mocking the disabled. As a result he's ordered by a Channel 4 executive (Miles Jupp) to attend a school presentation given by Hollyoaks and Cast Offs star Peter Mitchell, who is paraplegic and confined to a wheelchair.

In terms of mockumentaries, it's not the most innovative ever made. Many shows have covered the supposedly nasty (albeit fake) attitudes of a celebrity. And it also features other guest stars like Nicholas Parsons and Giles Cohen in self-deprecating roles, but this idea has been implemented numerous times in shows such as Extras.

However, my main problem with Rick and Peter is actually the relationship between the two. Since Rick mocks the 'mind disabled' rather than the 'leg disabled', surely the character should be made to do something with someone with a more relevant disability?

The problem with that, of course, lies with TV networks' obsession with the visibly disabled. I know that I'm 'mind disabled', but I look normal - and TV doesn't like that. It seems to me that unless you have a disability in which you look different (missing limb, dwarfism, etc.) or require some sort of, for want of a better term, hardware (wheelchair, white stick, hearing aid) you'll not get a look in on TV because they'll be asking: "How can the viewers tell you're disabled?"

In the end all that happens is that we get comparisons with Rain Man, which is inaccurate because he's a savant and most autistic people are not. Either that or it's Tourette's syndrome and you get someone swearing their head off, which again most Tourette's sufferers do not do. If we don't do something odd we don't get a look in, which really frustrates me. In terms of my disability, the only one I can think of appearing in a British sitcom was one of the children in the Jasper Carrott sitcom All About Me, which is widely regarded as being one of the worst sitcoms ever made. Plus that child is somewhat overshadowed by the main narrator of the story, a boy in a wheelchair suffering from cerebral palsy.

I don't think that Rick and Peter will get a full series, but if it does I hope they cover all ground when it comes to disability, not just what you can see.

The third pilot in the Comedy Showcase series, The Fun Police is a studio based sitcom (featuring live laughter, to the shock and mortification of professional TV critics) about an inept health and safety department.

It's a more traditional sitcom in the style of shows like The IT Crowd, albeit with more unusually daft humour. The pilot sees Leslie (Rhys Derby) taking over as head of health and safety in the town of Brightsea after one of his work colleges, Neil (Jack Doolan), put their boss in a coma after accidentally falling on top of her.

The best way to describe The Fun Police is that it's 'enjoyably silly'. Leslie, for example, instead of coming up with a press statement about the accident spends his time ordering new furniture and designing a new mascot to make health and safety more fun. Another character, Toni (Katy Wix - who seems to be in at least one Channel 4 pilot per week at the moment) is an over-zealous officer with a robotic hand, paranoid about the dangers of the sea and helium balloons. This pilot also featured a cameo from Vic Reeves (credited under his real name Jim Moir) as an egotistical town planner driven mad by the power to name streets.

The Fun Police is full of ideas and is certainly a fun show. Not every joke is a cracker, but it certainly made me laugh and I for one would think it would make a good series if given the chance.

A new comedy on E4, Show & Tell (fronted by Chris Addison) features three up-and-coming guest comedians talking about various items that they've brought with them.

In this week's opening episode, Welsh stand-up Elis James brought in a practically ancient pair of underpants which seem to have dated before he was even born. Roisin Conaty (winner of last year's Edinburgh Newcomer Award) talked about a video she watched when she was 13 which turned out to be a porn film; and sand-dancer (which, for anyone outside of the North East, means "South Shields resident") Chris Ramsey recalled about an incident with a nutter and an umbrella in a canal.

As well as this Addison asked his panel to bring in something relating to a particular subject, and then got the audience to talk about things they wanted to show.

Never too bogged down in the prepared material from James, Conaty and Ramsey, this is a very enjoyable show. And any programme which gives lesser known stand-ups a platform to perform on is worth promoting (admittedly Conaty is an award winner, but she isn't a household name by any stretch). But even when going off script the comics get decent laughs out of their props, whether it's James asking Conaty to cut out some of his underpant gusset or the unusual uses for a toy gorilla. It isn't the funniest show you'll ever see, but with the competitive element of panel shows removed it's much more relaxing.

The second in the series of Comedy Showcase pilots, Coma Girl isn't the strongest of shows - and I can't see it getting a full series.

The girl in question, Lucy (Anna Crilly, who starred in last week's Comedy Lab pilot Anna & Katy), is trapped in a coma full of surreal moments - like seemingly being at a party and a pier, which made very little sense.

The main goings on was with the people who were coming to see her, especially three school friends: Siobhan (Sarah Solemani), a TV presenter who has recently got fired from her job, Pip (Katherine Parkinson), a bohemian woman, and Sarah (Katy Wix from Anna & Katy), a mother of three. There is also Lucy's mother Mrs. Kay (Julia Deakin) who is constantly taking photos in the hope of building up evidence so she can sue someone on her daughter's behalf.

For me the show was slow going. There was the odd good moment (Pip giving the comatose Lucy a copy of last week's Heat magazine to read), but I think the problem is that this show would probably work better as a comedy drama rather than a sitcom. The idea of a comedy about someone in a coma isn't a new idea (see the radio sitcom Vent) so it can work, but it wasn't presented too well in this format.

There's another issue I have with the show...the theme tune. If you have a show about a woman in a coma, surely "Girlfriend in a Coma" by The Smiths would be the ideal tune to play?

This week's Comedy Lab pilot was a dark sketch show from Tom Palmer and Tom Stourton.

And by dark, I mean many of the sketches were rather twisted...and rather long. They ranged from a policeman giving an exaggerated interview to a Hollyoaks soap parody set in the Hitler Youth; a pair of poverty stricken Scottish brothers, one of whom keeps spending all their money at a photo booth; two cocaine-fuelled girls who become rather monstrous when they take too much; and an annoying T4 presenter has a crisis of conscience after mocking a man with one giant ear.

