Sean Lock

8 Out of 10 Cats, the hit-and-miss quiz show hosted by Jimmy Carr at his most smugly slappable, returns for a new run. Of the team captains, Sean Lock is always good value ("All these hurricanes hitting New Orleans proves my theory that God hates jazz") but the guests can often be a rum bunch, with soap stars and vapid T4 presenters appearing alongside the comic talent.

The Museum of Curiosity is also enjoyable, but very Room 101. John Lloyd is the professor of ignorance at the museum, which needs to fill a second, empty gallery. Sean Lock and three guests make up the "advisory panel". All are comedians and suggest some weird and surreal objects for the gallery. The result is pretty funny.

It just makes me wish the commercial sector would put more resources into this area of programming. But it doesn't have the safety cushion of the license fee, does it?

The Museum of Curiosity has the potential to be a great format. But with almost half of this episode was given over to introducing the guests, the actual idea of the programme (guests suggest curious ideas that get put into a museum) seemed to get lost. Hopefully this is just a quirk of this episode. The strength of the panel, comprising Brian Eno, Dave Gorman and Viz founder Chris Donald, means their introductory chats with host John Lloyd are funnier than their actual nominations for which they only had a very short time left over.

Sean Lock acts as the "curator" but this seemed to only further clutter the programme. Couldn't this and the host role have been combined into one, thereby allowing more time for the format to breathe?

'Green' village gets backing from Brian Eno

Plans for a pioneering green2 village in County Durham have been given the seal of approval by a music legend.

Brian Eno, one of the founder members of 70s glam and art rock hitmakers Roxy Music, and now a respected newspaper columnist and record producer, spoke out in favour of the proposed eco-village at Eastgate, Weardale.

Speaking last week on The Museum of Curiosity show on BBC Radio 4, hosted by John Lloyd and comedian Sean Lock, he was invited to 'donate a fascinating exhibit to a vast imaginary museum'.

He put forward an Icelandic volcano as a means of energy production, and discussed potential geothermal energy production in the UK, naming Southampton and Eastgate as the country's key geothermal schemes.

8 Out Of 10 Cats always feels like it's going to be terrible - awful set, appalling title sequence, a guest booking policy that seems to be no more sophisticated than get who was funny on Buzzcocks last week, appalling editing that renders half the show inaudible - but it always turns out to be good fun, thanks no doubt to Sean Lock, the best panel game participant in Britain. Nobody, even Paul Merton in his prime, is as good at going off on tangents and gently mocking the sheer pointlessness of news-based satire.

I know what I'd like for Christmas - another scandal involving Jonathan Ross so Live At The Apollo can permanently replace his Friday night show. A nice bit of stand-up comedy is a perfect way to start the weekend, and the creative team always seem to get the perfect performer mix (though if I had my way, brilliant Michael McIntyre, who was in the first episode, would be on every single week).

Tonight's host is 8 Out Of 10 Cats stalwart Sean Lock, who shares his genius way of how to have fun with wrong numbers, and also his trick for getting local kids off his car without getting a mouthful of abuse.

He has a good old moan about pizza leaflets, self-service checkouts and confusing pub toilets (we've all been there - at some trendy bar, wondering which squiggle on the door is supposed to represent male and female).

With those rants out of the way, it's time to introduce the main act, the amiable Jason Manford - who just so happens to be his 8 Out Of 10 Cats rival. But that's never mentioned, of course. There'll be no plugging of rival channels here, thank you very much.

When asked recently by The Scotsman what advice he had to offer aspiring young comedians, veteran stand-up and 15 Storeys High and 8 out of 10 Cats star Sean Lock replied, One thing is to try and do what you think is genuinely funny, and the other is just do loads of gigs. That's one of the reasons why he agreed to host this year's big free gathering of established acts and brand-new comic talent for Radio 2 at the Edinburgh Festival. At the time of going to press the programme was still receiving its final edits, but we've been promised that it's lost none of its bite, despite the lunchtime broadcast slot.

Jimmy Carr returns with the sixth - yes, sixth - series of this consistently funny panel game, sitting smugly between the announcement of who's getting kicked out of the Big Brother house and the first evictee's chat with Davina.

Comedians Sean Lock and Jason Manford are still in the team captains' chairs and tonight they'll be joined by repeat guests (also known as show stalkers) Vic Reeves and David Walliams, who have appeared more than 10 times between them.

The inessential comedy panel show returns for an astonishing sixth series, with Jimmy Carr again marshalling six comedians as they recite jokes based on surveys and statistics. Returning as team captains are Sean Lock, generally the best spontaneous contributor by far, and Peter Kay-ish Manchester comic Jason Manford.

It's all a bit stilted and choppily edited, but it can attract decent guests (Vic Reeves and Griff Rhys Jones were on last year - David Walliams appears tonight) and will do well in the ratings.

The Museum of Curiosity, Radio 4

Doesn't a little bit of Brian Blessed go an awfully long way? I thought of this whenever he opened his mouth on Radio 4's new, well, I suppose strictly speaking it's comedy, because it goes out at 6.30, but 'Radio 4's new comedy show' doesn't quite seem to fit. How does one describe The Museum of Curiosity? It's got guests; it has two hosts, Bill Bailey and John Lloyd, and occasionally, laughs.

Apart from Brian Blessed, of whom I have now had a sufficiency that will last me the rest of my days, the show more or less worked. Eccentricity is fine by me, as long as it's genuinely amusing. And hearing about Sean Lock's time as a goatherder - or Richard Fortey's experience of being stung by a giant Chinese hornet, or his story about the womanising museum curator who filed snippings of pubic hair from every woman he slept with - help pass the time pleasantly enough.