Miranda Hart

Channel 4's annual charity event returns with a troupe of performers large enough to make the Polyphonic Spree look on in envy. As ever, it's a mix of the established and the incipient, so Jo Brand and Jonathan Ross line up alongside men of the moment Adam Hills and Josh Widdicombe. Elsewhere, comedians dancing seems to be a thing just now, so Miranda Hart and Warwick Davis duly join up with Diversity to show off their moves, while Russell Brand absents himself from Hollywood to partake in some audience interaction.

Dance sensation Diversity puts a spring in the steps of Chatty Man Alan Carr, national charmer Miranda Hart and Idiot Abroad Warwick Davis, who've rashly decided to shake a leg - Ashley Banjo-style - as their contribution to this evening of fundraising action for Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity for children. Other funny faces putting their happy feet forward for the cause include comedian Kevin Bridges, who takes a pop at the more furtive pursuits of his fellow Scots, and TV regulars Russell Brand, Jack Dee, Jo Brand, Rich Hall and Paddy McGuinness. Among those putting in an appearance on VT are surreal loon Noel Fielding and Jack Whitehall.

The raucous annual stand-up bonanza in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital comes once again from the O2 in London.

When the live gig was held a couple of weeks ago, one critic described it as "Live at the Apollo on steroids". In other words, expect big, booming, arena-style stand-up from an all-star roster. Jack Whitehall, Jack Dee, Jo Brand, Noel Fielding and Jason Byrne are among the long list of comics donating gags to the cause.

Diversity open the show with a dance routine into which Alan Carr, Miranda Hart and Warwick Davis insert unexpected cameos. Lee Evans airs a routine about EasyJet. Russell Brand goes walkabout among the crowd. Rich Hall jokes about child labour ("Clothes make the man but kids make the clothes").

And unsurprisingly the recurring theme is the year's revelations about Jimmy Savile and other stars - everyone has an angle on that one.

Miranda Hart: Eddie Braben brought us all sunshine

Miranda Hart recalls meeting her hero Eddie Braben - the genius scriptwriter behind Morecambe and Wise - who died last week.

Cultural life: Miranda Hart, comedian

Miranda Hart talks about her current cultural tastes.

Comedy? It isn't funny anymore

With the likes of Miranda Hart - she who is as funny as genocide (subjectively speaking) - one can almost forgive the new generation their flat gags, given that successful TV joke tellers, and therefore role models, are operating on a Joe Pasquale level.

David Frost interview

"I'm so sad," David Frost sighs, "that we couldn't include Miranda Hart, as I think she is superb, but she doesn't do sketches... I'll have to make up a programme to showcase her talents."

The Job Lot got off to a very strong start.

Sarah Hadland stars as Trish, the manager of a West Midlands job centre, recently returned from stress-related sickness leave. Ostensibly sunny and positive - "turn the unemployed into the fun employed" is her motto - Trish struggles to maintain the facade in a work environment beset by resentment, hostility, despair, defeatism and bureaucracy. And that's before they open up to the public.

The show is essentially an ensemble piece - a uniformly excellent cast includes Russell Tovey, Jo Enright and Emma Rigby - but it is Hadland's understated, poignant portrayal of brittle optimism under unbearable stress that holds it all together. It is good to see Hadland, best known as Miranda Hart's sidekick Stevie in the former's eponymous sitcom, emerging from Hart's shadow as a fine comic actor in her own right.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: to lose one scene-stealing support player is unfortunate but to lose two could be considered careless. So can the sitcom that helped launch the career of Miranda Hart - and survived - pull off the same trick now Tim Vine is absent from the sixth series? All eyes are on Lee Mack, still firmly at the centre of this universe, with puns and misfortune whirling around him like dysfunctional satellites as Lucy (Sally Bretton) plays Watership Down with a brace of innocent rabbits and Daisy (Katy Wix) strides in to make matters worse.

Opinion: Is comedy getting too posh?

There is already a sign that comedy is getting posher. Miranda Hart and Jack Whitehall spring to mind, but there are others on the horizon too.