Tommy Cooper

First shown on BBC Four, the second half of Michael Grade's history of the variety era examines what happened to the entertainers once the theatres closed and TV cameras beckoned. He talks to stars who managed to make the transition from stage to screen, among them Bruce Forsyth, Des O'Connor and Ken Dodd. Grade also looks at Sunday Night at the London Palladium, plus the impact of Tommy Cooper and Morecambe & Wise.

In part two of the terrifically enjoyable The Story of Variety, presenter Michael Grade investigated television's culpability in killing off variety, and highlighted the attempts of various performers to make the tricky transition from stage to screen.

Tommy Cooper adapted instinctively, Morecambe And Wise succeeded on their second attempt, while Ken Dodd never quite succeeded in shrinking his genius to television's proportions. Ventriloquist Peter Brough and his doll Archie enjoyed tremendous, if inexplicable, popularity on the radio, but a clip from the archive showed why they never enjoyed small-screen success - Brough had failed to grasp a fundamental element of ventriloquism and made little or no effort to disguise his moving lips.

This second exploration of showbiz is a tale of those who could play to the camera, instead of the audience. Ken Dodd shows how he's torn between the two. Others did not face the same dilemma - witness Morecambe and Wise's mastery of the medium. For the other modern great, Tommy Cooper, we learn performances were meticulously planned. But in 1984, with alternative comedy booming, both Tommy and Eric died. But variety didn't die with them. We have Britain's Got Talent. And now ITV has bought the rights to the Royal Variety Performance. That wouldn't have happened had Grade been back at the BBC.

Is this the funniest woman in Britain?

She's as comedic as Tommy Cooper and as hilarious as Hattie Jacques. Now Miranda Hart has won the affections of Allison Pearson.

Tommy Cooper dominates list of best jokes

Heard the one about two aerials meeting on a roof, falling in love, and getting married? The ceremony was rubbish but the reception was brilliant.

Review Stephen Fry Live

What the show needed was an infusion of punchlines. Only at the end did he unleash two worth the name, and they were both Tommy Cooper's.

"Huh, huh, huh, huh," is the first thing you hear, the unmistakeable laugh of Tommy Cooper, comedian, magician, a man so funny that you just had to see him to start laughing. Eric Morecambe wouldn't go on the stage after him, says Barry Cryer, one of the many stars who line up here to remember a unique giant of light entertainment. He died in 1984 but memories of him are still vivid. His humour wasn't in the joke, says producer Royston Mayoh, but the delivery of it, and it lives on today through the internet. Sean Lock, comedian, presents.

What do comedians Hicks, Lee and Cooper have in common?

Er, not much - though they're Britain's three favourite comedians, according to the Leicester Comedy festival. Do you agree?

Last Night's TV: Miranda - Series 1, Episode 5

The main source of the comedy in Miranda is that she is a human stegosaurus, huge and hugely unfanciable, which as others have noted is politically not very correct. And if political incorrectness isn't reason enough on its own to love Miranda, there are plenty of other reasons, not least, in our house anyway, that it is the first new primetime sitcom I can recall that unites the whole family, all laughing our socks off. The hugely engaging Miranda Hart also deserves a medal, or better still a Bafta, for reminding us that slapstick can be funny. Not an episode goes by without her tripping over something, or getting stuck in something, which in less assured hands would be justification for throwing a heavy object at the telly, but it takes real deftness to appear as galumphing as that. She might even be the reincarnation of Tommy Cooper. At any rate, she deserves to have her name in the title.

Spoon, Jar, Jar, Spoon Review

In the end, as with most great humour, it's impossible to pin down why Cooper was funny, and Brydon didn't try. I guess that's part of the beauty of humour - there's no point in analysing it.