Chris Addison will be pleased with this picture - there is very little bare flesh on show and certainly nothing suggestive of his nether regions. In a terribly British section of his interview by friend and fellow comic thespian Rebecca Front, they discover a shared aversion to nudity, especially their own, in performances.

As Addison remarks, his modesty is based upon his body resembling a stick man made out of Twiglets. Their similarities do not end here, however: both confess to having been goody-two-shoes at school and how many other modern comedians can claim to have been part of madrigal groups? Middle-class and brainy does not have to mean smug, though, and so this interview rubs along nicely. I look forward to Addison asking the questions of Derren Brown next week.

Jane Anderson, Radio Times, 3rd August 2012

The return of the series in which the interviewee becomes the interviewer in the following week's programme opens with the writer, actor and comedian Jeremy Front asking questions of the writer, actor and comedian Rebecca Fron. Fans of the recent and superb Incredible Women series will know that the brother and sister have already proven their comedy worth as a Radio 4 double act, but this takes it to a more intimate level with discussions about their shared memories. Jeremy soon realised that his younger sister was ripe for ribbing and began years of mental torture involving a pixie and Ken Dodd. He's heard all of Rebecca's anecdotes before, but we haven't, so he's kind enough to encourage her to let rip. The Mike Leigh audition story is truly hilarious.

Jane Anderson, Radio Times, 27th July 2012

The scourging of the Murdock empire is a goldmine of new material for comedians. The biggest audience guffaw in this returning series comes when interviewer Rhys Thomas asks his guest - fellow comedian Simon Day - if there really isn't anything that he wouldn't do for money. Day, fast as a whip, comes back with "Well, I wouldn't hack into people's phones." It's no secret that I love this series: it's akin to the empathetic questioning techniques of Kirsty Young or Victoria Derbyshire being channelled through Alexei Sayle or Steve Coogan - lots of insight, but even more laughs. Rhys does not push Day too closely on his addictive personality - something that the comic has been very open about in his recent autobiography - but we do get to hear about his spell in a borstal, which he refers to as being like "a violent boarding school".

Jane Anderson, Radio Times, 29th July 2011

Radio review: Chain Reaction

Stephen Merchant gets nervous before hero Jarvis Cocker.

Written by Elisabeth Mahoney. The Guardian, 20th September 2010

Final show in the series. Stephen Merchant (last week's interviewee) talks to Jarvis Cocker about the disadvantages of wearing spectacles, being tall and gangly, rock festivals, rock idols and what really happened when the Pulp singer threw the contents of an ice bucket over Michael Jackson at the Brit Awards in 1996. It's on FM only because the special ecumenical Westminster Abbey Service of Evening Prayer, to be attended by both the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, is on Radio 4LW from 6.00-7.15pm. Edward Stourton (as so often this week) presents.

Gillian Reynolds, The Daily Telegraph, 17th September 2010

Harry Shearer, voice of evil Mr Burns and hapless Ned Flanders on The Simpsons, American comedian, writer, and radio host, chooses as his interviewee Stephen Merchant, co-writer of TV's The Office and Extras, more recently an actor, standup and 6 Music presenter. The resulting conversation is most entertaining, a rare glimpse of comedy back rooms, a snowball of reflection on what makes something funny, how jokes grow. Merchant on his youthful experiments with a radio station in a hedge is sublime, their thoughts on comedy as a control mechanism is a tonic.

Gillian Reynolds, The Daily Telegraph, 10th September 2010

Ruby Wax was on Radio 4's Chain Reaction this week (hooray! A woman!). Her turn to interview, and her guest was comic actor Harry Shearer - Derek Smalls from Spinal TapMr Burns and others from The Simpsons. Ruby is one of the best interviewers ever, in my opinion, and she didn't disappoint, hurrying Shearer on when needed - "so cut to when you're funny, we haven't got all day" - or pulling him short when he glossed over a tale. "Are you bitter?" she asked Shearer, an old friend of hers. "You still look bitter." I wish she still had her own chatshow.

Miranda Sawyer, The Daily Telegraph, 5th September 2010

There's a lovely bit of bonding going on in tonight's edition as last week's interviewee, Ruby Wax, selects actor and comedian Harry Shearer as the guest she would most like to probe. Both are from the other side of the Pond but share an astutely observed fondness for the British and, indeed, for Radio 4. Shearer is best known here for his range of Simpsons voices and as Spinal Tap bassist Derek Smalls, but in the States he's hosted a syndicated satirical radio show since 1983. Their combined wit and experience is electrifying.

Jane Anderson, Radio Times, 3rd September 2010

When writer and impressionist Ronni Ancona appears on QI, the show is sometimes a little less funny than usual but always greatly more interesting and even absorbing. She was a boon to QI and proves to be the same again here as she takes the role of first interviewer in a new run of the tag-team chat show. Her guest is comic Lee Mack, who has as many one-liners at his command as you'd hope and expect but gets drawn into richer areas about working in comedy. This is the joy of Chain Reaction: the guest is interviewed by someone who really knows their work and enjoys pressing for information that lighter chat shows miss. And you'll never guess who Lee Mack chooses to interview in next week's episode.

