Mike Ward

It took me a couple of attempts, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit, but I finally managed to get past the dead cat gag at the start of BBC2's new series Heading Out (sorry to sound such a wuss, but things like that really upset me) and get through to the end of my preview copy.

I'm glad I did, too, because this Sue Perkins sitcom, where the Bake Off host plays a 40-year-old vet who still hasn't told her parents she's gay, had me laughing out loud more than once. It had me laughing out loud twice, if you must know, but that's still way above my average.

Your average comedian can earn serious money these days. Your very good one can earn a fortune. Michael McIntyre's latest tour, for example, netted him £21m. But there's more than one way for a stand-up to rake in the cash.

As we'll see in BBC2's new documentary series Funny Business, corporate gigs and telly commercials are huge earners. You want Jason Manford? That'll be 25 grand.

With contributions from the likes of Jo Brand, John Cleese and Rhod Gilbert, the programme also poses the inevitable awkward question. Namely, is a comic selling their soul by doing this stuff? Some people clearly think so. Carmarthen's Rhod Gilbert points out that the only ad he's ever been willing to do is for Visit Wales.

Mind you, I personally reckon he sells it better, sloganwise, in a clip from Live At The Apollo: "Wales is all right! It's not s**t anymore! We've done it up!"

Review: Great Night Out

Don't get me wrong, the show itself is quite a laugh, centred on a bunch of likeable thirty-something mates from Stockport, but unfortunately it's hard not to think of these guys in previous, less cuddly roles.

I can't say I'm a big fan of award shows, but this can be an exception.

Well, I suppose I can ("I'm a big fan of award shows" - there, see, I've just done it), but I'd be lying, and lying is a waste of all our time. Rather like this opening paragraph.

On their day, however, the British Comedy Awards can be a lot less dismal than most of these back-slapping bashes, if only because the bitter rivalry and bitchiness of the comedy world can trigger some seriously caustic name-calling, not very effectively disguised as goodnatured gags.

As for who's likely to win what at tonight's do, hosted by Jonathan Ross, I couldn't really give a monkey's, but it's good to see some less obvious names creeping into contention, such as Sky1's excellent series Moone Boy.

As for the publicly voted King Of Comedy prize, I'm afraid Joe Pasquale has been snubbed yet again...

Full English is an animated sitcom, a UK answer to the likes of Family Guy, and this first episode is a genuinely hilarious Britain's Got Talent spoof. ... Oh, and it's not for the easily offended, by the way - nor for anyone who has a problem with shamelessly puerile but seriously funny gags.

Trollied - which personally I think is really funny, but which other people seem to think is ropey (is it me? Is it them? It's them, isn't it? Sour-faced gits. Good, I'm glad we're agreed on that...) - is back tonight for a second series (9pm, 9.30pm).

Joining the cast is Stephanie Beacham, from hit US drama Die Nasty, playing the scary new store manager.

There's one feeble gag where someone confuses Iceland the store with Iceland the country, but other than that I still reckon this is an above average show.

The makers can lift that quote and use it in their publicity if they like. I bet they don't.

BBC1's new comedy Citizen Khan (10.20pm) stars its creator, Adil Ray, in the title role, as a self-appointed - and selfimportant - community leader in Sparkhill, Birmingham.

He's a character who's already popped up in other shows, including the sketch series Bellamy's People, but this is the first time he's had a sitcom all of his own, focusing on his family life.

To be honest, the show's weakness isn't so much that it's a niche comedy but the fact that its style feels incredibly dated, like an old-fashioned studio sitcom from 20-odd years back.

There's more than one way to make a prank show, as we're reminded tonight by BBC Three's new series The Revolution Will Be Televised (10pm).

Rather than just winding up random people for the hell of it, although obviously that's great fun as well, pranksters Heydon Prowse and Jolyon Rubinstein set out to humiliate the greedy, the corrupt, the hypocritical etc.

In one sketch tonight, for example, they take to the streets to raise funds for a spoof organisation they call GUBOFMYC, designed to humiliate bankers.

I couldn't possibly get away with telling you what those initials actually stand for, but trust me, you won't disagree with the sentiments...

Away from the Olympics, I'm chuffed to say Vexed is back for a second series on BBC2 (9pm).

You remember Vexed? Oh, well, never mind, it's really good, trust me - a sort of off-beat comedy detective drama, with Toby Stephens as shambolic DI Jack Armstrong and ex-Spooks star Miranda Raison as his sharpwitted new partner, DI Georgina Dixon.

If you've not seen it before, stick with it for a while because admittedly it does seem pretty daft to begin with. Come to think of it, it seems pretty daft by the end as well. That's the whole point.

Britain's Oldest Stand Up (More 4, 10pm) is a documentary about 90-year-old Chelsea pensioner Jack Woodward, whose dream is to perform at London's Hammersmith Apollo.

It's not quite as far-fetched as it sounds, as Jack was a regular stand-up comic many decades back, but given that he's still using material written for his audiences of half a century ago, does he really have a hope in hell of pulling this off?

Early signs are not promising (there's a toecurlingly embarrassing reaction, or lack of one, when he tries out his act at an old people's home), but once he's been taken under the wing of a modern-day gag-writer, it seems Jack may achieve his dream after all...