Nina Conti

Nina Conti - lately of Family Tree and the only reason you will ever need to use the words "amusing ventriloquist" - comperes this final episode of the standup comedy series. Conti specialises in a kind of elaborate, mechanical audience participation, and here she introduces acts of a similarly high polish. Jimeoin (latecomers: you say "Jim Owen") will reprise his gentle and not enormously surprising range of observational material, while Rob Beckett offers an amiable take on class.

Ventriloquist Nina Conti brings the current crop of comedy sets to a close tonight as she pulls her faithful Monkey out of a straw bag to help her host the show.

Also taking their turns in the spotlight are class-obsessed Londoner Rob Beckett and English-born Northern Irish joker Jimeoin.

The audience also gets a chance to take a starring role, as cheeky puppet master Conti yanks on their strings for a spot of puppet-based participatory entertainment.

Radio Times review

Picking someone out of the audience to help with your act can be hit and miss. But Nina Conti gets really lucky when she asks a person in the front row to be her new puppet. The woman she chooses is an absolute natural, although to give Conti her due, it's a very, very clever idea.

She's followed by Jimeoin, who does such a spot-on impersonation of a catwalk model he could do it for a living if the comedy didn't work out. Then sarf-Londoner Rob Beckett takes to the stage with some nice observations on his childhood. But it's Conti and her new assistant who steal the show.

Radio Times review

Series nine of what must be Radio 4's longest-currently-running sitcom begins with Clare (the superb Sally Phillips) arriving late for a meeting with her fellow social workers at Sparrowhawk Family Centre. Which is rather odd, as she's supposed to be on honeymoon at the time.

She's remaining tight-lipped as to why she left her long-suffering partner Brian (Alex Lowe) at the airport while he enjoyed a nibbling-fish foot spa. But as he decided to continue on the holiday - it is full board and non-refundable, so it's a shame to waste it - we get to hear his side of the story when numbs the minds of his fellow holiday-makers and locals with the details.

It provides a complementary storyline to the travails of the social workers back home, and includes a hilarious turn from Nina Conti as a shrill holiday rep intent only on relaying information about a series of increasingly bizarre day trips.

Meanwhile, Clare is having to contend with an elderly Mrs Magoo character on the Sparrowhawk Estate, who is convinced that she will die that day - as her visual sight has diminished so her second sight has improved, apparently. Hannah Gordon is virtually unrecognisable as the batty old dear.

If you haven't listened before - and if not, where have you been for the past ten years? - Clare in the Community walks a fine line between silly, scatological humour and nuanced satire of government do-gooders who know all the current jargon but nothing of people's everyday concerns.

John Bishop's Christmas Show tops ratings with 4.7m

The BBC One show, featuring the likes of Nina Conti and Tim Vine, entertained 4.75 million (19.9%) at 9pm.

Talking dirty in front of Mum and Dad

A new series of columns in which comedians discuss their comedy and the relationship with their parents. Includes articles form Adam Buxton, Nina Conti, Meera Syal and Jack Whitehall.

Nina Conti to make new film

Nina Conti is making a new film - about becoming a 'giggle doctor' - as she revealed that the BBC Two comedy series Family Tree will not be returning.

Third part of Christopher Guest's quietly bonkers comedy. This week, Tom discovers that his grandfather, William, competed in the so-called "austerity Games" in 1948 (a genuine event, though "vintage" footage of the egg-and-spoon race probably shouldn't be trusted). Meanwhile, Bea struggles for the right kind of gig, and it turns out it isn't children's birthday parties. While Family Tree might not be quite the right showcase for Nina Conti's particular gifts, she - and naughty little Monkey - are always great fun.

With star Chris O'Dowd and This is Spinal Tap creator Christopher Guest attached, there has understandably been quite a bit of hype and expectation surrounding this new comedy series. Thankfully, three episodes in and that hype is looking increasingly justified.

It's difficult not to draw comparisons to the creator's previous comedy ventures: while some of the gags are groaningly predictable (as when cocky Pete is pitted against a small child in the boxing ring - what could possibly happen?), the very best jokes in the series are the deadpan, subtle 'did I just hear that' variety that made ...Spinal Tap so funny. Tom's ventriloquist sister Bea (Nina Conti) is particularly hilarious, her id-outlet monkey hand puppet sharp, rude and wonderfully weird. Their appearance this week as wedding entertainment is predictably disastrous.

Meanwhile, this episode takes Tom's bittersweet - and rather hopeless - search for his family history into the world of sport after he makes another discovery. Hopefully those discoveries will keep on coming as this is getting better by the week.