Josh Widdicombe

In time for the low-hanging comedic fruit of England's World Cup campaign, a return for the standard mix of mock-incredulity at everyday minutiae, repeated plunges into well-thumbed stand-up routines and hefty helpings of "epic" banter. This second episode of this new series has series mainstays Dara O'Briain, Hugh Dennis and Andy Parsons being joined by Rob Beckett, Gary Delaney, Josh Widdicombe and Sara Pascoe, the last possibly pressured to prove she's there on merit rather than due to a dictum from the BBC Trust.

This week's new live comedy

Previews of Josh Widdicombe, Fern Brady and David Elms.

Josh Widdicombe review

The Last Leg star has a gimlet eye for the absurd minutiae of his slacker life and maximises the comedy he finds there.

Josh Widdicombe interview

When I met up with Josh Widdicombe at the Riverside Studios in February 2014, he was pretty much on the cusp of household name status, thanks to the Channel 4 series The Last Leg, which he was about to film later that day, as well as regular panel show appearances and sell-out tours. He deserves success too - he's an easy-going nice guy, and, most importantly he's very funny - onstage, onscreen, and, hopefully, here in print where he talks about his life, work, influences and much more.

Josh Widdicombe interview

With stage, TV and radio gigs, comic Josh Widdicombe is everywhere. Lucky he's so talented.

Eyelashes on car headlights, slogan T-shirts and dill are among the candidates for Room 101 offered up by tonight's guests: child singer turned broadcaster Aled Jones, DJ Sara Cox and comedian Josh Widdicombe. The award for most controversial nomination of the evening goes to Widdicombe, who wants to pitch The Lord Of The Rings into oblivion - on the strength of its implausibility.

Radio Times review

Who would have thought that Aled Jones could ever have experienced anything more alarming than the moment his voice broke. But apparently he did and the story he tells tonight elicits gasps from the studio audience and makes his fellow guests (stand-up comedian Josh Widdicombe and DJ Sara Cox) squirm uncomfortably.

Among this week's pet hates nominated for Room 101 are slogan T-shirts, car lashes (yes, false eyelashes for your headlights), fish bones, dill and The Lord of the Rings. Despite Josh Widdicombe's efforts, the best jokes still come from Frank Skinner, who does a fabulous impression of a Tyrannosaurus Rex trying to eat its dinner from a plate, and a laughable attempt at crowd surfing.

This is the show that started out as a late-night sidebar to the 2012 Paralympics and proved so popular it took on a life of its own.

This is also the show that says it's OK laugh at disability provided, that is, those jokes are made within the parameters of a fiendishly sensitive, unwritten set of rules with question one being: "Are you Frankie Boyle?" And question two being: "Is your name Jim Davidson?"

As a rule of thumb, if you can count up to 20 using your fingers and toes, don't even think about trying to join in yourself.

With regular panellist Alex Brooker out in Austria presenting The Jump, comedian Micky Flanagan joins host Adam Hills and Josh Widdicombe for the start of the new series.

Last year, Adam ­memorably remarked: "Getting angry at Jim Davidson because he doesn't know how to talk about disability is like getting angry at a dog for not knowing how to use the internet." There's a good chance the show might work up a nice head of steam about Davidson winning Celebrity Big Brother.

DVD review: Josh Widdicombe - And Another Thing

A little bit much to stomach in one go, his constant exasperation, and forever-rocketing pitch, is wearying. Like a cheese-grated to the soul. Which is a shame; left to mature a little longer, Widdicombe might've naturally evolved, found his feet, carved out his own identity.