Jason Manford

Jason Manford to open Jesterval 2014

Jason Manford will open Jesterval Comedy Festival when it returns to Gateshead this summer.

Jason Manford sets up comedy club 'Kite Mark'

Comedian Jason Manford is setting up a website for well-run gigs, to help comedians get the right kind of bookings and, more importantly, to encourage comedy fans to enjoy live comedy and keep supporting live comedy.

Jason Manford launches UK-wide comedy nights

Jason Manford has launched a series of affordable comedy nights across the UK to encourage audiences to visit local comedy clubs.

It's three years since Jason Manford resigned unceremoniously from The One Show, after alleged personal indiscretions made the headlines. Although the BBC has yet to welcome the Mancunian funnyman back into the fold, the whiff of scandal didn't dent his popularity for long: back in June he embarked on a 12-month, 200-date national tour.

Here he takes a night off to poke fun at the gaffes and fads of 2013. Judging by his current show, the gags will be slick but gentle - unlikely to offend the sensibilities of even the prissiest great-aunt.

Richard Osman's head is stuffed full of Pointless knowledge, as any fan of BBC One's excellent early evening quiz will know. This should mean the presenter will wipe the floor with the opposition as he joins Victoria Wood, Jason Manford and Alan Davies to field Fry's questions.

Still, there are no guarantees in the QI world, which not so long ago revealed the quite interesting fact that many of its former facts are now considered to be fiction. Sometimes you just can't win.

Radio Times review

The interestingness goes into overdrive this week. Yes, it's funny too, but there are historical titbits here that will mildly blow your mind, as Stephen Fry dissertates on a kitchen-y theme. We learn about the 18th-century pets bred to be "turnspit dogs" during the week and footwarmers in church on Sunday. We learn about why kleftiko is so called. And we learn something about the phenomenon of the overbite that may be the single most interesting dentistry fact ever shared on TV.

Adding comedic spin to this obscure knowledge are Victoria Wood, Richard Osman and Jason Manford. Osman's speed of wit is as devastating as ever, and listen out for a great Barocca gag and some lovely teasing about turtles.

For an episode entitled Keeps, Stephen Fry introduces a one-off round called "Keep Still or Scarper", turning on whether it's safer to run away or freeze when confronted with certain wild animals. His demonstration of how to proceed if you bump into a pack of wolves (roaring like an angry Victorian gentleman, basically) makes you long to see the confrontation for real.

Elsewhere, there are insights into whether ants can hold their drink, the smile of a bowhead whale and a dispute between Fry and Bill Bailey about Welsh accents. Also adding to the fun - Sarah Millican and Jason Manford.

Opinion: should comedy critics quote gags in reviews?

Jason Manford has been writing on Facebook about how two high profile critics - Veronica Lee and Julian Hall - have quoted his jokes in their reviews of his recent Hammersmith Apollo show. I was going to answer him on Facebook but this is such a complicated issue I thought it deserved a little more space, so here goes.

Review: Jason Manford, Hammersmith Apollo

Enjoyable but unchallenging everyman comedy.

Comedy review: Jason Manford - First World Problems

No amount of gusto and oomph can make up for the hastily cobbled together shape of this show, pleasing in parts though it is.