Jack Seale

Radio Times review

Iain's engagement party is a low-key affair. Meg (Jo Joyner) is in the throng, still trying not to be envious of the woman who's now receiving her old squeeze's comforting, Michael Palin charm. While Iain worries that his hitherto unseen father-in-law will turn out to be exactly his age and temperament, Matt (Chris Addison) is tied up with a gang of local military nerds. The white lie that he was the skinniest hero in Helmand threatens to turn dark.

It's not the strongest episode, because the ongoing dramas take up space where traditional, farcical pay-offs should be, but there are glints of brilliance everywhere. Addison's drunk acting is a joy, and be sure to arrive on time for the pre-titles sequence, where Iain treats some difficult elderly patients.

Radio Times review

Seb Cardinal and Dustin Demri-Burns wrote a sketch for this series where they played two horror writers, shut up in a room to finish a screenplay, who end up killing each other. They rejected it in the end but, watching this apocalyptic series-closing double bill, you can see where the idea came from. Episode five boasts a tale of festival-going gone wrong that could be by Shearsmith & Pemberton, while the finale gives a couple of long-running characters an icky end.

There are still great little gags popping up here and there, though. Look out for the ultimate "man sneaks away from a one-night stand" sketch.

Radio Times review

Dustin Demri-Burns spends an almost uncomfortable amount of time as playfully stereotypical foreign characters as telly's most confident sketch duo continue swaggering about like the rudest kids in school. He's Le Rat, the French street artist who comes to Hadley Wood to visit his British counterpart Banksy ("Well, you've certainly brought the weather with you. Entrez, entrez!") but turns out to be a touch too anarchic for our man's taste.

That's a longform sketch that fulfils Cardinal Burn's brief of delivering miniature sitcoms - as does Demri-Burns' wicked turn as a fake karate sensei who just wants his young charge (Seb Cardinal, with fat suit and pre-pubescent screech) to do up his house. The performance of the night, though, comes from Cardinal, reimagining Daniel Day-Lewis as a gossiping ninny.

Radio Times review

Time spent with these characters pays off in this, the fourth episode of Chris Addison and Simon Blackwell's comedy and the most assured yet. We feel as if we're on the journey with Matt (Addison) and Meg (the terrific Jo Joyner) as they attempt to move on from her affair, the latest stumbling block being that Ian, her boss and former lover, has a new (hot, young) girlfriend.

Meg insists she's not jealous, a heavyweight lie that the show quite accurately portrays as part of a workable, even enviable relationship. Another way in which Matt and Meg become real is their sense of humour: there are two moments here where they make each other laugh. Sitcoms almost never allow that to happen, but it's like the curtains have opened and sunlight's streamed in.

Radio Times review

It's the physical side of Matt and Meg's relationship that's being rebuilt this week. In one of the show's many unobtrusive little gender reversals, he (Chris Addison) is the one prevaricating and she (Jo Joyner) keeps being rebuffed. Off they trot for a weekend at a spa hotel, where an imposing timetable of relaxing activities, not to mention some hideous corporate guests and the establishment's fantastically awful receptionist (Sophie Fletcher), threaten to monkey with their mojo.

Again it's somewhat gentler than it needs to be, which can be frustrating since everyone involved has previously shown they've got comic lead in their pencils. Sympathy and believability are its strong suits: already Matt and Meg are mates we enjoy popping round to catch up with.

Radio Times review

The breakout comedy hit of 2012 returns, switching from E4 to C4. Those who remember series one sketches such as the projectile-vomiting cops and the zombies who liked to eat unusual parts of the carcass might wonder if the big channel would tone Seb Cardinal and Dustin Demri-Burns down.

There's nothing too shocking in the new series opener, and there'll be more focus on longer sketches with returning characters this year, but what counts is the feel, the tone. Cardinal Burns has a sexy physicality and an air of unpredictability that's in thrilling contrast to most sketch shows' carefully weighted observations.

They're given full rein here in the tales of two parodically direct office flirts, and a pair of Turkish minicab drivers starring in a Professionals-style erotic caper. At their best, the duo provoke not a polite titter, but a sudden guttural roar.

Cardinal Burns can do honed gems, too, though: sketch of the week features a brilliantly cruel Mark Cousins parody, earnestly interviewing a bog-standard office temp as if he were a megastar.

Cardinal Burns on the "funk odyssey" of Series 2

Comedy really is the new rock 'n roll when it's by Seb Cardinal and Dustin Demri-Burns. We talk to the duo as their raucous sketch show moves to C4.

Radio Times review

Chris Addison and Jo Joyner leave behind The Thick of It and EastEnders respectively and make a left turn. They come together to star in a romcom about a young-ish couple in Kendal, who are bearing up after her recent affair and attempting to rebuild their relationship.

The premise is meant to make Trying Again edgier and more emotional than comedy dramas like Stella and Mount Pleasant, which it resembles on the surface. This doesn't come through much in these first two episodes, since they're too busy being funny: writer Simon Blackwell fills them with strong gags and neat plotting (the callback pay off at the end of episode one is a killer), while Alun Cochrane, Elizabeth Berrington and Alex MacQueen are all on form as cartoonish, traditional-sitcom supporting characters.

The show's identity problem scarcely matters. In particular, Joyner is a revelation as the funny, energetic foil to Addison's nervous, cowardly weed. A new comedy star is born.

Chris Addison on Veep, Doctor Who & changing direction

The "busybody know-it-all" star of The Thick of It tells Jack Seale about Trying Again, his radically different new comedy for Sky Living.

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