Miranda Sawyer

Sometimes it can seem as if standup comedians are everywhere. Clustered on panel shows, chat shows, sitcoms; hosting clips programmes, commenting on the news, making you chicken pie when you get home at night...

That's just me (I'm married to a standup), and that's a bad joke. Not quite as bad as some we heard on Stand Up For Comic Relief, but close.

Last week, Radio 4 took us through the now familiar process of established comedians mentoring novices for charidee (you phone in to vote for the best, and the money goes to Comic Relief). Thus, Dev from Radio 1 was tutored by Chris Ramsey, Radio 2's Tony Blackburn got Julian Clary, Tom Service (Radio 3) by Sandi Toksvig, Jenni Murray (Radio 4) by Mark Steel, Tony Livesey (5Live) worked with Justin Moorhouse and Shaun Keaveny from 6Music was paired with Miles Jupp. (If there was ever a sign that the BBC are now fully supportive of 6Music, Shaun doing Comic Relief is it.)

Before we heard the routines, in the "funny" 6.30pm slot on Wednesday, Radio 4 offered us two half-hour puff pieces on Monday and Tuesday, where the newbies expressed their fear and competitiveness and their mentors cracked funnies. Tony Blackburn was the coolest, his shtick so tough that Clary's advice could only slide off it like an egg chucked at a tank. Blackburn refused to meet Clary more than once, and was as corny as can be, his light-ent persona carrying him through hoary gags such as getting the whole audience to look under their seats for a nonexistent prize. Tony Livesey was cheesy too, in ye old working men's club manner: terrible jokes, delivered with a wink and some panache. Shaun Keaveny was likable, as were Jenni Murray and Tom Service. But best by far was Dev, who told a truthful, funny, well-constructed story about asking a girl out complete with call-backs to earlier jokes. He should win.

As an aside, much as Comic Relief is an admirable institution, it should be held at least partly responsible for all these standups and their hijacking of mainstream culture. Funny is God, these days. (And God, though good with a one-liner, wasn't actually much of a giggle.) Oh, I'm so sick of listening to people say stuff that sounds as though it's a punch-line, but isn't actually, you know, funny. Hey ho. Adam and Joe will be back on 6Music next month. They really do make me laugh.

It's Your Round, a new late night Radio 4 quiz show where four contestants devise a round each. Presented by old hand Angus Deayton, it was a jolly listen, with most of the jolliness provided by Miles Jupp's dad, who gave the answers for Miles's round, and Rufus Hound, who has quite the most infectious chuckle on radio.

A quick thumbs-up for Mark Thomas, also on Radio 4, with his Manifesto. Thomas can be insufferable when he tries to be the British Michael Moore, but on this series he is an exuberant, rather than bombastic, host, teasing and cajoling the audience into their proposals.

Radio 4's Showstopper is a new programme in which a musical is improvised on the spot, from audience suggestions. A straightforward transfer of Showstopper's Edinburgh show, it's all lickety-split smart and, supposedly, hilarious. This week we got The Godsister, a mafia musical set in a Chicago malt shop. Lots of scare-the-baby singing, but my sides remained unsplit.

Monday saw the return of Ed Reardon, Radio 4's most consistently funny curmudgeon (apart from Count Arthur Strong). I love an angry man, and Reardon is never less than vexed, this week by people wearing poppies before 11 November, as well as his having to ghost-write a young (Observer!) columnist's book, How to Survive With, Like, No Cash. As ever, the script was stuffed with jokes, including one where Reardon's bad photocopying resulted in pupils in his literature class being given a paper entitled "Hard Tim by Charles Dick". I laughed out loud at that one.

My Teenage Diary, now halfway through its second series, is proving a gentle, amusing listen. Julian Clary, last week, was a tad mournful about his young self, but this week Meera Syal positively revelled in reading out her entries, treating us to her original Midlands accent and 70s angst. It was lovely. Generally unsuccessful with boys, her teenage self did meet one fellow at judo she rather liked. "He is very intelligent, has epileptic fits and reckons God is a spaceman."

More adventures of the show business legend (and trout tickler) Count Arthur Strong. If you haven't met him before you'll be unaware of his way of looking at the world and tendency to forget significant things. Those who love his idiosyncracies include Radio 2's Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie and critic Miranda Sawyer. Personally, I can't abide the blundering, blustering, malapropic Mancunian Count, creation of Steve Delaney. Nor, I can exclusively reveal, can Jim Naughtie (although what the Count thinks of Jim may be another matter).

Ruby Wax was on Radio 4's Chain Reaction this week (hooray! A woman!). Her turn to interview, and her guest was comic actor Harry Shearer - Derek Smalls from Spinal TapMr Burns and others from The Simpsons. Ruby is one of the best interviewers ever, in my opinion, and she didn't disappoint, hurrying Shearer on when needed - "so cut to when you're funny, we haven't got all day" - or pulling him short when he glossed over a tale. "Are you bitter?" she asked Shearer, an old friend of hers. "You still look bitter." I wish she still had her own chatshow.

And another Happy Tuesdays for Radio 4, this time from self-avowedly middle-class comic Will Smith. As with Everybody Quite Likes Justin last week, the script was funny, but let down by old-fashioned, stagy direction. There are talented people involved in all these pilots, but the producers seem to think we have never heard comedy before.

Unfortunately, much of the show felt set up, with Moorhouse monologuing and the rest of the cast a little stilted. Personally, I'd just let them crash straight in, rather than having to explain all the time.