Jimmy Carr

Jimmy Carr commissioned for Channel 4 show

The comedian will feature with Charlie Brooker, David Mitchell and Lauren Laverne in a topical comedy series called 10 O'Clock Live.

My Funniest Year 2000 review

A few years ago this would be the sort of clip show fare Jimmy Carr would be fronting (with the jokes being pretty much the same) but Rufus Hound does a decent enough job in the stand-up role. He just needs a better platform than this to show off his talents and one that doesn't resort to obvious jokes about Big Brother contestants.

Channel 4's Alternative Election Night was good fun, if a little long. Still with only 3 results announced by midnight, it was better than all the endless, ill-informed, speculation going on over on BBC1 and ITV.

Gag of the night went to David Mitchell. "Does David Cameron actually find his wife attractive? Or, like everyone else, just feels he ought to?"

Predictably Jimmy Carr was rather less subtle, and came over all Ben Elton. "This is the most exciting election for 35 years. Margaret Thatcher can't remember a better election. Or the names of her children." Ouch!

The Thick Of It's Armando Iannucci revealed his abiding memory of the 1997 election. "I remember doing something not dissimilar to this - a live comedy show from this studio, went on for 3 hours," he recalled fondly. "My abiding memory of the entire election was sitting afterwards on a beer-sodden carpet next to Valerie Singleton watching Michael Portillo lose."

It began with an unprecedented third-party surge, with Channel 4 opening its campaign for the couch-potato vote 55 minutes before the two established parties - BBC and ITV - even got into the game. There would be, the announcer promised, "very strong language and adult humour", not something that had ever been delivered by the traditional coverage, and it was rapidly clear that the Alternative Election Night really did have fresh policies to offer.

They had Lauren Laverne and Charlie Brooker and David Mitchell and they had an anchor, Jimmy Carr, with a novel approach to clarification: take their beginner's guide to proportional representation, for example. "The easiest way to explain it," said the comedian drily, "is to someone who's interested and already understands it".

With the satire muzzled by broadcasting restrictions until polls closed, they filled the time with a special edition of Come Dine With Me - three politicians and a pundit competing in a hellish unpopularity contest. Derek Hatton cooked scallops with asparagus for Edwina Currie, Brian Paddick and Rod Liddle and the viewers watched aghast.

"They might as well have called that If You Only Had One Bullet", said Carr, not the last time in which he deployed a candour which would have been welcome on other channels. I'm not sure that anybody with a choice in the matter would have turned over at 9.55pm - for the fiesta of vacuity which fills the gap until the first significant result arrives.

As this week's QI repeat proved, David Mitchell is obviously one of the smartest and funniest men on TV at the moment, and is probably the inheritor of Stephen Fry's mantel. So what the hell was he doing on this? Charlie Brooker was great, of course, as was Mitchell, but Jimmy Carr filled time by making jokes about Gordon Brown's eye and Lauren Laverne was just using up valuable oxygen the whole time. Oh dear.

Channel 4's Alternative Election Night review

Given the tone it was little surprise that it took main host Jimmy Carr all of ten minutes to make a pun about a "hung parliament" but it was only after the polls were shut at 10pm that the gloves were off and the team could finally unleash their gags on the main personalities involved.

For those who are interested in the election but can't face endless analysis and Jeremy Vine's Swingometer, here's some light relief: live satire from Jimmy Carr, David Mitchell and Charlie Brooker, who will be riffing off events as they unfold over four hours, with Lauren Laverne adding sass.

The quartet will be joined by a bookmaker, while there will be some pre-recorded segments that include a Come Dine With Me election special featuring Edwina Currie. Wonder if eggs are on the menu?

If the excitement and drama proves too much, C4's Alternative Election Night (from 9pm to 1am) offers a more entertaining, less reverential take on events. It is hosted by David Mitchell, Jimmy Carr and Lauren Laverne, with contributions from Charlie Brooker. Highlights include election specials of You Have Been Watching and Come Dine With Me.

We, as you should, will be beginning election night with C4. Their Alternative Election Night is a kicking-off point, where you can watch Jimmy Carr deliver uncomfortable jokes about how ugly politicians are, Charlie Brooker deliver anger you can tell he no longer feels and Lauren Laverne make some vowels last an instant too long. The Election Special Come Dine With Me is infuriating and not just because of Brian Paddick's shirts and Rod Liddle's Julie Burchill-style provocateering. Comes to something when Edwina Currie is clearly the least annoying person on screen. Armando Iannucci is on at 10.