Sean Lock

Micky Flanagan defends panel show "closed shop" claims

Micky Flanagan says: "It's not an accident that certain comedy agencies have a lot of great comics on their books. If a producer goes to them, 'I'm producing this new panel show, can I have Sean Lock or any decent comic?' they're told, 'Yeah, you can - you know we've also got...'"

Between them Have I Got News for You and Live at the Apollo are a perfect double act. You start your Friday viewing with a light dusting of satire, a few knowing jibes from Hislop and Merton about current events, then - wahey! - at 9:30 it's time for filthy stand-up. By which time those refreshing beverages you allowed yourself earlier on will have lowered your defences enough to make pretty much anything fair game. Which is just as well.

This time it's Sean Lock, Ed Byrne and Lee Nelson who take advantage of our benevolent haze with slick, likeable routines. The great thing about Lock is that you sense he doesn't care too much if a bit of his act doesn't work. When a sequence about Madonna's dancing goes a bit flat, he pulls it back, partly by the unlikely device of having his Madonna speak in an Australian accent. And his routine on kids' pirate parties is lovely. ("In a hundred years' time will they all be dressed as terrorists?" he wonders.) Byrne does a long, clever cat-related routine. But Nelson gets the biggest laughs of all.

Sean Lock interview

"You never feel entirely secure and safe, but that's the psychology of comedians."

Dave have decided to revive their panel show Argumental, but not to revive any of the regulars who appeared in the first three series, with John Sergeant, Marcus Brigstocke and Rufus Hound being replaced with Sean Lock, Seann Walsh and Robert Webb.

The main question with this change is, "Has it worked?" Well, in terms of banter between host and panel, it does seem to be better. I think that having a comedian rather than a journalist in the chair is going to increase the laughs, simply because Lock is more used to having to improvise on the spot, as well as being used to the panel show format as a captain on 8 Out of 10 Cats.

However, I've never really been keen on Webb's appearances on panel games. It doesn't seem to be his kind of format, unlike his comedy partner David Mitchell. I also think Walsh is the stronger performer, but despite this Webb won the first episode in the series...

The main highlight of the debut episode was guest Jimmy Carr having to argue that, "There's no place for women's sport on television," while standing next to Britain's only professional sumo wrestler, which is a rather terrifying prospect. You were just waiting for her to faux-lash out at him, but instead it was Walsh who offered to fight her.

I thought it was an OK debut, but it needs a few more episodes to bed in.

Rejoining the depressingly interchangeable comedy panel show circuit, the show returns for a fourth series on Dave. As the self-professed "home of witty banter", it should really be what it does best, as witty banter is precisely what Argumental hopes to synthesise. And when the insufferable Russell Kane isn't speaking, it has its moments. Sean Lock looks comfy, having replaced John Sergeant in the host's chair, while Robert Webb and stand-up Seann Walsh take on the roles of the new team captains, replacing the outgoing Rufus Hound and Marcus Brigstocke. Jimmy Carr also guests.

Sean Lock raps Ricky Gervais over jibe row

Comic Sean Lock has blasted Ricky Gervais for using the word "mong" - calling it "lazy comedy".

This new show on Dave features a mixture of documentary and stand-up. Here Jo Brand, a keen swimmer, looks at the British love of water, swimming and all things wet.

The problem with this show is that while Jo Brand is a very good stand-up comedian, her stand-up always gets interrupted by these documentary elements of the show. At times it is less a comedy, and more akin to the Channel 5 series Rory and Paddy's Great British Adventure, featuring lots of people taking part in silly challenges. Also, quite a few of these segments are either boring or disgusting. For example, at one point Brand goes down into a London sewer. One thing that I've always believed in is that excrement is a much funnier thing when it's talked about rather than seen. Seeing poo on screen is never funny.

However, some of the documentary elements are particular eye-catching. My favourite was the Maldon Mud Race, which involves running across a muddy river bank. Brand did this event alongside Sean Lock, with both of them wearing wetsuits, getting covered in mud, falling over, and in the end taking a shower together. I felt like I was beginning to watch some comedic fetish film.

Luckily, for those who are not interested in any of the documentary elements of this programme, the final episode of the series just features Brand's stand-up, so you can just wait until then.

Channel 4 must be struggling for shows to fill their once-feted Friday night slot, as 8 Out Of 10 Cats, which finished its 11th series a mere month ago, is already back for another outing. Jon Richardson, now firmly ensconced in the role of "team captain who is not as funny as Sean Lock", is joined by comedian Holly Walsh, while Lock, whose quick, absurdist turns of phrase are forever the strongest element of this tired format, gets some help on the one-liner front from Richard Ayoade.

Someday, TV will succeed in its long quest to find a settled role for Jo Brand and we'll all live happily ever after. Meanwhile, in this new series for Dave, Brand defies her reputation as the least physically inclined of comedians by plunging into water, in all its various British manifestations. In between bouts of standup, we'll see her criss-crossing the country in her custom-made swimsuit, leading the charge through sewerage systems and grey seas. Tonight, accompanied by Sean Lock, she assays the Maldon Mud Race. It's giving nothing away to reveal that she gets covered in mud.

Many a panel show flags in middle age, but this one remains in rude health as it returns for a 12th series of comedy based on statistics and polls. Our rudimentary survey shows the most laughs come from the quips of host Jimmy Carr, who's as sharp as his tailored suits, and team captain Sean Lock, who veers between irreverent rants on life and taking pot shots at the guests. Braving his ridicule tonight are IT Crowd actor Richard Ayoade and boxer Amir Khan.