52 First Impressions With David Quantick

If it's laughter you want, then may I recommend David Quantick's second series of 52 First Impressions. Performing for a live audience, Quantick tells tales from a life spent interviewing pop stars and working with famous people. It's less glamorous than that sounds. It's also human. Too many Radio 4 comedy shows feel detached from the person hosting them: overworked scripts and elaborate setups can kill a connection with the listener. Quantick's show is funny, because he is a funny person and knows how to write jokes. But it's also funny, because it's him, in front of a crowd, and not a professional comedian reading his lines. There's a realness about the show that brings you closer and makes you laugh for the fun, as well as the jokes. Also, his presentation skills are a lot better than in the first series.

I like 52 Impressions with David Quantick a lot. In the show, Quantick talks about his first impressions of 52 people he's known or met in his life. (52 because he was 52 when he thought of the idea; also there are 52 cards in a pack, 52 weeks in a year. No reason, really.) So he hops between Björk and his sister, Michael Caine and Freddie Mercury. Last week he had some lovely anecdotes about Fidel Castro, David Bowie, Lemmy and the Queen, as well as his own dad, who was a certified accountant who checked the ledgers in town halls.

Quantick's script has some good lines too, though he can throw them away with his on-stage delivery. This show is recorded live in front of an audience, which I was surprised about - Quantick isn't the most practised of performers - but perhaps it was just to keep the format different to his very successful Blagger's Guide programmes. Because he isn't a stand-up, sometimes he lets his own jokes down, but I like the awkward naturalness of his delivery.

It can be quite hard to find something genuine on Radio 4, which is a place for honed and well-rehearsed opinions. 52 Impressions, along with much of Kerry's List, allows us to hear some funny humans, being funny and human. Good.