Roisin Conaty

Sun comedy meets Roisin Conaty

In 2010 Roisin Conaty scooped the coveted Fosters Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Fringe festival.

Pure silliness abounds as Dave Gorman hosts a one-off show in which he asks his contestants - Chris Addison, Roisin Conaty, Geoff Lloyd and Seymour Mace - to compete for gold medals in, quite frankly, ludicrous rounds. For example, Usain Bolt can run the 100m in 9.58 seconds: what do the panellists think they could do in 9.58 seconds? It's fantastic to see Absolute Radio's Geoff Lloyd pop up on a panel show. He's one of the sharpest wits on air.

Downton Abbey, an Old Etonian government, a striking workforce and rioting on the streets - it seems that class is, once again, dominating the headlines. And class is always a fruitful subject for comedians to kick against, which is exactly what they're doing in this one-off special. Frank Skinner is joined by cockney-made-good Micky Flanagan, 'salt of the earth' Roisin Conaty and Rev's well-heeled Miles Jupp to dissect the issue with some comedy chat and experiments in front of a studio audience.

Frank Skinner takes a light-hearted look at a topic the British can never quite escape - class. He's joined by comedians Roisin Conaty, Miles Jupp and Micky Flanagan, who embark on various class-oriented missions, before bringing their findings to a studio audience. Conaty goes on a date with a man who struggles with the concept of fish fingers, Flanagan tries to get to the bottom of Modern Art, and Jupp has his home counties accent softened to see if he can fit in at the local market.

Apropos of absolutely nothing, Frank Skinner hosts a vaguely awkward cross between a televised debate and a generic comedy panel show on the subject of class. Observations are made by Skinner (not posh) and guests Miles Jupp (posh), Micky Flanagan (not posh), and Roisin Conaty (not posh, so skewing the balance quite considerably), interspersed with each guest going out and doing something that makes them feel socially awkward.

A new comedy on E4, Show & Tell (fronted by Chris Addison) features three up-and-coming guest comedians talking about various items that they've brought with them.

In this week's opening episode, Welsh stand-up Elis James brought in a practically ancient pair of underpants which seem to have dated before he was even born. Roisin Conaty (winner of last year's Edinburgh Newcomer Award) talked about a video she watched when she was 13 which turned out to be a porn film; and sand-dancer (which, for anyone outside of the North East, means "South Shields resident") Chris Ramsey recalled about an incident with a nutter and an umbrella in a canal.

As well as this Addison asked his panel to bring in something relating to a particular subject, and then got the audience to talk about things they wanted to show.

Never too bogged down in the prepared material from James, Conaty and Ramsey, this is a very enjoyable show. And any programme which gives lesser known stand-ups a platform to perform on is worth promoting (admittedly Conaty is an award winner, but she isn't a household name by any stretch). But even when going off script the comics get decent laughs out of their props, whether it's James asking Conaty to cut out some of his underpant gusset or the unusual uses for a toy gorilla. It isn't the funniest show you'll ever see, but with the competitive element of panel shows removed it's much more relaxing.

The always brilliant Chris Addison presents a new comedy panel show in which guests bring an object of interest to talk about. Up-and-coming comedians Chris Ramsay, Roisin Conaty and Elis James are his guests. These new comic voices are refreshing on a panel show and James should go on to be huge if tonight is anything to go by. It rattles along like an extremely enjoyable night in the pub, totally unforced, benefiting from Addison's easy charm. Properly funny.

As host Chris Addison explains, the meeting to come up with a name for this show would have been very short, as it's just rising comics telling funny stories about things they've brought in.

Tonight's likeable stand-ups include Roisin Conaty - awarded best newcomer at last year's Edinburgh Festival - and Welsh comedian Elis James.

The latter's item is a pair of ancient pants he's held on to for nostalgic reasons. And if he's kept these, what else has he stashed away?

I have nightmare visions of a flat packed to the rafters with significant bus tickets and sentimental kebab wrappers.

The audience also gets to take part, which is almost always a dangerous move. The two items that people hand over tonight will make you go "ewww".

On second thoughts, they should have called this The Put That Down, You Don't Know Where It's Been Show.

Here's what the world needs right now: another comedy panel show. Except there's no panel, and there are none of the same old tired faces doing the rounds. Instead, three bright young comics lounge on the sofa, waiting patiently for gangly host Chris Addison to invite them to perform short routines about an object they've brought in.

It's all very good-natured and feels quite loosely structured, like watching a group of friends joking around in their front room. Roisin Conaty (best newcomer at last year's Edinburgh Festival), Al Murray's support act Chris Ramsey, and engaging Welshman Elis James all spin great yarns from inconsequential matters. But they are trumped by an audience member's weird story about his childhood toy gorilla - Chris Addison throws the toy away in disgust.

Video: Roisin Conaty's show brings fate to the fringe

Comedienne Roisin Conaty is performing her new show, Destiny's Dickhead, at the Edinburgh Fringe, where she talks about fate and how she fell onto the comedy path.