While most of the comedy world is currently camping out in Edinburgh (Radio 4 is recording a number of shows up at the festival), Russell Kane's Whistle Stop Tour appeared at first to offer something different from seaside resorts across the UK.

The only problem was that there wasn't enough material about the location chosen (on this occasion Blackpool) to make the listening experience anything more than another night down the local comedy club. It was not that Kane and the other comics - Chris Ramsey, Gary Delaney, Justin Moorhouse and the particularly funny Rob Rouse - did not make an entertaining combination, but this was a dull, run-of-the-mill format. Despite Kane travelling on the Big One rollercoaster at the Pleasure Beach and hearing snippets about Punch and Judy and the resort's early history, the majority of the programme could have been recorded anywhere.
Surely to conjure up something of Blackpool's distinctive atmosphere would not have been difficult. A bit of effort, a stroll down the seafront and a chat with some of the tourists or performers working at the resort would have been preferable to the slightly patronising remarks from Kane such as, "I didn't know stuff like this existed!" What a missed opportunity.

Following on from a successful pilot last year, Justin Moorhouse returns in this sitcom playing an alternative version of himself, as a Manchester radio DJ recovering from a messy divorce.

This was a rather enjoyable half-hour, which began and closed with Justin talking to his mother (Anne Reid), who was horrified about Justin bringing him ginger nuts rather than Duchy Originals, and who has an attraction towards men with moustaches, including Bob Carolgees and Adolf Hitler.

The main plot of the first episode was Justin having to attend a gathering of parents at a restaurant with his ex-wife Tanya (Sally Lindsay) to try and get their son into a Catholic school, while at the same time going on a date with new love interest Lisa (Katherine Kelly) in the same restaurant.

The main lynchpin of comedy in this episode was the headmaster of the Catholic school, an Irish priest who was very traditional in his views. For example, he's against divorce, so Justin and Tanya have to pretend to be married. Now, the other week I came across an article on The Guardian's website from a man complaining that comedians are lazy when making jokes about religion. In terms of this show - while it is a bit lazy for making the Catholic priest Irish - there was no mention of paedophilia at all, and only one mention of homophobia.

Also, speaking as someone who went to Catholic school, I know that most Catholic priests are decent, well meaning people. R.E. teachers, on the other hand, are despicable monsters who still give me nightmares, and speaking from my own experiences are not exactly fair and balanced when covering certain topics. (The day when the pro-life campaigners came to our class and presented a slide show featuring graphic pictures of aborted foetuses springs to mind). This has nothing really to do with reviewing this show; it's just something I've always wanted to get off my chest.

Anyway, getting back to the main point, I think that Everyone Quite Likes Justin is worthwhile and entertaining sitcom which fully deserves the series that it has been given. Let's see what Moorhouse has to offer us as the series progresses.

Everybody Quite Likes Justin, the sitcom featuring comedian Justin Moorhouse, has returned to Radio 4. The original pilot, about a DJ whose life is falling apart, took too long ensuring that the audience knew what was going on, but this episode was great: quicker, livelier and a proper gag-fest, with most of the lines poking fun at Justin. He was accused of using "a soft voice" when he talked to a girl he liked. "What soft voice?" he said, in a soft voice. "People will think she's your carer!" was the retort, which made me, and the audience, really laugh.

Anne Reid, Paul Copley and Justin Moorhouse star in this new four-part sitcom by Moorhouse and Jim Poyser. Justin Moorhouse, naturally, plays Justin the successful, famous and outwardly upbeat Manchester DJ whose real life reflects a greyer reality. His mother is cranky, old and in a home. His wife has left him, taking their eight-year-old son and setting the lawyers on him. So he's back on the market. And so is his house. That's why he's living in his father-in-law's spare bedroom in Bury. The studio audience laughs loud, long and often.

Sometimes it can seem as if standup comedians are everywhere. Clustered on panel shows, chat shows, sitcoms; hosting clips programmes, commenting on the news, making you chicken pie when you get home at night...

That's just me (I'm married to a standup), and that's a bad joke. Not quite as bad as some we heard on Stand Up For Comic Relief, but close.

Last week, Radio 4 took us through the now familiar process of established comedians mentoring novices for charidee (you phone in to vote for the best, and the money goes to Comic Relief). Thus, Dev from Radio 1 was tutored by Chris Ramsey, Radio 2's Tony Blackburn got Julian Clary, Tom Service (Radio 3) by Sandi Toksvig, Jenni Murray (Radio 4) by Mark Steel, Tony Livesey (5Live) worked with Justin Moorhouse and Shaun Keaveny from 6Music was paired with Miles Jupp. (If there was ever a sign that the BBC are now fully supportive of 6Music, Shaun doing Comic Relief is it.)

Before we heard the routines, in the "funny" 6.30pm slot on Wednesday, Radio 4 offered us two half-hour puff pieces on Monday and Tuesday, where the newbies expressed their fear and competitiveness and their mentors cracked funnies. Tony Blackburn was the coolest, his shtick so tough that Clary's advice could only slide off it like an egg chucked at a tank. Blackburn refused to meet Clary more than once, and was as corny as can be, his light-ent persona carrying him through hoary gags such as getting the whole audience to look under their seats for a nonexistent prize. Tony Livesey was cheesy too, in ye old working men's club manner: terrible jokes, delivered with a wink and some panache. Shaun Keaveny was likable, as were Jenni Murray and Tom Service. But best by far was Dev, who told a truthful, funny, well-constructed story about asking a girl out complete with call-backs to earlier jokes. He should win.

As an aside, much as Comic Relief is an admirable institution, it should be held at least partly responsible for all these standups and their hijacking of mainstream culture. Funny is God, these days. (And God, though good with a one-liner, wasn't actually much of a giggle.) Oh, I'm so sick of listening to people say stuff that sounds as though it's a punch-line, but isn't actually, you know, funny. Hey ho. Adam and Joe will be back on 6Music next month. They really do make me laugh.

Michael McIntyre's perpetual effervescence fizzes in Blackpool, a town ripe with potential for gags about fags, chips and people with funny accents wearing fleeces. McIntyre also has some sport with members of the Blackpool football team, who are in the audience. The headline act is a hectoring John Bishop, whose coarse schtick about stag dos, hen nights and sex toys is an acquired taste. Much more interesting is Miles Jupp - who was so good in the BBC2 sitcom Rev - mining his background. "I'm privileged, not just to be here, but in general." Elsewhere, the unsettling Terry Alderton, with a strange, tangential but often winning act, has fun with body-popping cockneys, while Justin Moorhouse is rude about fat people.

Everyone Quite Likes Justin starred Justin Moorhouse as Justin, a DJ still living in his ex-father-in-law's spare room 18 months after he said it would only be for a couple of nights. Justin walks around with no pants on, likes pizza and is given to sardonic Northern reflection. In comparison to Angelos Epithemiou he is, however, Plato.

Radio catchup: Cabin Pressure, Justin Moorhouse, ISIHAC

Review of Cabin Pressure, Everybody Quite Likes Justin and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

Justin looks to a better life

A chat with Looking For Eric star Justin Moorhouse...

If you prefer your comedy straight up this week's Just a Minute sees panellists Tony Hawks, Josie Lawrence, Justin Moorhouse and Dave Gorman at Derby University this week, talking about mature students, Derby, paying off student loans and Zanzibar (which happens to be the name of the student bar in Derby). The players' verbal dexterity is amusing, but it's their petty squabbling and Nicholas Parsons's exasperation that provide the belly laughs. And if this show doesn't snap you out of the January blues, there's probably no helping you until spring arrives.