Michael McIntyre

Kevin Bridges: BGT will never find new comic talent

Funnyman Kevin Bridges reckons Britain's Got Talent could never find a new comedy talent - even with Michael McIntyre on the panel.

Michael McIntyre makes BGT contestant cry

New Britain's Got Talent judge Michael McIntyre reduced a nine-year-old boy to tears by buzzing him when he said Harry Hill was his favourite comic.

You could make a good argument that 2010 was the best year for a while in TV comedy. Harry Hill and Benidorm scaled new heights on ITV. The Inbetweeners brought E4 its biggest audience yet. On BBC2 a string of quirky sitcoms (The Trip, Grandma's House, Rev, Roger & Val Have Just Got In) felt like the stirrings of a new wave. And the likes of Michael McIntyre, John Bishop and Russell Howard made ever larger numbers of people rock with laughter just by standing on a stage, talking. So there's plenty for the annual prize-giving to mull over as Jonathan Ross calls the assembled funny-folk to order at the 02 in London. On past form, Ross will kick the evening off with a laboured and overlong routine of his own, despite being the 43rd best stand-up in the room, then he'll strive to keep order as a procession of writers, actors and comics seize both their trophies and the chance to be cheeky on live TV. And on past form, it should be a blast.

Video - BCA 2011: King or Queen of Comedy nominees

On Saturday night the cream of British comedy talent will gather for the British Comedy Awards. We look at some of the nominees' best clips, including David Mitchell, Miranda Hart and Michael McIntyre.

Just in time for its 22nd birthday, the comedy back-slapping bash gets a transfer from ITV1 to Channel 4 and a general spruce-up. This revamped ceremony is being broadcast live from London's O2 Arena and the often recklessly risqué Jonathan Ross remains as host. His traditional acerbic opening monologue - edgy enough on ITV, likely to be even nearer the knuckle now - should have station executives shifting nervously in their seats. For the first time, there's a live public vote for the year's top funny person, to be crowned "King or Queen of Comedy". Out in the crowd, the cream of the UK's comedy talent will eat, drink, be merry, then forget to pull gracious faces when they don't win. In another first, those industry types will be joined by the great unwashed, as some tickets have been on sale to viewers. Expect Michael McIntyre and Miranda Hart to lead the race for gongs. Tonight's proceedings have been heavily trailed by a week of build-up programming, so there's a lot invested in the event itself delivering both entertainment and headlines - while avoiding the phone-in scandals and voting irregularities that dogged its last years on ITV.

Weird Phil Zimmerman rushes pregnant Amanda Holden

A strange Britain's Got Talent auditionee launched himself at pregnant judge Amanda Holden yesterday.

Amanda was overseeing proceedings at London's Hammersmith Apollo along with Michael McIntyre and Louis Walsh and had been spooked by Phil Zimmerman's weird comedy routine.

Remember what 50-year-old Mary Bale threw into a wheelie bin, briefly bagging her the title of most hated woman in Britain? And ten points and a moulding turkey leg to anyone who can name the lady Gordon Brown dubbed "ignorant" during his doomed election campaign? Jimmy Carr knows, but do the celebrities whose agents have signed them up to be interrogated on his daft end of year quiz? These include Jonathan Ross, Ruth Jones, Alan Carr and Michael McIntyre. But Channel 4 haven't yet let slip who the A-list question-setters are - previous guest coups included Bono, Ricky Gervais and Quentin Tarantino. Let's hope the celebs have been devouring the tabloids all year on the off chance that they're called upon to regurgitate it with an amusing trim, for a generous fee, naturally.

Another Monday; another hour of Alan Carr squawking at celebrities in the name of light entertainment. This week, the guests included Cheryl Cole, Michael McIntyre and the unfathomable loudness of Stacey Solomon, all of whom were surrounded by tinsel and general festive tat, just in case we'd forgotten that Christmas was almost upon us.

Jungle queen Stacey and jungle profanity-provider Shaun Ryder appeared first on the show, covering such topics as Gillian McKeith and Solomon's disastrous appearance on the X Factor final.

The questions were rightly light-hearted and as the always-watchable McIntyre came on to talk about his impending Britain's Got Talent gig, the show became even more festively cheery.

All that energy seemed to rub off on our host, as his pre-chat stand-up was on much better form than last week and he generally seemed less nervous, bouncing off his sprightly guests.

But what would happen when the omnipresent Ms. Cole came on stage? Could she maintain the energy of the programme? It seemed unlikely, given her propensity to talk at a speed suggestive of strong sedative consumption.

Sure enough, once an ill-advised acoustic performance of one of Cheryl's songs was out of the way, the show got bogged down in conversation about X Factor controversies. As Cole (very slowly) defended herself, it all became a bit bleak, but she soon perked up and though she did discuss her brush with malaria, not a single tear was shed.

This show is only ever going to be as good as its guests and tonight it was very good indeed.

Time to forget all your troubles, kick back, relax and laugh at a show you probably saw back in April. The O2 Arena plays host to literally quite a few comedians in a show put on to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity; so even if the likes of Jack Whitehall, Jason Manford, Michael McIntyre and James Corden aren't funny then at least some good will come from this. There are plenty of good turns here as well from David Mitchell, Jo Brand, Sean Lock and Kevin Eldon.

Michael McIntyre thought they wanted a BGT contestant

Britain's Got Talent judge Michael McIntyre initially thought Simon Cowell was asking him to be a contestant, not an adjudicator, on the show.