Russell Howard

After Jonathan Ross announced he was leaving the BBC, there was a frenzy of torrid speculation about his possible Friday Night with Jonathan Ross replacement. Which was ridiculous for two reasons: (a) it was only a chat show and (b) it had to be Graham Norton. Every half-baked pop star, every failing, narcissistic actor thinks that hosting a chat show is the easy route to riches because, surely, there's nothing to it. But Norton, more than anyone, shows all these no-hopers it needs consummate skill and an almost frightening ability to think on your feet. Norton is brilliant and so much better than Ross because he is able to spark and then sustain a proper conversation. And he's flipping funny. Tonight's opener features fiery songstrel Charlotte Church, Hollwood actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and comedian Russell Howard, without whom no panel game or chat show is complete. Or so it seems.

The BBC didn't have to look far for a presenter to fill Jonathan Ross's shoes. All it took was a quick shuffle of the schedules, cross out the word "Monday", replace it with "Friday" and Hey Presto! The Graham Norton Show is all good to go.

We predict his move to the coveted Friday night throne will be sparkling and seamless as the new King Of Chat welcomes Charlotte Church, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and comedian Russell Howard (whose own new series started on BBC3 last night).

The irony of the risque host being turned into the BBC's safe pair of hands in the wake of the Sachsgate fiasco won't be lost on Norton and we'll be disappointed if he doesn't milk this for a bit of comedy mileage. At least, it should be a nice change for female guests not to be leered at.

As series three kicks off, Russell Howard must be one of the best informed comedians after devouring weeks of rolling news looking for funnies. It's entirely possible that there are some people watching this whose only exposure to world events are the bits they pick up from this show, HIGNFY and Mock The Week.

In that sense Howard is performing a valuable service - filtering the news through his giant comedy sieve to remove all the lumpy, unpalatable bits. Plus he's got the boyish enthusiasm and stand-up mettle to keep the ball rolling in front of a live studio audience. Good news for BBC3 and good news for comedy fans.

Russell Howard Is Back!

Only hours to wait now until Russell Howard is back on your screens for a brand new series of Russell Howard's Good News. You'd think he'd be busy working on his show but it seems there are other things on his mind...like the takeover of Liverpool Football Club.

Interview: Russell Howard

The Evening Standard catches up with the Bristol-born funnyman ahead of a new series of his hit BBC Three show, Russell Howard's Good News.

I've got a lot of time for Dave Gorman. America Unchained, in which he attempted to cross the US using only independent hotels/garages etc, was an inspired subversion of the travelogue genre. So it's hard not to feel he's wasting himself on formula panel show Genius With Dave Gorman (BBC2).

Proving simple ideas are not always the best ones, Genius gets the audience to suggest daft ideas and the guests decide if they're genius. So you get sky-diving dolphins, soup ice lollies and so on. It had Russell Howard on - because that's panel-game law - but it's a long way off genius, just an average night's daft banter down the pub.

A second series of Gorman's mad invention comedy debate show in which members of the public pitch their ideas and Dave and his guests cast their votes as to whether it's genius or not. It's an excuse for a bit of banter with the guests - the episode has Russell Howard and Hazel Irvine - but on this show the audience can easily upstage the stars.

Dave Gorman returns to showcase the inventiveness of the British public, with people keen to show-off their ideas which they believe are touched by genius. We went to see one of these episodes being filmed, and one of the ideas involved several paintings of birds. That was about it. Hopefully, guests Russell Howard and Hazel Irvine will be asked to judge slightly cleverer notions, although we do know one of the concepts they're faced with are soup lollies... Bonkers fun, and at times very funny indeed.

Perfectly timed to ward off those back-to-school blues, the ever-popular topical panel show returns after a summer holiday. Tonight's guests are Thick of It star Chris Addison, Andi Osho - both fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe - and Milton Jones, who does a fine line in ludicrous puns. Unlikely to let them get a gag in edgeways are regulars Hugh Dennis, Russell Howard and Andy Parsons, while host Dara O'Briain dishes out points. Expect an impudent digest of the week's news, arbitrary scores and puerile one-liners aplenty.