A plethora of top comedians perform their best stand-up to an audience of over 3,000 at the Hammersmith Apollo in London.

The first two series, and the first episode of the third series, were hosted by Jack Dee and thus this show was originally titled Jack Dee Live At The Apollo. The episodes from the later series are hosted by one of the comedians on the bill for that night.

Guest hosts for the latest six series have included Jo Brand, Kevin Bridges, Rob Brydon, Ed Byrne, Alan Carr, Jimmy Carr, Greg Davies, Omid Djalili, Micky Flanagan, Rhod Gilbert, Rich Hall, Lenny Henry, Russell Howard, Stephen K Amos, Sean Lock, Lee Mack, Jason Manford, Alistair McGowan, Michael McIntyre, Sarah Millican, Al Murray, Lee Nelson, Dara O'Briain, Andy Parsons, Joan Rivers and Jack Whitehall.

Our Review: This programme guides the country's top stand-ups a place to showcase their best material. As a result, pretty much every episode features some great material.

In 2008, this show received a huge boost - the postponement of the Autumn series of Friday Night With Jonathan Ross meant that Live At The Apollo got promoted from its previous Monday night placing to the prime-time Friday night slot. With the likes of Michael McIntyre and Frankie Boyle on the bill, the series received massive ratings and catapulted Live At The Apollo into the big time.

However, as the show heads towards a ninth series, one criticism we could still level at it, is that it's not being particularly adventurous with its guest selections - its the usual bunch of TV regulars with few surprises.

Also, the show perhaps sets the wrong impression as to what live stand-up comedy is like. Most gigs are actually much more intimate affairs in dingy basements (rather than a glamorous theatre), and thus live comedy is more exciting for that.