Rufus Hound

The comic in the white suit

From Stephen Merchant, to Rufus Hound, via Skinner and Baddiel, 30 of the nation's best funnymen (and women) got suited up to help raise money for charity. Photographer Richard Cannon tells us why he put this brilliant project together.

Comedy in pictures - April

This month's gallery from around the circuit is dominated by Simon Munnery's revival of the noble art of wrestling women. In this case, Isy Suttie and Josie Long. Plus: Rufus Hound, Tom Basden, stripping and quizzing.

Campus started this week on Channel 4 and is ­perfect for anyone who believes the world is populated solely by sexual compulsives, psychopaths and the spiritually bereft. In other words, Kevin O'Sullivan would love it.

Star of the show, however, has to be ­brilliant Andy Nyman as the Napoleonic University Vice-Chancellor Jonty de Wolfe.

De Wolfe is very possibly one of the ­greatest sitcom characters of all time, a man happy crippling as many students as ­possible. Like Michael Gove. Only funnier. ­Muuuuuuch funnier.

BBC1 has answered the question that no one was asking: "What would it be like if the cast of Loose Women ran a taxi firm?"

Well, with Candy Cabs we found out.

This is an ­empowering story for women about some women who are ­obviously much better than the feckless, idiot men that surround them.

Women who just need a bit of self belief to prove their self-worth. Well, self-belief and £35,000 from Elaine, who ­re-mortgaged her house without telling her ­husband, because he might have said no.

What a bastard he is, eh ladies? Not being willing to risk ­homelessness by ­investing in a business run by women so ­brilliant that they didn't even know taxis had to be licensed. Boo him!

Look, I get it. I ­understand that I'm not the target audience for this show, but I do think if your idea of being a strong, ­confident, modern woman is having "Sex Bomb" played at your funeral, we may need to call you a taxi.

The ever-excellent Celebrity Juice goes from strength to strength on ITV2 on Thursdays at 10pm.

While some favour the outrageous Keith ­Lemon, the beautiful Holly Willoughby or the hip Fearne Cotton, my pick is the devilishly handsome bloke in the corner.

I forget his name now...

Rufus Hound, one of those comedians who seem to have whizzed from obscure clubs into radio and TV fame without many raised laughs as the wind beneath their wings, hosts this new weekly roundup of news from the comedy front line. He talks to performers, reviews acts and trails programmes, comments on highlights of the week's events (e.g. yet more awards nights), chats to studio guests. It's not exactly the Today or World at One of mirth, but may appeal to any bold soul who's still contemplating shelling out a few quid on live laughter this weekend.

Rufus Hound joins Radio 4 Extra's comedy line-up

Rufus Hound is to host a show called What's So Funny? on new digital station BBC Radio 4 Extra, which will also include Comedy Club, a series featuring comics such as Arthur Smith.

The first series of this panel game went out late at night, but series two has won a place in the post-news chuckle slot. The premise is simple: host Charlie Brooker invites three panellists to share their experiences of life's low points (Modern Life Is Putrid is one discussion point) or dream up worst-case scenarios in topics ranging from soaps to boy bands, and off they go. It's pure Brooker territory, of course, but he's a master at highlighting the comedy of the dark side, and it's done in a warm, mutually-inclusive, sharing way that's curiously uplifting. And funny. This episode features Rufus Hound, Holly Walsh and Mark Watson and it's a cracker. The only downside is that you won't be able to see Hound's magnificently voluminous trousers.

It's Your Round marks a radio comeback for Angus Deayton. Deayton, like [Nicholas] Parsons, is a born host, an arch, deadpan foil to contestants' excesses. The twist in this format is that guests invent their own round, and in the first episode, Rufus Hound devised "Them Next Door" in which contestants had to guess famous neighbours from a sound recording. Sex Pistols and a sewing machine made Vivienne Westwood, "Nessun Dorma" and weeping meant Gazza, and the sound of complete silence suggested Charlie Chaplin. Miles Jupp dreamt up "What Does My Dad Know?" in which contestants guessed whether his father, a church minister, would have seen Titanic, or understand what an emo was.

It was jolly and high spirited, but the threat to this game, apart from the cruel 11pm scheduling, is that it may have inbuilt obsolescence. It's Your Round promises something different each week, whereas everything we know about radio tells us that audiences like continuity. Just a Minute is Britain's longest-running quiz show for a reason. People like to know what's coming and then to have it repeated. Again and again for several years.

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.