Peter Kay

Ricky Gervais reviving The Office's David Brent, Miranda Hart giving Call The Midwife a baby comedy makeover, Jessie J shaving her head and Peter Kay in physical challenge and pop promo mode promise to be among the highlights as Comic Relief bigs up its 25th birthday. So if clamping a red nose on your hooter doesn't tickle your fancy, just settle back and raise a glass and a chortle as a raft of hosts, including Rob Brydon, Jack Whitehall and Russell Brand, tackle such dubious tasks as introducing Simon Cowell's wedding video. Someone's having a laugh with that one, surely.

That's Jessie J under the swirl of shaving foam, and the reason she's posing like the queen of the Oompa Loompas is that she'll be shaving her hair off as part of tonight's culmination to Red Nose Day. Yes, it's time for the stunts and dares and unlikely comedy mash-ups to reach their bubbling live climax.

As ever, we can expect unmissable moments delivered by an almost obscenely starry line-up. Presenters include Michael McIntyre, Rob Brydon, John Bishop, Davina McCall, Jonathan Ross and (careful, now...) Russell Brand. Ricky Gervais will bring David Brent out of retirement. There are mini-eps of Call the Midwife and Fresh Meat, a cook-off between Jack Whitehall and Micky Flanagan, and of course a new novelty pop promo from Peter Kay.

The trick for viewers is to flash the cash early. Text the donation line or get out the credit card at an early stage, then relax as the night rolls by. You'll never make it through all those heartbreaking appeal films if you don't know your money's on its way.

Peter Kay helps Comic Relief by sitting down

Peter Kay is famous for his stand-up comedy - but this Friday he will be helping Comic Relief by sitting down.

'Look at the bloody size of it!' marvels Peter Kay as he runs on stage at the O2. It feels a little disingenuous, because Kay is arguably at the front of a pack of comedians who have been aiming this high from the start. The second part of this fascinating three-part series examines the process behind these startling new comic trajectories. Via a dig around in the BBC's written archive (Frankie Howerd was on 80 guineas a series) and Frank Skinner's brush with pay-related tabloid infamy, we reach the present day.

Comedy historians will probably dub our era The McIntyre Ascendancy. But has edge and artistry been lost as careerism wins the day? Or is it naive to think that stand-up was ever about anything other than a drive towards commercial success? Reassuringly, Mark Thomas is on hand to suggest than comedy has 'fallen for the capitalist concept of endless growth'. But the hyper-competitive Comedy Store bearpit we visit at the end suggests that many young comics still think there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Eddie Izzard crops up in the delayed second episode of Funny Business, in which the machinations of comedy agents and promoters fall under scrutiny. But the focus is largely on the rise during the last 30 years of stand-ups earning ludicrous sums of money from sell-out mega-tours, thanks in part to the heavily monopolised likes of Live at The Apollo.

The most fascinating portion of the programme by far is when a comedy historian delves into the BBC's Written Archive - housed in a modest bungalow in Berkshire, believe it or not - to contrast the earnings of today's top comics with those of the heroes of yesteryear. One particularly sobering revelation is that when Ernie Wise died, he left behind an estate worth over just half a million pounds. In 2011 alone, Peter Kay earned an estimated take of over £20 million from touring and DVD sales. As the formerly funny Boltonian might himself remark, what's all that about?

Tonight's first frolic down celebrity lane features a first-love story in hospital. A 12-year-old Jason Manford (Ellis Hollins) attracts female attention while waiting for what he tells them is a brain op (in fact a circumcision). Manford himself plays the boy's father, surgeon and nurse, inviting comparisons with Peter Kay.

The second features the stand-up career born of a terrible one-man show about Al Pacino. Omid Djalili recalls how a tobacconist changed his life, and how he literally fell into comedy. Former EastEnder Ashley Kumar plays the 22-year-old Djalili as an aspiring actor trying to break out of overearnest-theatre-group hell. Fun and sweet-natured if sprinkled with cringe.

Peter Kay makes £4m a year

Accounts out this week show that Peter Kay's two companies, Good Night Vienna Productions - which he co-owns with his wife - and Hussein Traders, hold close to a staggering £21 million.

Peter Kay's 'Road To Salford' for Comedy Masterclass

Peter Kay returned to his roots at the University of Salford yesterday (Wednesday 12 December) when he passed on advice and tips from his hugely successful comedy career to more than 50 performance students.