Michael McIntyre

Michael McIntyre: Joker who earns more than Brad Pitt

Michael McIntyre is coming to the 02 as part of a huge tour, but the funniest thing about it may be the amount he earns from the gig.

Any idiot can do what Michael McIntyre does, right? No!

As tickets go on sale for Michael McIntyre's 2015 UK tour, Dominic Cavendish jumps to the defence of the oft-derided comedian.

6 things we want in Michael McIntyre's new tour

Here are 6 things we want to see from the new Michael McIntyre tour...

Now a regular fixture on the stand-up calendar, this is the fifth gala raising funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity.

Filmed in May, more than 20 of the country's best-loved gagsters, including Michael McIntyre, Alan Carr, Jason Manford and Jo Brand, congregated at the O2 arena in London for a marathon of laughs that's been trimmed to a schedule-friendly three hours.

Warwick Davis and Diversity get the night off to a flying start, and if past years are anything to go by, it'll be worth sticking around for the commercial breaks too - you never know who might hijack the ads to shoe-horn in even more laughs.

Say what you like about Rob Brydon - and I certainly plan to - but he hosts a brain-ruining celebrity quiz show with aplomb. Those hours spent remaining cheerful while dining opposite Steve Coogan's wet-weekend-in-Ancoats face on The Trip to Italy are certainly paying dividends.

How bad is The Guess List (BBC1)? It's as likely as Michael McIntyre's chatshow to make it to a second series. It makes Would I Lie to You?, Brydon's other quiz show, seem like a work of shattering genius.

That said, I couldn't look away. "How lovely to be this close to a fox and not worry it's going to sniff round your bins," said Brydon introducing his first celebrity guest, Emilia Fox. "I speak for everybody when I say I loved The Vicar of Dibley," he said, introducing Jennifer Saunders. He went on with similar amiable insults to the other usual suspects (Simon Callow, Louis Smith, James Corden), while they kept their smiles mirthlessly frozen. If there isn't yet a Bafta for best rictus in quiz show adversity, it is only a matter of time.

The idea is, five celebrities come up with a plausible answer to a question, and then two contestants have to decide which, if any of those suggestions, is most plausible. For example: "According to a poll, what should old people do three times a week to help them live longer?" "Tango," said Callow, insanely. "Orgasm," said Corden, sensibly. "Exercise," said Smith, boringly. The answer? Oh come on! It's have sex.

Only one of the contestants seemed to have trouble with The Guess List's concept. Naturally, she won. But then she also told us she'd moved from Birmingham to Australia after watching Wanted Down Under, which is the very definition of madness.

Celebrity input seemed so superfluous that the show could readily have been renamed Pointless Celebrities. Here's my question: "Which of the following collective nouns is the odd one out: A) murder of crows; B) whoop of gorillas; C) busyness of ferrets; D) pointlessness of celebrities?" Answer: D) I want to hear more from the other three.

Classic interview: Russell Howard

One day your children will say to you "what's a DVD?". You can simply plug their hologooglegizmo into this article and give them the answer. Back in 2009 comedy DVDs were selling by the truckload. People still actually bought things in shops and slid them into machines. While Michael McIntyre, Lee Evans and Peter Kay were the big sellers Russell Howard was comedy's rising star. I interviewed him for The Times in Brighton in sunny June where he was shooting his live DVD for a Christmas release. Five years on Howard is very much in the premier league, taking his feelgood banter around the globe.

Michael McIntyre pockets £9m from his latest tour

Michael McIntyre has cashed in a £9 million cheque from his latest stand-up comedy tour.

Don't write Michael McIntyre off as a host just yet

The comedian may not have stormed the ratings with his first show, but he gets big guests and is improving fast - a recipe for success.

The Michael McIntyre Chat Show: where did it go wrong?

The producers of the comedian's ailing show are clearly trying to revamp it to play to his strengths. What do Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross have that he doesn't?