Johnny Vegas

Comedian Johnny Vegas co-writes and stars with Tony Pitts in the curious tale of Rupert, the highlight of tonight's Sky Atlantic comedy short double bill. Rupert is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders after inheriting Kinky Ink, a tattoo parlour with a rum bunch of regulars who really give him the needle.

The hit-and-miss nature of this series of short films is epitomised by tonight's double bill. First up is Johnny Vegas and Tony Pitts's tale of the begrudging Rupert (Vegas), who takes over his late father's tattoo business. He has to contend with the feelings of his dad's girlfriend, tattooist Fiona (Josie Lawrence), and a visit from a debt-collector, the cross-dressing Spinks (Paul Kaye). It's grimly amusing. Less successful is Tom Palmer and Tom Stourton's Fergus and Crispin, which follows two hapless posh-boy entrepreneurs as they try to come up with ideas to make money.

An Ideal Night Out review

A little over 24 hours after explaining why he was no longer doing stand-up, Johnny Vegas was back in the same Leicester venue doing, what to most observers, would have looked pretty much like stand-up.

Johnny Vegas: Daniel Kitson made me quit stand-up

Johnny Vegas has revealed that Daniel Kitson is the reason he gave up stand-up. But the Ideal star says that he has unfinished business with live comedy - and could make a return to the Edinburgh Fringe.

A new series of comedy shorts launches tonight, written by (and starring) notable types such as Johnny Vegas, Katy Brand and Rufus Jones. In Floyd, the first part of a double bill, Charles Dance plays an ageing roadie; he's followed by Jessica Hynes as a befuddled Tory councillor in Patricia. Both central performances are superb, but the 10-minute format is tricky with so much exposition and character to pack in. They work as thumbnail portraits, but feel as though they don't go anywhere.

Comedy gold: Johnny Vegas's Live at the Benidorm Palace

The shambling Michael Pennington will keep you laughing from the moment you hear his character's name to the last of his merciless exercises in embarrassing his audience.

How We Met: Andy Hollingworth & Johnny Vegas

Photographer Andy Hollingworth and Johnny Vegas explain how they met and how they work with each other.

Directing debut for Johnny Vegas

Comic Johnny Vegas and actor Robert Glenister are set to make their directing debut in a daytime drama.

I can't say I'm fond of children's comedy. I'm probably the only comedy critic who isn't that fused on Horrible Histories, I don't watch CBBC and I've never watched CBeebies before in my life - until this week.

The Cow That Almost Missed Christmas, a one-off show on CBeebies, is a comic retelling of the nativity story. The story is told by animals in or visiting Bethlehem as Mary and Joseph arrive into town. Known that something big is happening around town, an excited cow called Marjorie (Isy Suttie) and her chicken friend Brian (Johnny Vegas) sneak away from their home to attend the 'big party'.

On first viewing, I tried to prevent my inner QI pedant from wanting to correct all the commonly held mistakes about the nativity story (the fact there wasn't a census; there were no animals present at the birth of Christ; there weren't three "kings" - they're wise men), but after getting all that under control, I really did enjoy it.

There's the visual humour - such as the sight of Brian the chicken wearing a leotard and a giant afro, and Mary's donkey playing cards while she is visited by the Archangel Gabriel - to the rather clever jokes. For example, the chickens insist their stable is a barn because it has both a manger and an outside loo. In another scene, Marjorie askes how far some weary travellers have come: "Rome? Alexandria? Milton Keynes?"

This may be on a small channel devoted to the under-fives, but The Cow That Almost Missed Christmas is a funny show that you can watch with everyone. Certainly worth a watch if you haven't seen it already.

Chloe Crumb is that most common figure in redemptive childrens' fiction - the lonely outsider. Her mum's an unbearable aspirant MP, her dad's downtrodden, her sister's a goody-two-shoes and she doesn't have any friends. Soon, she's befriending pungent gentleman of the road Mr Stink and learning all sorts of life-lessons as a result. The underlying message - everyone's got problems and we could all use a little extra kindness - resonates with the season, even if the regular fug of CGI miasma wreathing Stink fails to compensate for the absence of Quentin Blake's wonderful illustrations in David Walliams's source book. Some of the dialogue is too trite to be entirely explained away by the target demographic - 'I realise now how important family is,' declaims Sheridan Smith as the pushy mum towards the end. But it's elevated by spirited performances from Smith, Johnny Vegas, a game Hugh Bonneville as the titular tramp and particularly, newcomer Nell Tiger Free as Chloe.