William Gallagher, Radio Times, 13th August 2010

Chain Reaction (Radio 4, Tuesdays, 6.30pm) has been the highlight of my late-summer listening. Through it I've come to like Frank Skinner, discovered that Eddie Izzard can still throw aside the ponderous trappings of Hollywood semi-stardom and be himself again and found, in Alastair Campbell, a charm that he managed to hide so successfully during his years as Tony Blair's minister of propaganda. And every week I've told myself that, this time, I'll resist the temptation to write about it here and focus instead on the new.

But then last week Campbell only goes and interviews Alastair McGowan and all best intentions exit stage right. Last Tuesday's Chain Reaction was probably the best of the series so far, as McGowan gave a masterclass in how he does what he does so well. Slipping from one voice to the other, frequently during a single sentence, he analysed how they came to be. The Nerd Voice, for example, which he was already using as a generic, suddenly acquired a real-life person to attach it to: John Major. "The reason why it's the Nerd Voice," he said, "is because it's completely devoid of emotion and heart.

"Technically, it derives from the back of the throat, which is also used by Brian Perkins" - changing gear ever so slightly to become the legendary Radio 4 newsreader - "but Brian has a connection with his chest, so you have this wonderful, resonant open voice, while Major" - shifting the voice a couple of inches upwards - "is stuck in the throat, so he's cut off from feeling.

"Michael Heseltine," he continued, on a roll now, "had a fabulous oratory voice. He had a trapped 'R' and he couldn't speak properly, but when he really got going he was trapped and there was a little bit of shyness there and there really was a great power to it."

And by God he was right. So simple, and yet so intricate. "There are places the voice goes to," he summed up, "and the deeper it goes, the cooler you are."

Prompted by Campbell, McGowan gave us his Tony Blair, which derives much of its authenticity from the former PM's habit of replacing his "I" sounds with "U" sounds - "Uff the Honourable Member thunks..." but confessed himself stymied by the next PM, David Cameron: "Just sound posh and whisper."

But of course, McGowan is best-known, not for his political voices - Rory Bremner has that covered - but everything else. David Beckham, for example, is an unconfident Stuart Pearce, and when McGowan segued from one to the other you saw exactly what he meant. The same voice, but with a different man behind it.

Look, the latest series of Chain Reaction will soon be naught but a beam in the eye of memory (McGowan talks to Simon Callow today; should be interesting), and I'm going to write about something else in a minute, but there was one last McGowan moment to warm our way into winter. "I've recently discovered Neil Oliver, of The One Show," McGowan said, in Scots character, "and one thing I've noticed is that he's really passionate about everything he does, but he really has to keep his passion under control, because if he ever gets carried away with it, he's just going to turn into" - mid-sentence segue - "Billy Connolly!" The mind's ear caught the connection and thought 'I could do that.' As if.

Chris Campling, The Times, 6th October 2009

A brief mention of the finest put-down of the week. In Chain Reaction (Radio 4, Wednesdays, 6.30pm), Eddie Izzard interviewed Alastair Campbell: a knockabout surreal comic going up against Eddie Izzard. How could it work?

At first, Izzard seemed to have decided that if this wasn't going to get bogged down in talk of bagpipes, writing soft-porn for Forum magazine, alcoholism and nervous breakdowns, then he would have to talk about cats taking over the world. Campbell was limited to the occasional dry interjection. Then Izzard went too far: learning that Campbell spoke French, and being known for having done stand-up shows in French, he began to ask him a question in that language. And Campbell corrected his grammar. Just like that. One sentence in. One felt as bad for the Izzster as one did for those poor political hacks who came up against Campbell during the No 10 glory days. Izzard floundered. He attempted to keep going in French, then collapsed. "This question might be better asked in English," he muttered, a broken man.

Chris Campling, The Times, 28th September 2009

On Chain Reaction (Radio 4), Alastair Campbell was also recalling recent history. He was very comfortable discussing his soft-porn writings ("a mixture of stuff you'd done and stuff you wished you'd done), his drinking, his "crack-up" and his depression. When he was appointed as Tony Blair's press spokesman in 1994, he said, they had a bet as to which paper would dredge up which bit of his past first. "It was the News of the World, on the porn, eight minutes after the press release went out."

Camilla Redmond, The Guardian, 25th September 2009

Eddie Izzard is never off the wireless lately. Last week he was interviewed by Frank Skinner, now he's quizzing Alistair Campbell, once chief spin doctor to Tony Blair and terror of the BBC, now more of a wandering minstrel. Izzard starts off with how the Clan Campbell got its appalling reputation, what it was like for a Campbell to grow upin Keighley, what differentiates a busker from a street entertainer, being a swot, going to Cambridge, trying his hand at pornography, having a nervous breakdown. I think I've heard most of this before. Too often.

