The Morgana Show

The Morgana Show couldn't be more different from Frankie Boyle's show [which was scheduled before it]. Slow-burning, character-based sketches which often didn't go anywhere but were mostly watchable purely because of the performances. Morgana Robinson came to the attention of Channel Four executives after sending in a home-made DVD and was fast-tracked to the cast of the TNT Show before being given her own series.

Many of the sketches featured brilliantly crafted characters, such as has-been Hollywood actress Madolynn, but lacked any funny lines. There's no doubt that Robinson is an excellent character comedienne, and does the best impression of her good friend Fearne Cotton that you are ever going to see, but too many of the sketches felt like nothing more than a showcase for her acting abilities without providing much humour. There were some exceptions, such as a really enjoyable sketch about a couple who run a funeral home.

While it wasn't brilliant, there was enough quality in The Morgana Show to deserve a look at the second episode, which will feature some more characters. Which is probably more than Frankie Boyle's Tramadol Nights deserves, sadly.

Continuing Tuesday night's sour comedy hour, The Morgana Show is a brand new five-part sketch show that's similarly humorless and prolonged to Frankie Boyle's Tramadol Nights - although there's a glimmer of potential because its star, Morgana Robinson, is clearly a talented performer and mimic. It's just a shame the writing can't match her. Unusually, Channel 4 commissioned this show after being impressed by Morgana's self-made pilot, without testing the water by showing it as part of the Comedy Lab season, or on late-night E4.

It's great someone had faith in this show, and for someone like Morgana to be rewarded for her proactive nature in getting themselves a TV show made, but that made the disappointment of The Morgana Show itself cut even deeper. I wanted this to be a comedy treasure to discover and spread the word to others, but it turned out to be fool's gold.

It's another character-based sketch show; one with a slight League Of Gentlemen vibe, spliced with sketches you'd expect to see in a darker version of The Fast Show. Indeed, Morgana Robinson reminded me of Caroline Aherne at times, particularly during a sketch where she plays the owner of a funeral parlour married to an oafish husband. Other characters include: Madolynn, a prima donna Hollywood star now in her middle age; a pair of news reporters who trade insults with each other before the cameras roll; and homemade videos featuring a boy called Gilbert, filmed by his long-suffering granddad on a camcorder in the early-'90s. There are also a smattering of celebrity impressions: a good approximation of Cheryl Cole (seen reading an uncouth Dannii Minogue's Tarot cards backstage on The X Factor), Boris Johnson as a bumbling public schoolboy, and a truly uncanny Fearne Cotton (repurposed as a hyperactive daredevil stuntwoman, above-left).

By the end of this first episode, one thing was clear: Morgana Robinson's a talent in need of some good writers. Her Fearne Cotton impression was marvelous, and Gilbert is a convincing character with a lot of reality to him, but practically everything fell flat because it wasn't especially funny (no memorable punchlines or clever twists), and too many characters felt derivative (the monstrous actress cliché, bickering news reporters, etc.)

Call me easily pleased but from the moment I heard the line 'I'm Fearne Cotton and I'm going to break my face into little pieces! Amazing! Ow!' I was on side with The Morgana Show. Some targets are crying out for a good kicking and every so often Morgana Robinson nailed one.

Morgana who? Exactly. When an unknown comedy talent goes straight from obscurity to a headline show it smacks of behind-the-scenes string-pulling. Robinson's has come courtesy of Russell Brand's agent, a regular at the restaurant where she used to work. But there's a sweet old-school showbiz lilt to that story, so we won't hold it against her.

Besides, if she was rubbish it wouldn't work. But while The Morgana Show, which welds together celeb impressions with character skits out of the Little Britain/Catherine Tate mould, is a hit and mish-mash affair, the best bits will make a great best bits clip on YouTube. The daytime TV presenters who mutter 'like each other, like each other' under their breath while bitching their brains out are at the top of my list.

The smart thing is, at the end of the first episode I had no more idea of what Morgana really looks like than I did at the beginning. Which was zero. Two years down the line, when she's been on everything from Mock The Week to Celebrity Juice and we're sick of the sight of her, the thrill will be gone. For now, she gets the benefit of the doubt.

Morgana Robinsons deranged creations in The Morgana Show should delight anyone with a thirst for League Of Gentlemen-style weirdness.

Whether or not she makes you laugh, Morgana Robinson is without question a staggeringly brilliant vocal and facial mimic. Her Fearne Cotton and X Factor bits aren't her finest, but it's spooky how she manages to morph into her targets. Morgana doesn't just look like Fearne Cotton - she is Fearne Cotton. She's also extremely funny. Morgana's from-scratch characters are cleverly conceived, weird but recognisable enough to not feel like you're being pummelled by surreal in-jokes. Best are the crazy old lady who thinks little people live in her radio, Madolynn, a spent drunk and one-time Hollywood siren and Gilbert, the socially incompetent teenager. Well done to Channel 4 for not wimping out and stashing Morgana on E4.

She's clearly got some talent, Morgana. She does an excellent Fearne Cotton. Really, really good. But then, once she's got her, she doesn't stick the knife in enough. That may be because it's just not possible, come to think of it. There are good moments in here but also signs she could morph into Catherine Tate. Ugh.

The Morgana Show: why we need more female comedians

Channel 4's new Morgana Robinson-fronted sketch show is funny and cutting - qualities many male-led comedies struggle to achieve.

Aware that such a tsunami of black comedy may leave some drenched in negativity, Channel 4 have wisely decided to bookend Tramadol Nights with The Morgana Show, which fires off in a very different tangent, but still contains an awful lot of language usually chewed up by a bleep machine. It features a range of characters who you may actually warm to, including Boris Johnson played as an oafish 12-year-old public schoolboy and a nailed on Fearne Cotton impersonation which is so spot on, you may actually think you've flicked over to one of her ITV2 shows.

Characters in Morgana Robinson's new sketch show include a washed-up Hollywood actress, some local news reporters who go overboard with the light-hearted banter ('We like each other!' they boom) and some grunting hicks. It's loud, bold and physical - the sort of show that will probably beat you into submission.

I know what you're thinking: Morgana who? The funny girl isn't a household name, but we expect that to change after Morgana Robinson's debut tonight.

The 28-year-old's impressions made such a big, er, impression on Channel 4 talent spotters that she got her own five-part series without having to do the usual Comedy Showcase pilot first.

Her Fearne Cotton sketch is so spot on you'd be forgiven for thinking the Radio 1 DJ was doing a cameo, and being gorgeous as well as fluent in Geordie makes Cheryl Cole an obvious target.

She does a mean Dannii Minogue too but many of her comic creations - like a faded Hollywood siren - are characters she's created from scratch. And she's just as funny when she's dressed up as a fella. You might have already seen her awkward pre-teen Gilbert on C4's TNT Show and she also does Boris Johnson as a schoolboy. This may be the first you've heard of Morgana - it won't be the last.