Are alternative acts still welcome on terrestrial TV?

Where do telly people find new comedy these days? It's a question that came to mind after an interesting comment from the enduringly wonderful Bob Mortimer recently - either on his episode of the BBC Radio 4 institution Desert Island Discs, or his fine quasi-football podcast, Athletico Mince. Mortimer mused that there don't seem to be many really anarchic new comics around at the moment, doing stuff like Vic & Bob did, and still do.

Now, Bob also admitted that he barely leaves the home comforts of his couch nowadays, unless he really has to; hence Paul Whitehouse actively dragging him out to do that gloriously laid-back fishing show. So he was really saying that not many out-there acts now make it onto his TV. Which may well be true - are there any slots on regular telly for a Vic & Bob, or a Monty Python, or a Spike Milligan?

Vic & Bob were discovered when influential TV figures like Jonathan Ross and Alan Yentob took a chance and visited their clubnight (Vic Reeves' Big Night Out was eventually made by Ross's company, Channel X). There are more distractions now, though. You can't blame TV people for not gambling on catching a random comic's live slot, when they could be browsing YouTube, or playing slot machines online. The weather recently, you need to toss several coins to decide what coat to wear.

Now, the acts are out there - head to the Leicester Comedy Festival during 'Weirdos Weekend' in particular, or the Edinburgh Fringe on any particular day, or lots of other comedy-friendly places around the UK, and you'll stumble across all sorts of talented oddballs trying stuff out. There are so many interesting comics nowadays, in fact, that it might all seem a bit bewildering for the well-meaning TV booker, when they could just phone Katherine Ryan and Jimmy Carr again and settle in for an early night.

There are different outlets for comics too, of course. As one well-known act told us a few months back, an up and coming comic might now be better off spending their money making a good YouTube video, rather than doing an Edinburgh run. In fact, you could probably fund a lengthy video series for the money some acts have spent on a single Edinburgh campaign: perhaps hire some semi-famous actors and throw in a few exotic foreign locations, too.

Let's hope bookers do still discover odd new talents, because let's face it, today's weird is tomorrow's normal. Vic and Bob were quickly welcomed as a sort of Morecambe & Wise for a new generation; Vic eventually appearing on I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, while Bob's slots on Would I Lie To You? are now legendary. Monty Python's Michael Palin became a much-loved prime-time travel presenter, John Cleese has been back in cosy BBC sitcoms recently, while Eric Idle wrote a popular Python-themed West End musical, Spamalot.

And Spike Milligan? He never really mellowed, but the radio show he wrote and starred in, The Goons, was a favourite of our future king. And you can't get much more establishment than that.