Gillian Reynolds, Daily Telegraph, 23rd September 2009

Just time to revise my view on Radio 4's Chain Reaction. This week's interview with Eddie Izzard by Frank Skinner was excellent: funny and revealing. You forget that Skinner used to have a chat show. Though I'm not saying it should be brought back, mind.

Miranda Sawyer, The Observer, 20th September 2009

Comedy probably divides opinion like nothing else - what one generation finds rib-tickling, another can find unfunny, even distasteful. Having started his stand-up career in Edinburgh back in 1987, some might consider Frank Skinner a somewhat fossilised funster now compared to the new, young names on today's circuit. But, during Radio 4's Chain Reaction, it's clear that fellow, albeit very different, comedian and guest interviewer, Dave Gorman, has a healthy respect for the banjo-playing Brummie as he reflects on his love of live performance, football and even outdoor toilets. Dubbed a comedian of the lad culture age, Skinner admits success could have easily made him complacent now he's hit middle age and got money in the bank, but seems determined to try new avenues of comedy.

Growing up, he reveals, he wanted to be a cowboy, footballer or a pop star. Having recently rediscovered his musical bent, all he needs now is to adapt an old George Formby song and he could be storming the charts again, like when Three Lions hit number one and made him a truly household name. The next Chain Reaction sees Skinner swap chairs and interview Eddie Izzard - comedic chalk and cheese if ever there was, not least in wardrobe and make-up departments.

Derek Smith, The Stage, 14th September 2009

And now let's recommend another comedy series that is hardly in the full blush of youth: Chain Reaction (Radio 4, Wednesdays, 6.30pm), which this week will be half-way through its second series. The format is simple: the interviewee in the first programme becomes the interviewer in the next, and so on until the interviewer in the first becomes the interviewee in the sixth. The conversation may range freely, but always starts from the same point - the comedic style of the interviewee. It works best when both are stand-ups - they're good at being automatically funny - and the series reached a peak last week, when Dave Gorman interviewed Frank Skinner.

It's easy to dislike Skinner. There's the football, the laddishness, the swearing, the pornographic stage show. Listening to Chain Reaction, though, it was just as easy to like him. This is one charming guy, as honest when discussing his financial troubles - his life savings took a bit of a hammering when the American bank in which they were residing went under - as he is frank (it's the only word) about his sex life. It takes a very un-laddish lad to admit that the disadvantage to three-in-a-bed sex is the occasional clash of heads and the constant fear, on the part of the man, that the women are whispering about him, and giggling.

He can also tell a story about his straitened upbringing without coming over all Angela's Ashes. Yes, it took some time for the Skinner family's council house to acquire an inside toilet, but when they did his father was not impressed. A toilet inside the house? That sounded unhygienic. And as for the bath, well, the young Skinner bathed only once or twice a year. "Why should I? I didn't have a sex life at the time." Tomorrow's programme is even better - Skinner interviews Eddie Izzard.

Chris Campling, The Times, 14th September 2009

Last week's interviewee, Dave Gorman, becomes this week's interviewer as he poses the questions to Frank Skinner. In fact, we hear more of Gorman's mirthful laugh than we do of his words, as Skinner talks us through his part-glamorous, part-filthy career in comedy. There are the usual tales of his experiences in a threesome, but a surprising insight on how he dissects every word about his performances. There's also a lovely story about growing up in a house with an outside toilet - David Baddiel is convinced that his friend Frank was raised in the 1920s.

Jane Anderson, The Radio Times, 9th September 2009

And a few other notes, both low and high: why no women on Chain Reaction (R4), where public figures (usually comedians) get to interview other public figures (usually comedians)? Yes, we've had Catherine Tate and Arabella Weir, but we're six series in now. This week's programme, the first in the new batch, began with Robert Llewellyn interviewing Dave Gorman. Gorman was far too pleased with himself; but then, that's the nature of this self-congratulatory series. You may as well call it Blowing Smoke.

Miranda Sawyer, The Observer, 6th September 2009

Robert Llewellyn, of Scrapheap Challenge, interviews Dave Gorman, comedian, of Are You Dave Gorman? Is he obsessive? asks Llewellyn. Suppose so, says Gorman, but real obsessions make good shows. Is it all a bit egotistical? Gorman asks himself, then answers it, saying not really. The Daves in his adventures are alter egos. He started off as an ordinary stand-up with jokes, was inspired by Ian Dury's song Reasons to Be Cheerful to branch out into real-life jaunts. Who will Gorman interview next week? If anyone's still listening by then...

Gillian Reynolds, Daily Telegraph, 2nd September 2009

Dave Gorman on Twitter

Video clip in which Robert Llewellyn asks Dave Gorman about his experiences using social media tools.

BBC Comedy Blog, 28th August 2009