Jack Dee

The build-up has been going on for weeks with everything from a "rude road trip" by the stars of The Inbetweeners to Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton's daring Battersea Power Station highwire act, and a gruelling challenge that saw nine stars trek for five days across the Kaisut desert in Kenya. So, what can top that as the bi-annual charity fundraiser takes over the airwaves tonight?

Well, with a presentation team that includes Michael McIntyre, Lenny Henry, Graham Norton, Fearne Cotton, Jack Whitehall, Kevin Bridges, Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall, James Corden and Jack Dee there are certainly lots of laughs in prospect. There's a host of one-off sketches to look forward to from Miranda Hart, Harry Hill, Steve Coogan, Armstrong & Miller and the cast of Outnumbered. There are also Comic Relief spin-offs of MasterChef and The Choir, and special outings for Doctor Who and EastEnders.

As well as all that, there are performances from some of the biggest names in the music industry, including George Michael and Boyzone, and reminders why it's all happening, with reports on how the money raised in previous years has benefited the underprivileged in Africa and here in the UK. Of course, amid all the chaos, everybody's eyes will be fixed on the cash counter clocking up every pound raised by volunteers and fundraisers. In 2009 Comic Relief raised £80 million.

Video: Jack Dee - Maypole dancing with Boyle and Hague?

Jack Dee joined BBC Breakfast today to help launch the 2011 Comic Relief campaign: Do Something Funny for Money.

The comedian explains why his idea of maypole dancing with William Hague and Frankie Boyle was turned down!

Comic Relief's Red Nose Day is on the 18 March 2011.

And welcome, for example, to a special Christmas Shooting Stars (BBC2). No, I don't know what that "for example" is doing there either, but that's what Bob Mortimer says - and it's funny. Shooting Stars is about the baffling, the surreal, the unexpected and the unbelievably silly. This festive episode begins with a hanging (of a mouse) and ends with a race (between Ricky Tomlinson and Ronnie Wood, on mobility scooters). In between is half an hour of the usual lunacy.

Bob is impaled, up the arse, on the end of of Vic's electric guitar; Walter Hottle Bottle jumps in slow motion; Ulrikakaka downs a pint of Advocaat in one, then burps loudly; Jack Dee has a face like an abandoned winkle-picker, or a willy warmer with mouse droppings all over it; Joanna Page is Welsh and pronounces words funny; Thandie Newton is pestered by Bob; Angelous has been hiding in the trees outside Ulrikakaka's bedroom; the Christmas tree catches fire; a stuffed buzzard loses its confidence when a cocktail is thrown in its face; Ricky rides a rocking horse while eating chicken drumsticks.

And there are some fiendishly difficult questions. Like: true or false, muesli is a byproduct of coffin-making? (true). And will bacon stick to Bob's face? (Yes). And what's the latest Ron ever stayed up? (Very).

I'm still not convinced it was a good idea to bring back Shooting Stars. It was a show that fitted so perfectly into the 1990s, like Seinfeld and Britpop. But this Christmas special was a party.

This irreverent panel show makes merry tonight with a seasonal special in which host Jimmy Carr asks contestants to guess the results of holiday-themed surveys. If you like your Christmas cheer with a large helping of sarcasm and a dollop of misanthropy, you'll like this. Reliably funny team captains Sean Lock and Jason Manford are joined by guest panellists Jack Dee, Christopher Biggins and Lorraine Kelly.

Funny or easy-to-mock guests booked to provide tonight's festive repartee and laughs include dour comedian Jack Dee, Lorraine Kelly and camp sweetheart Christopher Biggins. Irritatingly, at the time RT went to press, the episode hadn't been filmed, so we can only speculate - wildly - as to its contents. It's Christmas-themed, so expect host Jimmy Carr and contestants to have dressed for the occasion: sparkly antlers; nylon beards; necklaces made of mince pies - that kind of thing. And if Biggins isn't wearing a pantomime dame outfit and lashings of rouge then I'm going home.

Affable comedian Rob Brydon (The Trip, Gavin & Stacey) asks cranky colleagues Jo Brand and Jack Dee to spread festive cheer on this light-hearted entertainment show. The two guests play up to their bah-humbug personas, with Brand suggesting an unusual way to get rid of unwanted relatives. Sozzled children's entertainer Jeremy Lion (Justin Edwards) offers a hilarious, wine-fuelled take on The Twelve Days of Christmas. And gothic rocker Alice Cooper shares the sofa with charismatic baritone Bryn Terfel.

Say goodbye to 2010 with John Tweedledum (Jack Dee) and Jack Tweedledee (Peter Capaldi) as they review the year in Nursery Land, as written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman. Last year they did nightly 15-minute bulletins across a week. This year, what with Hislop and Capaldi's burgeoning TV careers not to mention all the cuts and changes inside the BBC as well as out, we have just this one delicious half hour of inspired unreality.

A repeat of C4's live comedy extravaganza from London's 02 Arena earlier this year in which 23 of our funniest people (and Michael McIntyre) competed to win our laughs in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Charity. Take your pick from Alan Carr, Noel Fielding, Catherine Tate, Bill Bailey, Mitchell & Webb, Jack Dee, Jack Whitehall, Kevin Eldon, Lee Evans, Rob Brydon, Sean Lock, Jo Brand, Jason Manford, Fonejacker, Andy Parsons and Shappi Khorsandi. Phew.

Mentally prepare yourself: Jedward are on tonight, appearing as one guest, and looking and being utterly ridiculous. But don't worry, because host Jack Dee and team captain Noel Fielding eat them alive. 'They're like a simpleton Bros' is just one of many, many insults hurled at them. Addictive viewing, sadly.

Planet Jedward takes over the Buzzcocks studio tonight - a surreal experience that's as painful to watch as it is snortingly hilarious.

Jack Dee is the host as the pair, the type of act that could have been invented just for this show to ridicule, join Noel ­Fielding's team.

Despite prattling on 10 times as much as one normal person, John and Edward only count as one guest. Perhaps this was decided by a tally of their IQs, or, as team captain Phill Jupitus puts it: "You make Dappy from N-Dubz look like Stephen Fry."

The twins' machine gun chatter would test the patience of a saint and Jack Dee - as you may have noticed - is no holy man, although some of his crueller put-downs have sadly been cut out. Also trying to get a word in edgeways tonight are Eliza Doolittle, Katy Brand and Charlie Higson.

Whichever poor soul was given the task of having to edit this deserves a month on a sun lounger in the Maldives, wearing earplugs and an eye mask.