Alan Carr to present singing game show

Alan Carr is to host a new singing competition on Channel 4.

Back at the O2 for the fifth year on the trot, the country's finest gag merchants congregate to shake a tin in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital's prospective new operating theatre. Among the assembled funny people here are Lee Evans, Jack Dee, Alan Carr, Paddy McGuinness, Warwick Davis and Derek's Kerry Godliman. It's three hours long, but worth keeping half an eye on the commercial breaks, traditionally a place for Alan Carr to pop up with some lightly mirthful advert hijacks.

Now a regular fixture on the stand-up calendar, this is the fifth gala raising funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity.

Filmed in May, more than 20 of the country's best-loved gagsters, including Michael McIntyre, Alan Carr, Jason Manford and Jo Brand, congregated at the O2 arena in London for a marathon of laughs that's been trimmed to a schedule-friendly three hours.

Warwick Davis and Diversity get the night off to a flying start, and if past years are anything to go by, it'll be worth sticking around for the commercial breaks too - you never know who might hijack the ads to shoe-horn in even more laughs.

Alan Carr interview

Alan Carr: 'Chatty Man hasn't got the oomph of Graham Norton, but we'll get there!'

Alan Carr did his best, but Lindsay Lohan's a nightmare

My advice to bookers of chat shows for future reference is to avoid Lindsay Lohan, say Mark Jefferies.

What Alan Carr taught me about gay men's homophobia

Gay men have a big problem with camp, understandably. But prejudice is corrosive, wherever it comes from.

With The Graham Norton Show not due back on our screens until next month, here's a chance for Alan Carr to gain a ratings foothold in the Great Friday Night Chatshow Wars. The lineup for this returning episode of Chatty Man - Ricky Gervais and Gary Barlow - is a little underwhelming, but at least Gervais is bringing Muppets Most Wanted co-stars Kermit The Frog and his identical nemesis Constantine along for some felt fun. Barlow's contribution sounds less enticing: a performance of his new soft-rock single, Since I Saw You Last.

Nipping in a week ahead of his big Friday night rival Graham Norton, Alan Carr (left) kicks off a new series of lippy chat and louche one-liners by inviting Ricky Gervais and Jessica Hynes to lock comedy horns. Those two can give as good as they get, so it could be a riot. Calming things down will be Gary Barlow, continuing on his highly successful solo comeback with new single Since I Saw You Last.

Alan Carr Chatty Man: 11 drink-fuelled clips

Alan's globe full of booze has been the cause and the subject of many a conversation.

Alan Carr interview

Alan Carr, who lives in London with his partner Paul and their Irish setters Bev and Joyce, talks drinks, Muppets, and pulling strings to get A-list Hollywood star guests on his show...