Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow

Noel Fielding, who looks like a cross between Sandie Shaw and Russell Brand, is tonight's headline act. But the Bristol audience isn't sure how to deal with him. There's a bit of reserve and possibly even bafflement in the applause. Which is perfectly understandable, as Fielding's brand of delicate surrealism withers under the glare of a broad-brush comedy show. Much more mainstream are John Sessions lookalike Hal Cruttenden, who does a very good camp Alexander the Great; Seann Walsh and his routine about why people don't use moving walkways in airports; and Mike Gunn, who makes jokes about his wife. But, as always, it's McIntyre the audience has really come to see and he wins them over completely with his impression of a rail ticket inspector and his account of reading the bedtime story on CBeebies.

The voiceover man from The X Factor gives a bellowing introduction to Michael McIntyre and the latter skips onto the blazingly lit stage to a hysterical welcome from the people of Dublin. And that's the pitch it stays at throughout - bright lights, big laughs and constant reminders from McIntyre that what we're seeing is "Brilliant! Fantastic! Well done! Brilliant!" Which it certainly will be for anyone who likes jokes about Irishness. Keith Farnan riffs on the Irish fondness for drink, arguing that "If Irish men didn't drink we'd be Italian", and their rubbish dancing (ah, Riverdance jokes - remember them?), while Tommy Tiernan jokes about the Irish economic boom: "We found out when times were good that money doesn't suit Irish people." But it's the sheer strangeness of Andrew Lawrence's act that may stay in the mind longest. It's hard to improve on his way of describing himself: "Ginger hair, creepy face and voice like a sex offender." But funny, too.

Keith Farnan interview

'Oh my God, what have I done?' thought comedian Keith Farnan shortly after jacking in his career as a lawyer.

Tommy Tiernan interview

Perrier Award winner Tommy Tierman has yet to make the same sort of transition to TV fame and fortune as other past winners. But the Irish comedian says that's just the way he likes it...

Zoe Lyons interview

An interview with stand-up Zoe Lyons.

Michael McIntyre's perpetual effervescence fizzes in Blackpool, a town ripe with potential for gags about fags, chips and people with funny accents wearing fleeces. McIntyre also has some sport with members of the Blackpool football team, who are in the audience. The headline act is a hectoring John Bishop, whose coarse schtick about stag dos, hen nights and sex toys is an acquired taste. Much more interesting is Miles Jupp - who was so good in the BBC2 sitcom Rev - mining his background. "I'm privileged, not just to be here, but in general." Elsewhere, the unsettling Terry Alderton, with a strange, tangential but often winning act, has fun with body-popping cockneys, while Justin Moorhouse is rude about fat people.

Terry Alderton interview

Michael McIntyre takes his Roadshow to Blackpool and introduces another host of great stand-ups including Terry Alderton, who joins us to answer a few questions...

McIntyre leaps on to the stage as he always does, as if he's bouncing on an invisible pogo stick, to entrance the audience at Sunderland's Empire Theatre with a routine about murderer Raoul Moat. Risky, or so you would think, as it's surely all still a bit too raw and close to home. But this is McIntyre, so it isn't monstrously tasteless. Rather, he has fun with former soccer star Paul Gascoigne's bizarre walk-on part in the drama, when he turned up at Moat's denouement clutching sandwiches and a fishing rod. Perhaps other North East personalities should have done the same, ponders McIntyre, and arrived at the crime scene clutching snacks and pastimes. It works, once you've allowed yourself an initial, sharp intake of breath. It's a good bill, headlined by the rather sweet Sarah Millican, with her self-deprecation and observations about bras and dress-sizes.

Michael McIntyre sheds the pounds with trainer

He is used to being the one in the spotlight.
But Michael McIntyre seemed keen to shift the attention to the Prime Minister's personal trainer after his strict regime helped the comedian lose two stone.

Why comedians joke about Michael McIntrye

Bobby Carroll on why comics have turned on one of their own.