Phill Jupitus

It's been with us some 15 years now, and, in the wake of Have I Got News For You, has reached that stage of its maturity where it has guest hosts. This week it's David Hasselhoff, whose career of affectionately parodying his Hasselhoff persona has outlasted his earlier, un-ironic one. Regular team captains Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding are on hand, joined by Pineapple Dance Studios star Louie Spence, Amelle Berrabah of Sugababes and the ever-reliable Peter Serafinowicz.

Never let it be said that David Hasselhoff can't take a joke, so prepare for some ill-advised gyrating as he takes the helm for the start of the surreal music quiz's 25th series.

Adding to a very animated atmosphere is the never-knowingly-understated Louis Spence, Sugababe Amelle Berrabah, ­Twitter's pre-eminent off-the-cuff comedian Peter Serafinowicz and singer Loick Essien.

To mark the show's silver jubilee, there have been a few face-lifts to bring the show bang up to date: there's a slick new desk, a shiny new logo and even some surprising tweaks to the final round.

What's not changed, of course, is the top notch banter between rival captains Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding, who treat this quiz with the ­seriousness it deserves.

The music quiz returns for a 25th series with an unsafe pair of hands at the tiller: fresh from baffling the nation as a judge on Britain's Got Talent, David Hasselhoff is your host. Bracing themselves to laugh uncomfortably as the Hoff delivers jokes he doesn't get to a spot six inches to the right of the camera are regular captains Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding.

Among tonight's guests are replacement Sugababe Amelle Berrabah, chronic jazz-hander Louie Spence and comedian Peter Serafinowicz.

Continuing their trend of rotating hosts, the music panel show is back for a staggering 25th series with cheesy David Hasselhoff taking the chair. Regular team captains Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding return. This week's guests include Amelle Berrabah, from troubled pop trio Sugababes, cutting comedian and actor Peter Serafinowicz, and impish reality star Louie Spence, whose manic campery should guarantee maximum mayhem.

This week saw the return of Rhod Gilbert's panel show in which he, his two regulars (Greg Davies and Lloyd Langford) and a selection of celebrity guests attempt to answer all manner of odd questions.

This week's guests included Phill Jupitus (good comedian) and Kimberly Wyatt (not sure who she is). There was also David Hasselhoff in the role of the "Authenticator", making sure everything discussed was correct and providing extra information. I suppose it is a suitable title as you can't really call him an "Expert", unless you want to know how to make rubbish TV programmes and make it big in the German music charts.

Ask Rhod Gilbert mixes obscure knowledge and debate with very cheap laughs. In the first edition of the new series we learnt that a dog is as clever as a two-year-old, how many words we use on average in a lifetime, and that it was Hugh Heffner who brought Pamela Anderson into Baywatch (I think we can skip past that last one).

However, we also experience the traditional end-of-show humiliation in which Langford always gets mocked in some stupid way. In this week's edition it was to see which was the most dangerous foodstuff, which was tested by firing different items of food at him. This included water balloons filled with gravy and a gun firing 99 ice creams at him.

One issue I have with this show is that Gilbert announces who has won each round, despite the fact that there is no winner. Now, obviously there are some panel shows in which the scoring is irrelevant like I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, but it's not as if there is any "competitive element" in it like ISIHAC has, so why have winners in the first place?

Ask Rhod Gilbert does have some laughs, but it's not the most brilliant show by any stretch of the imagination.

My Edinburgh: Phill Jupitus, comedian

It is difficult to narrow down exactly how to best absorb the multifarious delights of Edinburgh in August but make the effort to book a few of your own favourites online before you come, which will give your visit a bit of structure.

Portrait of the artist: Phill Jupitus, comedian

'The high point of my career? On the opening night of Hairspray, I wore a sequinned dress with big breasts'.

Interview: Phill Jupitus - 'Stand-up is a joyful thing' (Link expired)

Comedians might be getting younger, but, nearly ten years on from his last bit of stand-up, Phill Jupitus reckons it all gets funnier with age.

Watching this series's parade of classic comedy clips, chosen by comedians of today, confirms the theory that some people just have funny bones. It wouldn't matter if Tommy Cooper were clipping his toenails or performing the elaborately shambolic glass bottle trick from 1974 that is replayed here tonight: the fez-wearing comedian induces guffaws just because of who he is. Similarly, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore go wildly off-script in their "Pete and Dud" sketch in the art gallery and start giggling, but they're naturally funny together, as Phill Jupitus and Rhod Gilbert attest here. Funny comes in many packages, and while the American stand-up Joan Rivers, chosen by Graham Norton and Jo Brand as a favourite, is well-known for her shock tactics, her outrageous quips about growing old on The Graham Norton Show appeared to take even Norton aback at the time. Other treats featured are the University Challenge scene from The Young Ones in 1984, co-starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, and the bit in the Monty Python film Life of Brian in which Graham Chapman's Brian Cohen exhorts his followers to think for themselves. It may be a clip show and most of the clips are more than familiar, but it surely contains more laughs per minute than any of the newer comedies on television tonight.

Buzzcocks at Latitude Festival ends in mass-karaoke

A one-off live episode of Never Mind The Buzzcocks ended in Phill Jupitus leading a packed-out comedy tent in Rolling Stones' Satisfaction.