The show offers some genuinely shocking imagery, too, like the "coke monster" which one of the cocaine taking girls turns into (resembling a black-eyed ape). Another scene features the T4 presenter and one of his interviewees drooling with insane, evil laughter at the sight of the giant eared man. And the first part of the pilot ends with a man being whipped with a belt in slow motion.

Totally Tom has many interesting ideas, but whether or not they can get enough laughs out of these moments is debatable. Having said that, there are some laughs - the idea of an "Eager Eagle" Nazi vibrator comes to mind. Why I thought of Max Mosley afterwards I have no idea...

This week QI returned to its original home on BBC Two. As part of a special night devoted to the world's most interesting (and personally I think the greatest) panel game a documentary covering the making of the show was broadcast.

Speaking as someone who knows QI back-to-front and inside-out, I already knew about much of the information mentioned in the documentary, although to most viewers it did include stuff which will of no doubt be of interest. The fact, for example, Michael Palin was to be the original host (Stephen Fry and Alan Davies were going to be team captains, with Fry the head of the clever team and Davies head of the stupid team) and that two questions were created by reading an entire Albanian dictionary cover-to-cover is interesting.

However, there were some things that even I was surprised about. While I know that the show has popular demand, I didn't know that it was the TV show with the second biggest demand for tickets in Britain (after Top Gear), thus making it the most demanded comedy show in Britain. No wonder I've only been able to see one recording at the time of writing.

The main area of interest to me is the work carried out by the show's researchers or "Elves". For me, being a QI elf would be my dream job. Just trying to find anything that would be of interest, coming across a glorious chunk of information that hardly anyone else knows about, would be a joy to behold. That's why I spend so much time on the QI forums, trying to contribute information in the hope of recognition. One day maybe I'll get that job... one day... a man can dream.

The first Comedy Lab pilot is this sketch show starring Anna Crilly and Katy Wix, which also featured guest appearances from Lee Mack and Eamonn Holmes. While I wanted to avoid using the cliché of sketch shows being 'hit and miss', I though that this show was... well, you can guess.

One problem I have with this show is that the ideas appear to be limited. They had a bunch of sketches in the first half, and the characters and situations were just repeated in the second half. I certainly don't mind recurring characters in sketch shows over the course of a series, but, to me, repeating them in the same episode is rather lazy.

Sketches include a pair of women living in a flat owned by a goat, a German hospital soap opera with lots of fake slapping, and day time show Congratulation! in which the two women give a 'Congratulation' to people over the trivial things, and give the biggest congratulation by displaying their censored vaginas.

However, there were bits I liked. One of the characters was a nervous woman giving out awards at a village fete. While she, on the whole, was one of the weaker characters, the preposterous sight of a cake in the shape of a swastika did make laugh. Also there was Holmes's game show Pointer, a Weakest Link parody in which people hold out very stiff arms and point out who they want eliminating. Then there were the women who were obsessed with measuring anything, including the distance their uncle had to be from a primary school.

This show does have potential. All they need to do is sort out the wheat from the chaff and utilise the best sketches to their advantage.

Now back for its fourth series, the main question concerning Outnumbered is, 'Is it still funny after all this time?' The answer would appear to be 'Yes' - mind you, the fact that the first episode went out after My Family probably helped.

Eldest son Jake (Tyger Drew-Honey) is getting into a stage of typical teenage stroppiness, rallying against other members of the family and their attitudes, such as his mother Sue's (Claire Skinner) views of gay stereotypes; troublesome Ben (Daniel Roche) is refusing to wear his Wii safety cord and is under the belief that Jeremy Clarkson is gay; and curious Karen (Ramona Marquez) has an idea for stopping people stealing mobile phones by using bubonic plague.

The parents also have their own trouble, with father Pete (Hugh Dennis) quitting his job as a history teacher over a point of principle (and seemingly his own stupidity) and now working as a supply teacher, meaning Sue is working full time - and Karen is not happy about that. Pete is also having trouble with a eulogy at the funeral of his late gay uncle, which Sue finds amousing.

Outnumbered is still one of the best sitcoms around as far as I'm concerned. The semi-improvisation with the children is a joy to watch, especially when it comes to Karen. Let's hope it continues to keep the pace up.

I must confess that classical music is not my forte, but a special prom hosted by Tim Minchin has made what is mostly an alien world watchable.

This TV version is an edited down version of the original that went out on BBC Radio 3. Seeing as how this was originally a radio programme some of the choice of acts may seem odd: The Boy with Tape on His Face, for example, as his comedy is almost entirely visual. It's quite a shame, really, as he was one of the funniest acts on the night, with his mime versions of "Lady in Red" and the William Tell overture.

There are some other odd choices of performers, such as the puppets from Mongrels performing one of their songs from their TV show, "Middle Class is Magical". This was definitely a highlight in the show, though - not only was the song pretty appropriate, but this must be the first time that BBC Three and Radio 3 have joined forces - which is slightly worrying. (I always thought that was a sign of the apocalypse.)

There were also other highlights, such as Doc Brown rapping about Sir David Attenborough; a battle between the conductor and the pianist about whether to play Greig or Tchaikovsky's piano concerto; beat-boxer Beardyman performing some musical material you don't associate with the Proms; and Kit and the Widow (Kit Hesketh-Harvey and Richard Sisson) with Sue Perkins and soprano Susan Bullock singing Flanders and Swann's "Hippopotamus Song".

Minchin did well as host - while performing some of his own hits - and was probably the most entertaining of the acts on offer. I for one hope that the Comedy Proms return next year.