Live At The Apollo

The recession is preying on the minds of tonight's stand-up comedians. Sara Pascoe has a solution to credit card debt: make chip and pin machines talk like disapproving parents ("But you've already got a coat!"). Host Kevin Bridges is on flying form, dissecting the financial crisis: "Europe's skint, America's skint," he notes sadly. "I hope Africa have got some good rock bands, because we need a concert."

But the surprise of the show is Phill Jupitus, who comes on with the moody confidence of a man with nothing to prove. He doesn't bother with gags; he just does one long, taboo-torturing routine about dealing with his daughter's boyfriend. It's like a whole sitcom boiled down to one routine, and it's brilliant.

Old-head-on-young-shoulders Kevin Bridges hosts tonight's trio of stand-up stars from the Hammersmith Apollo. Bridges brings his wit to bear on the recession ("I hope Africa have got some good rock bands 'cause we need a concert") and takes a pop at David Cameron's work experience programmes. Phill Jupitus keeps things close to home with a hilarious, heartfelt account of his 16-year-old daughter's sleep-over with her boyfriend. And peppy Sarah Pascoe rounds things off by dressing down body-fascist women's magazines and tackling the residents of Tooting's terrible fashion sense.

A theme runs through the stand-up tonight. All three comics riff on the way people overreact to trivial things. For excellent Kerry Godliman, that means women who think they've lost their purse; for host Rhod Gilbert it's an altercation with the "travelling chef" in a train's buffet car about an egg and cress sandwich. Final act Jon Richardson serves up lovely micro-observations of his slobby housemates and their washing up: "You're doing a baking tray when there's still wine glasses!" he wails, and we feel his pain.

Frazzled Welshman Rhod Gilbert is our energetic host tonight, bringing us another slice of stand-up from the Hammersmith Apollo. Both Gilbert and guest Jon Richardson poke fun at their comic personas. Gilbert takes us through his anger management journal ("sort of a cross between Bridget Jones's Diary and Mel Gibson's"). Richardson makes light of his OCD, moaning about his messy flatmates ("adults who eat cereal at night-time"). Sandwiched between the boys comes likeable Kerry Godliman taking a pop at wedding proposals and bridezillas.

Arguably the most successful stand-up show on British TV has returned for its eighth series on BBC One, and not much has changed.

This opening episode featured Dara O'Briain as the headline act, mostly talking about stupid things people do in their holidays, including his own experience at trying to surf in Australia. Guest Danny Bhoy also talked a lot about Australia, as well as the problems Scotland might have if they get into the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. However, the best act on the night for me was ventriloquist Nina Conti, who did a brilliant improvisation act which involved getting two members of the audience on stage and making them wear fake mouths which she controlled, turning the pair into life-sized dummies.

Live at the Apollo demonstrates some of the great comic talents that are out there, but once again the show still has the problems. Firstly is the length of the show. It used to be 45 minutes, now it's 30 minutes. Admittedly there are extended repeats, but for the last series they didn't appear until months later. Personally I think they should scrap the 30 minute format and just have the straight 45 minutes.

The other, bigger complaint Live at the Apollo gets is the lack of diversity among the comics chosen. The main one is the lack of women. Other than Conti the only other women appearing are Kerry Godliman and Sara Pascoe. Now given that Conti, who is both a woman and the first ventriloquist to appear on the programme, was the funniest person on in the latest episode, I think that's proof that a bigger range of performers could do wonders for it...

A stage. An audience. Three stand-up acts. TV comedy doesn't get simpler: half an hour of gags at a time of the week when that's ideal. The series returns with Dara O'Briain at the helm and his ten minutes are typically brilliant. Nobody turns an embarrassment into a golden comedy routine like Dara - in this case, his attempt to surf on Bondi Beach. After Dara comes radical ventriloquist Nina Conti, who turns two members of the audience into her dummies in an inspired piece of improv.

Live at the Apollo - Series Eight: Review

If you like stand-up comedy, you'll no doubt like this.

Hammersmith Apollo in London sold by HMV to Stage C

Entertainment venue Hammersmith Apollo which has held concerts by bands from The Beatles to Queen, and is where Live at the Apollo is broadcast, has been sold by its owner HMV.

Posh young beardy Jack Whitehall marshals the last edition of the series, an effective mix of styles with the mucky stuff turned down a tad.

It's been a memorable year for Whitehall - gigs on stateside TV, regular panel-show turns back home, his acting debut in the acclaimed campus-com Fresh Meat. And although his set tonight is textbook fare - grumpy Brits, relationship problems, Ibiza - he still hits lots of buttons.

On paper, Josh Widdicombe is similarly cautious with his material (dining out alone, computers), but scores solid laughs. Nice little pop at Argos Extra, too: "They've used the rare definition of extra to mean far far less."

Finally the edgier Shappi Khorsandi puts fresh spins on single parenthood and online dating, and shows her mastery of the unexpected punchline.

Despite the fact he's achieved panel show ubiquity over the last few years, there was until recently a nagging sense that Jack Whitehall's privileged upbringing - the Harrodian School, Nigel Havers as a godfather - rendered him too smug to offer real comic depth. But his 2011 Edinburgh shows were unexpectedly funny and poignant, and he brilliantly nailed the role of posh twerp JP in the recent Channel 4 comedy Fresh Meat. Here he returns to Hammersmith, where he sold out two dates last year, to guest-host the last in the present series of Live at the Apollo. Josh Widdicombe and Shappi Khorsandi are the other genial stand-ups on the bill.