Kate Copstick

Though the prospect of Jason Manford hosting an X Factor-style competition for 10 amateur standups sounds more like Saturday night light entertainment, this turns out to be a meatier proposition, not least because watching people cold-sweat their way through a sudden attack of the unfunnies makes for painfully gripping television. Alan Davies and Kate Copstick are the fairly devastating judges; now that The Apprentice is over, get your fix of schadenfreude here.

Here's a show to cheer up anyone feeling bereft after waving farewell to Lord Sugar and his swaggering apprentices. For this series promises to be every bit as amusing and nail-bitingly compulsive, with the added bonus of a few decent jokes. Most of those are courtesy of host Jason Manford, who puts ten fledgeling stand-ups through their paces in an attempt to find the next Michael McIntyre. Each week the hopefuls will perform new material for a tricky audience, including hospital patients, secondary school pupils, tipsy Welsh rugby players and a squadron of Scots Guards. Tonight they face a roomful of Liverpudlian ladies. Cue lamentable gags about scousers and even dodgier impersonations that soon have judges Alan Davies and crimson-lipped critic Kate Copstick - who clearly intends to be the Cowell of comedy - wincing. Even tonight's guest judge, jolly Jimmy Tarbuck, can't crack a smile. Fortunately, if there's one thing more entertaining than first-rate stand-up, it's watching wannabes bomb. There's no need for Michael McIntyre to watch his back just yet.

Pretty soon, it seems, the only primetime programmes on ITV1 will be talent shows, celebrity challenges and soaps, with occasional dramas and news bulletins grudgingly thrown in to keep the regulators happy. This latest X Factor wannabe focuses on comedy, with host Jason Manford - no mean comedian himself - going out on the road with a gaggle (or should that be a giggle?) of ambitious stand-ups who feel certain they could be the next big thing in British comedy. From fresh-faced newbies to never-quite-made-it pros, the top 10 contestants have their ability to get audiences rolling in the aisles put to the test over six weeks, in which they tour the country to perform for a variety of tough crowds (hospital patients, squaddies, secondary school pupils and rugby players, among others). They'll also take on a range of other mirth-inducing challenges, each episode culminating with the judges - regulars Alan Davies and comedy critic Kate Copstick, plus guests including such well-known comics as Jo Brand, Johnny Vegas and Ross Noble - deciding who's made the cut. The final is a live show at the Hammersmith Apollo for a prize that's certainly not to be laughed at: £100,000 cash, a nationwide tour and a DVD.

Tonight, the contestants are in Liverpool, where they'll perform a gig in front of an all-female audience; the guest judge is Liverpudlian Jimmy Tarbuck.

20 comedians to catch at the Edinburgh Festival

Is she having a laugh? Kate Copstick rounds up the 20 comedians to catch in Edinburgh come festival time.

Interview: Doug Stanhope, comedian

Ahead of his appearance in Glasgow, controversial stand-up Doug Stanhope tells Kate Copstick why he's confident that he'll never run out of subjects for his chain-smoking, drink-fuelled tirades.

Interview: Tom Wrigglesworth (Link expired)

Tom Wrigglesworth tried to write his new show while still touring his old one. No wonder he pulled his hair out, he tells Kate Copstick.

Sam Simmons - Fail

Simmons is the most modest of men, and he has absolutely nothing to be even slightly modest about. Since starting out in comedy 2003 he has won more comedy awards than many shows here have sold tickets.

Interview: Katie Goodman, comedian (Link expired)

Katie Goodman pretty much defies all reasonable expectations. She lives in the foothills of the mountains above Bozeman, Montana, a small town boasting a vast number of not-for-profit ecological organisations and Montana's biggest medicinal marijuana clinic, in a three-storey house she built herself.

Interview: Susan Calman, comedian

"All these years and you've never even got round to Googling me?" says Susan Calman, somewhere between disbelief and disgust.

Interview: Michael Urie

He is currently famed internationally as Marc, part wasp, part peacock and personal assistant to uber-bitch Wilhelmina in Ugly Betty. Now he is coming to the Edinburgh Fringe in Celebrity Autobiography, a show which is already a hit in the States.