Seann Walsh

'Tis the season to buy jolly DVDs

It was Super Monday this week - the comedy industry's equivalent to Super Thursday, when publishers flood the bookshops with celebrity memoirs and other sure-sellers for the festive market. So on Monday DVDs by Miranda Hart, Reginald D. Hunter, Micky Flanagan, Jack Dee, Eddie Izzard, Jimmy Carr, Bill Bailey, Seann Walsh, Keith Lemon and others hit the shelves.

Wherein the week is thoroughly mocked standing up rather than sitting down behind a desk, and in an even more ranty fashion. Paul Chowdhry takes over from Jon Richardson as the host for this series of the topical comedy show, taking the week's events and handing them off to comics for lampoonery. Regulars Seann Walsh and Josh Widdecombe return, this week joined by furrowed comic Simon Evans, former maths teacher Romesh Ranganathan and Russell Howard regular Angela Barnes.

Almost by stealth, this vaguely satirical, topical stand-up showcase has made it to a fifth series. Functioning as a sort of halfway-house testing ground between Mock the Week and Have I Got News for You, it's seen a surprisingly illustrious stream of light-entertainment talent pass through its doors.

Jack Whitehall, Kevin Bridges, Patrick Kielty and Rich Hall have all made appearances before moving on; this time Paul Chowdhry takes over hosting duties while regulars Seann Walsh and Josh Widdicombe are joined by newbies Simon Evans, Romesh Ranganathan and Angela Barnes in sticking the boot into the week's news. Decent post-pub fun, if you're in the market for that sort of thing.

Seann Walsh's shambling ways don't hide his success

Seann Walsh is moving onwards and upwards. Literally. Thanks to mobile, hands-free technology, we're chatting even as the Brightonian comedian is being instructed not to carry his television set upstairs.

Seann Walsh interview

EntertainmentWise sat down with Seann Walsh to find out what it was like to star opposite Caroline Quentin and The Inbetweeners' Blake Harrison in Big Bad World and why he would be on the dole if he wasn't a comedian...

Who better to host highlights from hotly tipped comics at the Edinburgh festival fringe than seasoned funnyman Seann Walsh? This selection features Tom Rosenthal (c]Friday Night Dinner], Plebs), a quirky comic whose travels in Bulgaria formed the basis of his 2013 show. There's also Aisling Bea, the Irish comedian who scooped last year's So You Think You're Funny? award, and the Rubberbandits, the Limerick troupe whose hilarious hip-hop antics are YouTube hits.

For those who couldn't make it to Edinburgh for the feast of comedy served at the recent Fringe festival, here's the next best thing. Kevin Bridges, no mean comic himself, playing host to the first of two stand-up selections. Russell Kane, Seann Walsh and Jason Byrne are the biggest names but don't miss the chance to catch the deliciously downbeat Andrew Lawrence, an underrated talent who's been known to squeeze laughs out of euthanasia. You'll die laughing.

TV commissioners must breathe a sigh of relief when the Edinburgh Festival comes around, offering as it does an opportunity for cheap programming with mass appeal. This week offers two such easy wins. On Friday at 10pm, the ubiquitous Seann Walsh introduces the slightly edgier end of popular stand-up at in BBC Three's Late Night Comedy Spectacular, which showcases Tom Rosenthal and The Rubberbandits.

But two-parter Comedy Festival Live 2013 is a more mainstream affair, packed to the gills with familar faces from Mock the Week, Live at the Apollo et al: Jason Byrne, Russell Kane, Andrew Lawrence, Seann Walsh (again)... And all hosted by Kevin Bridges. At some point this televised stand-up bubble will burst. But not for a good while yet, it seems.

Big Bad World is an incredibly traditional sitcom with a fairly obvious storyline but at the same time it does have some pretty believable characters.

Even though I didn't particularly like Ben in this episode, due to Blake Harrison's mundane performance, I can see that he's going to grow as a person.

I felt that stand-up comic Seann Walsh stole a fair few scenes as the incredibly inappropriate Eggman. However, the stars of the show were sitcom veterans Caroline Quentin and James Fleet, who were an absolute hoot as Ben's parents.

Though all of the jokes and situations were fairly obvious there was still a lot of effort made to let us get to know all of the characters. It may be a fairly predictable sitcom, but Big Bad World did make me laugh a couple of times and that's more than can be said for the majority of comedies that have aired this year.