Michael McIntyre

This update of Channel 4's 2007 poll of the 100 greatest stand-ups should include some of the new comedy stars who have risen to fame since. It's unlikely that Frankie Boyle, Russell Howard or Michael McIntyre will have shot straight in at No1, but four hours of watching skits from some of the nation's funniest people remains an undiluted pleasure.

You might remember a great slab of television from 2007 called The 100 Greatest Stand-Ups. This is an updated and revised version of that particular epic; four hours devoted to one long list, padded with clips and interviews. The winner last time was Billy Connolly, closely followed by Peter Kay and Eddie Izzard. But could Izzard's recent successful tour and his staggering Sport Relief marathons hike him up to the number one slot? Or will Michael McIntyre, who wasn't even on the 2007 list, surprise everyone? The answer lies in the hands of the voting public.

It's comedy and charity combined, not to be confused with a comedy about charity, which would be plain wrong. Twenty-three of our funniest people (and Michael McIntyre) are at the 02 Arena in London competing to win your laughs at Britain's largest-ever live stand-up show, all in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Charity. Take your pick from Alan Carr, Noel Fielding, Catherine Tate and plenty more. If you still haven't had enough laughs for the evening, stay tuned for Frank Skinner recorded live at Birmingham's NIA. He's on the same channel at 11.05pm, so no action is required.

For this two-hour bonanza in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity, Channel 4 recently assembled 24 of Britain's best comedians to perform in front of a live audience at the O2 arena in London. So - deep breath - Jack Dee, Andy Parsons, David Mitchell, Fonejacker, Jack Whitehall, Jo Brand, James Corden, Jason Manford, John Bishop, Kevin Bridges, Kevin Eldon, Lee Evans, Mark Watson, Michael McIntyre, Noel Fielding, Patrick Kielty, Rich Hall, Rob Brydon, Ruth Jones, Sean Lock, Catherine Tate and Shappi Khorsandi take turns on stage to make it the biggest live stand-up show in British history. If that's not enough for you, Alan Carr and Bill Bailey perform with Stomp and Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Johnny Depp provide additional sketches.

Great Ormond Street Hospital is the recipient of this fundraising gala - the biggest live stand-up concert in UK history. And they couldn't have asked for more from the roster of stars who each donated five minutes last week at London's O2 Arena. Some hefty editing will be needed to get this show down to the two-hour running time it's been allotted and if the rude bits from Jonathan Ross and Mark Watson end up on the cutting room floor, then they may survive in the DVD which goes on sale on April 26.

Among those who'll definitely make the cut are, in no particular order, Michael McIntyre, Jack Dee, Bill Bailey, Kevin Eldon, Jason Manford, Jo Brand, Sean Lock and Noel Fielding.

The evening opens with a raucous dance number from Stomp and closes with a legendary performance from Lee Evans, looking the grand old man of stand-up in every sense.

This stand-up comedy show at the O2 Arena in London features a barnstorming roll-call of British comedians all stepping up to the mic in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. The bill includes Alan Carr, Bill Bailey, Catherine Tate, David Mitchell, The Fonejacker, Jack Dee, Jo Brand, Lee Evans, Michael McIntyre, Noel Fielding, Patrick Kielty, Rich Hall, Rob Brydon and Shappi Khorsandi. If you can't find somebody in that list who makes you laugh, it's possible that you have, indeed, had all your funny bones surgically removed.

Last night I witnessed a small piece of television history when BBC3 aired, without question, the worst comedy pilot they have ever made. Bearing in mind this channel has produced more abysmal comedy pilots than a flying school for suicidal clowns, that's quite an achievement.

The aptly named Laughter Shock was quite stunning in its awfulness, so much so that it almost felt like an angry satire on everything that's wrong with modern British comedy. But no, it was real. Horribly, painfully real.

This jaw-dropping travesty was intended as a showcase for over a dozen young comedians, all labouring under the misapprehension that all you need for a successful career in stand-up is amplification and a larynx. Performing live in front of a trapped audience, this smorgasbord of hacks were each given just a minute to make their mark. This, clearly, is an insane way to present stand-up comedy on television, but in this case it was a blessing.

Even in heavily edited form, they were among the most atrocious stand-ups I have ever seen. Lowlights included a loud woman talking solely about her hair, an idiot doing an impersonation of a dinosaur (because his last girlfriend was so old), a "token middle-class white boy" illustrating his cleverness by using the word "semantically" and sneering at people's Amazon reviews, and a hopeless berk performing an excruciating routine about the many hilarious uses for a towel. That he did this while aping the vocal mannerisms of Michael McIntyre merely compounded the horror.

As if all of this wasn't bad enough, the stand-up was interspersed with amateurish sketches ranging from charmless whimsy to uninspired riffs on youth culture and race, and a truly appalling attempt at Chris Morris-like edginess set in a woman's lavatory.

Comedy, like any craft, requires practice and experience before it can be mastered, so if I was feeling charitable I'd concede that perhaps these newcomers were simply ill-prepared for such exposure. Having said that, none of them showed the slightest bit of potential, and I'm staggered that even BBC3 - where new comedy frequently goes to die - thought this fit for broadcast.

Channel 4 Comedy Gala at the O2 Arena, London SE10

It was billed as "the biggest live stand-up show in UK history". But although this show in aid of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children featured 30-odd comics performing to 15,000 people, with more on video clips, in many ways it conformed to the usual rules of the charity gala. Some acts reminded you why they are stars (Lee Evans, Michael McIntyre, Jack Dee). Some were good enough to win a lot of new fans (Mark Watson, Kevin Bridges, Patrick Kielty, John Bishop, Rich Hall, Sean Lock). Some did their thing and did it well (Noel Fielding, Jo Brand). Barely anyone died a death. And, though the O2's 11pm curfew forestalled the usual overrun, cor, did Evans, the headliner, strike a chord when he imagined what we were thinking: "Pleeeeease, finish!"

Channel 4 Comedy Gala at the O2 Arena, review

In spite of the sheer size of the O2, Michael McIntyre and Lee Evans succeeded in heating Channel 4's Comedy Gala to combustion point. Rating: * * * *

Stars prepare for TV industry awards

Harry Hill, Ant and Dec and Michael McIntyre will battle it out for a top prize at the Royal Television Society Awards, which take place later.