Russell Brand

Rory Bremner and pals lampoon the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Russell Brand in a new series of the sketch show. What with the PM's manic YouTube grin, the meltdown of Britain's banking system, a couple of twerps making abusive phone calls to Manuel off Fawlty Towers and greedy MPs buying Whiskas with our hard-earned wages (eight out of 10 voters said their cats were utterly disgusted), you can't say Rory and the two Johns will be short of material for this three-parter. Superbly written and performed, this is subtitled The Last Show Before the Recovery. Oh, if only that were true.

Rory Bremner lampoons Russell Brand

Rory Bremner becomes Russell Brand, cheekily grinning by a microphone and looking uncannily like the long-haired comedian as he made his prank calls to Andrew Sachs, in his new show.

This is seriously funny. Lee is an absolute master of stand-up, his brilliantly measured delivery enabling him to weave gold from even the most unpromising material. Tonight, in the first of six themed shows, he's talking about books - and, in particular, celebrity autobiographies. If you're Chris Moyles or Russell Brand, I'd advise you to look away now.

I enjoyed Russell Brand's Christmas Ponderland a lot more once I started to imagine the Daily Mail headlines it might provoke: 'Foul-Mouthed Brand in Virgin Mary Blasphemy', perhaps, for the sequence in which he imagined the Holy Mother as an Essex slattern, taking a very dim view of the accommodation.

Or 'Brand in Paedophile Joke Outrage' for the sequence in which he explored the dangers of Christmas Santas: 'I've been working in the grotto trade for quite a while,' he slurred, parodying a Santa manager. 'And I've learnt to get rid of anyone in the nonce line.'

Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed him without the pleasing fantasy of someone harrumphing themselves into an apoplexy. He's not to everyone's taste, as the BBC so painfully discovered, but he is funny.

The show itself is a fairly standard funny-clips-and-commentary deal, but it works because of Brand's wild energy. I particularly enjoyed his indignant dissection of Wizard's song 'I Wish It Could Be a Wombling Merry Christmas Every Day', a number he rightly arraigned for conceptual overkill. An hour of a Wombling Merry Christmas perhaps, but everyday? Surely not.

Gavin's Gag Over Joke

James Corden and Mathew Horne revealed the BBC banned songs about Jesus on their new sketch show after the Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand prank row.

Four woman dressed up as Russell Brand rummaging through a rubbish bin exclaiming 'forsooth' and 'perchance' makes for a diverting image. But like most of Beehive, the comedy sketch show from whence it sprang, it was only half an idea - a cartoon cut-out in search of a gag to hang it on. It's just too easy to get this sort of half-baked stuff on the telly these days.

Russell Brand is a unique comedian who, despite his recent brush with controversy, wins the crowd over with his off-key charm.

Producers and directors, weep and despair! Bilious but brutally funny critic Charlie Brooker is back for another series of satirical swipes at the television industry. First up in his cross-hairs, expensive but bland television dramas, property shows and the furore surrounding Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross.

It's been far too long, but finally Brooker, the master of dissecting current trends in television, returns for a new series. Expect the Ross/Brand saga, the economic meltdown, and costume dramas to come under Brooker's acerbic gaze.

It was difficult to view the first of the second series from an objective viewpoint - it became both the most complained about and most praised C4 show of the week, as the 'ban this filth' and the 'if you don't like it change the channel' brigades dragged their argument into a second week. In actual fact, it wasn't bad and featured some nice clips and comments from the dandy himself. Last week's episode on the subject of family was less sucessful, I think, and Brand's performance seemed rather forced. There is no doubt that Brand definitely has something, but I don't think we're seeing the best of him here.