Dave's One Night Stand

This new show's format of host comedians revisiting their hometowns as a preamble to the stand-up is already being subverted, with young Jack Whitehall sending up the riches-to-riches story of his own rise to TV fame. He also continues in the tradition of mocking poor old Dave itself, a privilege unavailable to most of its caught-on-repeat inhabitants. He's joined at the Theatre Royal by the worryingly pallid but effective Andrew Lawrence and the musical David O'Doherty, whose targets include YouTube comments and dumbstruck fans of The Wire.

Dave's One Night Stand review

Ben Elton is the first host of a new Dave show and reminds everyone that moving on from stand-up was the best thing he did.

Ben Elton's standup comeback

Was Ben Elton's return to the stage on Dave's One Night Stand a case of great comic timing or just another bad joke?

Ben Elton kicks off a series in which comedians perform a gig in their home town - Catford, south London, in Elton's case. It's a Live at the Apollo set-up prefaced by a cursory visit to Elton's childhood house (a standard Edwardian semi) and primary school. Also on the bill are two non-Catfordians: Irishman Jason Byrne and Canadian Tom Stade, who attributes his drawl to a misspent youth. Byrne re-enacts his juvenile misadventures, while the more risqué Stade proposes Afghanistan as a dream holiday destination. Performing stand-up for the first time in five years, the star attraction isn't quite as sure-footed. Rebranding experts, creationists and the Tories are all on his hit list, but Elton is best on ageing gracelessly, which seems rather apt.

Among the hosts who'll be revisiting their home towns in this new series are Johnny Vegas and Russell Kane, but for tonight's opener it's Ben Elton, performing his first live stand up in a decade. The so-called "Godfather Of Alternative" has become comedy's embarrassing Dad in recent years, what with We Will Rock You and all, but his routines on rebranding and body piercing in particular show that he's still driven by the same moral sense and sarcastic despair at modern life as ever. Jason Byrne and Canadian Tom Stade guest.

Comedy king in TV comeback

Ben Elton returns to TV stand-up for the first time in more than a decade. The comic tells Kate Whiting how the scene's changed since his heyday and why he's been hiding for so long.

Stand-up comedy: funnier with age?

This month Ben Elton returns to stand up in Dave's One Night Stand, having not performed for so long that a few of you young whippersnappers may not even be aware that he was a giant on stage.