Russell Kane

In an alternative social survey, comedian Russell Kane and Radio 1 DJ Greg James attempt to get to the heart of what young Britons think. Their new six-part series mixes the serious with the light-hearted, with questions ranging from whether wealth affects the number of sexual partners you have, to how much money it would take for you to agree to have a little toe chopped off.

New BBC3 series, probably the work of people who believe "wacky", "zany" and even "madcap" are compliments. Radio 1's Greg James and comedian Russell Kane will spend six weeks riffing on the findings of an "alternative social census" of the UK, asking such key questions as how much money people would want to have a toe chopped off, and where in the country people are most likely to have slept with a friend's partner. Likely to leave the Daily Mail uncertain whether to damn it as a squandering of licence fees, or plunder it for stories.

Interview: Russell Kane, comedian

After Russell Kane performed as Beyoncé on Let's Dance For... Comic Relief last year, audiences for his stand-up shows began demanding a repeat of the Crazy In Love routine. "People were coming to see me who'd never heard me speak a word," he recalls. "So they were understandably disappointed when I come out dressed as a... I won't say 'man'. That's a bit strong. As a male."

Russell Kane fronts new quiz show

Comic Russell Kane is fronting a new show which asks people a string of bizarre questions - such as how much would you need to be paid to chop off your toe?

Russell Kane interview: 'I'm such a loser...'

Russell Kane's plans for a two-year "shagathon" failed just one month - and four girls - in.

The nostalgic can wallow in plenty of retro-fare this Christmas, from old Morecambe and Wise specials, by way of Tommy Cooper repeats and this splendid profile of the poker-faced comedian who was still selling vacuum cleaners at the age of 38 when, in 1967, he had one last throw of the dice and entered Opportunity Knocks. Dawson's deadpan humour is appreciated here by John Cleese, Robert Webb ("it's quite easy to play the piano badly and not be funny") and Russell Kane ("some of us younger people did muddle him up with John Prescott"). Touchingly, Dawson stopped cracking mother-in-law jokes when his wife's mother died.

Norton has opted for a "best of British" line-up tonight, with thesp and director Kenneth Branagh in to discuss the prosthetic chin he wore to play Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn, comedian Russell Kane to push his DVD of innocuous Essex jokes, and actor Matt Smith to, hopefully, reveal all about the Doctor Who Christmas special.

Host Sarah Millican, the mistress of girly self-deprecation, can't stand celebrity fitness DVDs. No, her ideal would be "Fat Lass Has a Go", followed up by "Fat Lass Tries Again".

Millican has fallen into that comfortable female-comedian nest where she pokes fun at her own perceived shortcomings before anyone else can, making the audience complicit in her cheery humiliation. But you let her get away with it. Possibly that's something to do with that deceptively soothing Geordie lilt, a terrific giggle and her charm.

She's funny, too; there are routines about a louche friend with an adventurous life ("To me, exciting is when you start a new tea towel"), her becoming an unlikely lust object on Twitter, and a boyfriend who can't buy decent presents. Elsewhere, Steve Hughes does little more than get the audience cheering along to the naffness of The X Factor, while Russell Kane lets us in on the poisonous reality of being a single man again.

Top 20 stand-up comedy DVDs for Christmas

Peter Kay, Dylan Moran or last year's Edinburgh stand-up winner Russell Kane? Our critics select the best comedy of the year in time for Christmas.