Michael McIntyre

The voiceover man from The X Factor gives a bellowing introduction to Michael McIntyre and the latter skips onto the blazingly lit stage to a hysterical welcome from the people of Dublin. And that's the pitch it stays at throughout - bright lights, big laughs and constant reminders from McIntyre that what we're seeing is "Brilliant! Fantastic! Well done! Brilliant!" Which it certainly will be for anyone who likes jokes about Irishness. Keith Farnan riffs on the Irish fondness for drink, arguing that "If Irish men didn't drink we'd be Italian", and their rubbish dancing (ah, Riverdance jokes - remember them?), while Tommy Tiernan jokes about the Irish economic boom: "We found out when times were good that money doesn't suit Irish people." But it's the sheer strangeness of Andrew Lawrence's act that may stay in the mind longest. It's hard to improve on his way of describing himself: "Ginger hair, creepy face and voice like a sex offender." But funny, too.

Michael McIntyre's perpetual effervescence fizzes in Blackpool, a town ripe with potential for gags about fags, chips and people with funny accents wearing fleeces. McIntyre also has some sport with members of the Blackpool football team, who are in the audience. The headline act is a hectoring John Bishop, whose coarse schtick about stag dos, hen nights and sex toys is an acquired taste. Much more interesting is Miles Jupp - who was so good in the BBC2 sitcom Rev - mining his background. "I'm privileged, not just to be here, but in general." Elsewhere, the unsettling Terry Alderton, with a strange, tangential but often winning act, has fun with body-popping cockneys, while Justin Moorhouse is rude about fat people.

Terry Alderton interview

Michael McIntyre takes his Roadshow to Blackpool and introduces another host of great stand-ups including Terry Alderton, who joins us to answer a few questions...

Michael McIntyre sheds the pounds with trainer

He is used to being the one in the spotlight.
But Michael McIntyre seemed keen to shift the attention to the Prime Minister's personal trainer after his strict regime helped the comedian lose two stone.

Michael McIntyre bounds on stage, newly svelte and very natty in a purple suit. He doesn't look like the most polarising figure in British comedy. Polarising in the sense that mass audiences adore him, while other, less successful comics marinate in resentment whenever his name is mentioned. Fine, yes, McIntyre is very safe (though he says "s**t" twice, to my horror - it's like hearing your favourite auntie swear), but the observational stuff is fun. It may be obvious, but there you go, that's observation for you. Anyway, I like him, and the Glasgow audience at the first of a new run of Roadshows is in his pocket immediately as he tells cute stories about his two small children, revolving doors at airports and trampolines in gardens. None of it will start any revolutions, but who needs that on a Saturday night? He's not Bill Hicks. McIntyre is wildly enthusiastic about the night's acts, including local boy Kevin Bridges, garrulous Canadian Craig Campbell and Radio 4 favourite Milton Jones, whose punning, literal schtick makes my teeth itch with annoyance.

The World According To Michael McIntyre

One of our favourite funny-men, Michael McIntyre, is back on the road with a new series of Comedy Roadshows. In the host's honour, we've gathered together a selection of his best one-liners.

From what I hear, Michael McIntyre isn't the most popular of stand-ups among other comics. If that is indeed the case, I can only assume they're desperately jealous. It can, after all, be quite an unpleasantly competitive area of showbusiness.

Anyway, here, as if to turn his rivals even greener with envy, the cheery, mass-DVD-shifting, Bafta-nominated Michael embarks on the second of his Saturday night roadshow series, visiting venues up and down the country and introducing, along with one established name per show, a bunch of comparatively new stand-ups who've yet to enjoy this level of prime-time exposure.

Michael McIntyre: lowest-common-denominator or saviour?

The critical knives are sure to be out for the return of Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow tomorrow - but this is just cultural snobbery. The stand-up deserves his huge audiences.

Michael McIntyre and Kevin Bridges

Tomorrow night, Michael McIntyre is taking his Comedy Roadshow to the Theatre Royal in Glasgow, and local favourite Kevin Bridges is headlining.

We caught up with Kevin and asked him a few questions...

McIntyre: the comedian that comedians love to hate

His Comedy Roadshow pulls in the viewers like no other stand-up TV show for a long time, but not everybody is a fan of Michael McIntyre.