Josh Widdicombe

My Edinburgh: Josh Widdicombe on why his food rots

The comedian tells us about the festival's best party and bemoans what to do when someone pees on your flyer.

My Edinburgh: Josh Widdicombe

I am trying to go and see more shows this year.

A new series of The Last Leg with genial hosts Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker. As per the show's remit, they will be discussing and trading witticisms over the past seven days' news. There will also be the usual studio challenges, along with the latest details of Brooker's quest to get himself into the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. This is followed by My Perfect Body, in which Brooker aims to lose 2st and gain a six-pack, while looking at the thorny issue of body image among men.

This news-comedy show was the unexpected star of the 2012 Paralympic Games: led by comedian Adam Hills, its irreverent round-up of the day's events won a following all of its own. So much so that it came back earlier this year, not to comment on sport but simply on the week's news. That's a crowded marketplace, in which The Last Leg has found a niche.

Along with the wry, sideways, irreverent looks at some of the quirkier stories you might have missed, there's a convivial and inclusive atmosphere that softens the sharpness of the gags - the first 2013 series was best known for a piece to camera in which Adam Hills eviscerated US comedian Joan Rivers, but he was doing it because Rivers had made fat gags about Adele. That's The Last Leg all over: right-on, usually spot-on and brightly funny.

Hills is flanked by co-hosts Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker. Tonight's guest: Russell Brand.

At last fans of the topical comedy meltdown can turn aside from repeats on Dave and enjoy fresh comic meat in this new series. The rounds will be familiar - spinning the news, "Scenes we'd like to see" and so on - but the real laughs come from what are basically stand-up routines broken down into bite-sized chunks and delivered by masters of the art. Jostling for prominence with the regulars this week are Milton Jones, Josh Widdicombe and Katherine Ryan.

Channel 4's annual charity event returns with a troupe of performers large enough to make the Polyphonic Spree look on in envy. As ever, it's a mix of the established and the incipient, so Jo Brand and Jonathan Ross line up alongside men of the moment Adam Hills and Josh Widdicombe. Elsewhere, comedians dancing seems to be a thing just now, so Miranda Hart and Warwick Davis duly join up with Diversity to show off their moves, while Russell Brand absents himself from Hollywood to partake in some audience interaction.

Josh Widdicombe to headline Green Man Festival

Forty comics will perform at the Green Man Festival's new look Last Laugh comedy stage in August.

There will be bashful murmurs of agreement when Marcus Brigstocke admits he's no longer able to help his nine-year-old son with his maths. Luckily for him and fellow comic Josh Widdicombe, maths professor Marcus du Sautoy is on hand to guide them through some tricky teasers, as they test their amateur problem-solving against finely tuned maths bod Dara O'Briain.

The challenges are surprisingly difficult, but there is a relatively comprehensible explanation of the most efficient way to wrap a present. Here's a clue: the key is in the width of the strips, and not, as Marcus quips, to take it to the fifth floor of John Lewis.

Josh Widdicombe interview

One of those most surprised by The Last Leg's recent return and continued success of the series is Josh Widdicombe, the fast-rising comedian who has previously dabbled in sports writing for a broadsheet.

Josh Widdicombe interview

Josh Widdicombe on his rise up the comedy ladder.