Jack Seale

A run of comedy pilots begins with the Shooting Stars panellist, burger-van owner and thick-voiced lunk Angelos Epithemiou, the creation of comedian Renton Skinner. Angelos hosts a discussion that's meant to be about the environment, but is constantly derailed by him battling with his foppish producer and insulting the guests. The joke is that Angelos misunderstands everything and uses the wrong words for things - I wasn't sure that could sustain half an hour, let alone a subsequent series. But I thought the same about Count Arthur Strong, so what do I know?

It doesn't matter that Sacha Baron Cohen has done all this before when Marc Wootton does it so well - that said, tonight's set-ups have fewer laughs and a lot more oh-my-God-no cringes. Grasping psychic Shirley Ghostman auditions for a TV show, competing against rival clairvoyants. Despite being a comedy character, he's as convincing as they are. Spooky. Meanwhile, bad actor Gary Garner shoots a sexy showreel, using his own autobiographical script. The funniest scenes come from unethical documentarist Brendan Allen, who's tackling ecology. Future generations will refer to this episode as "the one with the condor in a bag".

Doing decent but not spectacular business on BBC3 - 300,000 viewers for episode one - is this frequently astonishing Borat-style prank show.

Marc Wootton, a British comedian underrated over here and thus working in the US for cable network Showtime, rampages through LA in the guises of a useless actor, an unstable psychic and a dodgy documentary-maker.

Exposing the absurdities of Hollywood is sort of the point, but really we're just sitting in wonder as Wootton regularly risks arrest and/or a smack in the teeth by driving hapless punters to breaking point. This could be unpleasant, if Wootton's improvisation weren't so terrifyingly good.

Marc Wootton has all the acting chops required for in-character pranking but, most importantly, he's terrifyingly committed. His exploits in Hollywood, disguised as a fraudulent psychic, a thick actor and an irresponsible documentary-maker, offer the kind of dry-mouthed hilarity you only get from knowing that most of the people on screen are not in on the joke and could snap at any time. Tonight, Wootton wets himself, taunts some gangsterish wannabe producers, and risks an attempted murder charge in his drive to make La La Land extreme and extremely funny. It's both.

Deep down, we all experience a slight frisson at finding out that stars are unpleasant and unhappy in real life, don't we? There's plenty of grim fascination in this gossipy canter through the life of the embittered Carry On star. Charles Hawtrey's existence was beset by ironies that would be dismissed as cliches in a drama: he hated his typecasting as a puny fall guy but was so ungracious about it, he blew all his chances to change; he adored his mother but became trapped when she developed dementia. His associates tell the sad tale here, right up to his retirement as an unpopular, randy drunk in Deal, Kent - and the embarrassing incident that led him to die a recluse.

Often, TV comedy is a slow-moving carousel of the same old, established names. So welcome this pilot, which gives young comics a shop window for their stand-up and sketches. Do you know any of these names? Naz Osmanoglu, Joe Lycett, Imran Yusuf, Lou Sanders, Jason Patterson, Joanne Lau, Ben Sarpong, Eric Lampaert, Victor Daniels, Amy Hoggart, Price Abdi, Annette Fagon, Sarah Campbell? Me neither. Most of them are unknown for a reason, but shows like this only have to find one likely future star: my money's on Miss London.

Original programming on Dave! Yes, and it's perfect for the channel: a series of interest to serious comedy fans, but inclusive and fun enough to draw in new viewers. Phill Jupitus is first to take part in an experiment where UK and US stand-ups swap places. Jupitus flies to New York to play to audiences who've never heard of him, while Eugene Mirman tries to impress here. Cultural differences are such a comedy cliche, you'd think the pros would be hyper-sensitive to them, but a visibly nervous Jupitus manages to derail his first gig by attempting a routine about Frosties. The very funny Mirman starts well by playing on his bewilderment, but still anxiously adjusts gags between sets. The two men's skill and likeability create valuable insights into the comedian's craft. And when they finally get it right, the gags are tremendous.

A new comedy quiz, hosted by James Corden, which draws on sports fans' love of lists. Team captains are England cricket monster Andrew Flintoff and Sky football pundit Jamie Redknapp, here to try to shake off the national embarrassment of those holiday advertisements. Regular panellists are comedian John Bishop and Sky Sports News presenter Georgie Thompson. Show one - an hour-long special with guests David Haye and Neil Morrissey was still in the edit suite as we went to press.

The pilot episode for a splintered sitcom influenced by Boosh, Python, 1984, Stanley Unwin, 1970s public information films and The Wicker Man. Jinsy's pompous governor wants to conquer the next island along, which means abandoning quotidian concerns such as hooch, unpleasant folk songs and metal shortages. Set in a carefully random world of made-up phrases and queasy colours, it's a "surreal" mash that could be hopelessly annoying, but is packed with imaginative detail and silly detours. Consequently, it's as infectiously funny as a badly stuffed owl. A full series, please.

The first of three stand-alone comedies concerning persons in vehicles. In Simon Brett's Get Away, Samantha Bond plays a weary divorcee, on the school run with a moaning teenage son (Angus Imrie) who thinks life is boring. When an armed robber (Stephen Critchlow) gets into the car, life gets less boring, but not by much: the bandit's another weary divorcee, and these are the sort of radio characters who, in the heat of a domestic argument or even an armed car-jacking, somehow continue to speak as if they're reading brittle wit from an over-precise script. When the denouement arrives you'll have been parked up waiting for it for several minutes, but all this is perhaps part of the charm of a neat, cosy vignette that moves smoothly from A to B.