Simon Amstell

Simon Amstell on his first screen kiss

When What's On TV joined Simon Amstell and his Grandma's House co-stars, he explained what new fun is in store in the second series of his hit comedy...

Simon Amstell opens up

With my project to teach Simon Amstell about Twitter well under way, I thought the time was right to interview him. Little did I realise this would open up a deep childhood wound.

Can Simon Amstell's support act help him with Twitter?

Norwegian comedian Daniel Simonsen will be supporting Simon Amstell on tour. Like Simon, he is new to Twitter, so I decided to give him a bit of encouragement. He'll probably follow me back any day now ... won't he?

Simon Amstell: 'Dysfunction is my career'

Put downs. Piss takes. Come backs. Simon Amstell can hand it out, but can he take it? Simon Hattenstone talks to the presenter-turned-standup about celebrity, upsetting his family and whether he's got any material left for his therapist.

Simon Amstell gets into the swing of Twitter. Honest

Simon is definitely becoming more enthusiastic and in tune with the practices of Twitter. He is now on an average of three tweets per week - no thanks to Jessica Hynes, I'm afraid.

Simon Amstell and my Twitter mission

When I first met comedian Simon Amstell, I found it ridiculous and upsetting that he was not on Twitter. Or YouTube. And so began my project to get him connected.

Simon Amstell has proved himself a devastatingly acid-tongued TV presenter on Popworld and Never Mind The Buzzcocks. As a stand-up he's much more soulful, and this debut show, filmed in Dublin last year, is well worth catching as he takes us on an eloquent and thrilling journey through his hapless love life.

While we wait for series two of sitcom Grandma's House (it's in the can for next year), this 2010 stand-up set shows Simon Amstell playing an equally funny exaggeration of his tortured self, on stage in Dublin.

Having read too many philosophy and self-help books during nights spent home alone, he over-analyses every moment of his life, ruining his attempts to find love. Every word and gesture of the resulting routine is placed with cruel accuracy, turning Amstell's self-hatred into intelligent, cathartic comedy.

Spotting that there is no more solipsistic a profession than that of the standup comedian, Alan Yentob sets out to interview them, from Jimmy Carr to Jackie Mason, in this two-part Imagine. There are some interesting juxtapositions; a segment on Simon Amstell's deconstructionist comedy rubs up against Jim Davidson's limp attempts to legitimise a back catalogue of bigotry. Yet it's difficult to shake the suspicion that Yentob and co have overstretched themselves; the sheer number of comics gives the show a baggy, unfocused feel.

The opening episode of a sitcom is always tricky, but Friday Night Dinner is particularly underwhelming so far, like a less interesting version of Simon Amstell's Grandma's House.

Dad gets the wrong end of the stick, mum's weird, the neighbour's weirder, the sons revert to childish behaviour when they return home, the sofa man comes on the wrong day, the sofa gets stuck on the stairs. Perhaps this is part of a new trend for gentleness someone was telling me about. I think it's taking it too far though; it's not funny enough.

But the cast is good: The Inbetweeners' Simon Bird, Green Wing's Mark Heap, and everything's Tamsin Greig. Writer Robert Popper has an impressive CV: Look Around You, Peep Show, South Park. Maybe we'll give it one more go. The sit's established, now let's have the com.