Dominic Maxwell

The famous comic you've never heard of

He is headlining Wembley and a BBC One show. His name is John Bishop . . . and he doesn't know any jokes.

Channel 4 Comedy Gala at the O2 Arena, London SE10

It was billed as "the biggest live stand-up show in UK history". But although this show in aid of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children featured 30-odd comics performing to 15,000 people, with more on video clips, in many ways it conformed to the usual rules of the charity gala. Some acts reminded you why they are stars (Lee Evans, Michael McIntyre, Jack Dee). Some were good enough to win a lot of new fans (Mark Watson, Kevin Bridges, Patrick Kielty, John Bishop, Rich Hall, Sean Lock). Some did their thing and did it well (Noel Fielding, Jo Brand). Barely anyone died a death. And, though the O2's 11pm curfew forestalled the usual overrun, cor, did Evans, the headliner, strike a chord when he imagined what we were thinking: "Pleeeeease, finish!"

The joker in Lee Mack

When the BBC scrapped his sitcom Not Going Out, the comedian resolved to get out more by going on tour. Then the Beeb changed its mind.

The decade in comedy

Comedy's potential has expanded. What was referred to as "alternative comedy" in 2000 is now at the heart of everything.

Frankie Boyle, Rebecca Adlington & the limits of taste

If comedians sometimes cause offence, well, isn't that their job?

Miranda Hart stands head and shoulders above the rest

Fact and fiction blur for the BBC's new sitcom queen, who makes a virtue out of being more than 6ft tall.

Stewart Lee: 'hate all popular culture'

Britain's finest stand-up comedian explains why it is his job to have a pop at the powerful - and that includes glibly offensive entertainers.

Review of Tom Wrigglesworth at Pleasance Courtyard

Who says that comedians can't make a difference? When Tom Wrigglesworth stepped on to the 10.15 from Manchester to London last autumn, he was just a hangover sufferer with a yen for some peace and quiet. When he stepped off, he was a people's hero, wanted by the police. And out of this bruising encounter with petty officialdom he's crafted a beguiling hour of Fringe comedy.

Hill's affectionate rubbishing of soaps and daytime celebrities is a show that defies gravity: endearingly subversive, deceptively genial. Hill is crazily watchable even if you don't know anything about the people he's pulling apart.

A welcome return for this brilliant, imposing performer, whose debut sketch show was let down by some abstruse material. This time we're promised something more conventional, which - for once - is welcome news.