Can't Tell Nathan Caton Nothing

Radio comedy can be such a turn-off

I try to fight it but the urge to tune away from Radio 4 at 6.30pm most weeknights is almost irresistible. This is odd. What I'm escaping is comedy and not only do I love comedy but a quick fix of it has become, these days, almost a necessity after listening to half an hour of news.

Radio Times review

Families can be the toughest critics. As Can't Tell... returns for a third series, Grandma Caton is still waiting for award-winning comedian Nathan to get a proper job. This stand-up/sitcom is an odd beast. A hybrid of Seinfeld and Simon Amstell's Grandma's House, it cuts between the West Indian comic's stand-up routines and the domestic squabbles that inspire them.

It's more "endearing" than "laugh-out-loud funny", but Can't Tell... remains a refreshing counterpoint to the rest of Radio 4's comedy output: Caton wryly describes his presence on the station as "a bit like 50 Cent making an appearance on Midsomer Murders."

Part autobiographical, part radio version of The Kumars at No 42, stand-up comic Nathan Caton deftly weaves lines from his routine around a glimpse into life at home with his mum, dad and, on occasions, grandma. The stand-up material covers familar ground - why do women talk so much more than men, yawn. But the mini-drama of life at home with the Catons is much more satisfying.

In this episode, his mum (Adjoa Andoh) has had enough of her ungrateful son and husband (Curtis Walker) and leaves them to fend for themselves. She moves in with Nathan's grandma (Mona Hammond), which would be all right if this foxy older woman was not trying to spend the night with the local pastor (Don Gilet). What could have been a slapstick farce has a refreshingly contemporary edge.

Nathan Caton interview: I'm more Radio 4 than MTV Base

Nathan Caton may not be a household name just yet, but that's likely to change before the end of 2012. He kicks off a Radio 4 show later this month...