Miles Jupp

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.

It's Your Round marks a radio comeback for Angus Deayton. Deayton, like [Nicholas] Parsons, is a born host, an arch, deadpan foil to contestants' excesses. The twist in this format is that guests invent their own round, and in the first episode, Rufus Hound devised "Them Next Door" in which contestants had to guess famous neighbours from a sound recording. Sex Pistols and a sewing machine made Vivienne Westwood, "Nessun Dorma" and weeping meant Gazza, and the sound of complete silence suggested Charlie Chaplin. Miles Jupp dreamt up "What Does My Dad Know?" in which contestants guessed whether his father, a church minister, would have seen Titanic, or understand what an emo was.

It was jolly and high spirited, but the threat to this game, apart from the cruel 11pm scheduling, is that it may have inbuilt obsolescence. It's Your Round promises something different each week, whereas everything we know about radio tells us that audiences like continuity. Just a Minute is Britain's longest-running quiz show for a reason. People like to know what's coming and then to have it repeated. Again and again for several years.

It's Your Round, a new late night Radio 4 quiz show where four contestants devise a round each. Presented by old hand Angus Deayton, it was a jolly listen, with most of the jolliness provided by Miles Jupp's dad, who gave the answers for Miles's round, and Rufus Hound, who has quite the most infectious chuckle on radio.

Going Off Air with The News Quiz

And so, the last News Quiz of the series is in the bag, with the usual funnies from our esteemed panel of Andy Hamilton, Miles Jupp, Phill Jupitus and Jeremy Hardy.

Have you heard the one about vicar's son Miles Jupp?

Forget Frankie Boyle, Russell Brand and the comedy of shock. Stand-up is cleaning up its act and getting politer. A growing band of dissenting comedians out there do not tell smutty stories and crude gags - and the leading light of this new wave of niceness is Miles Jupp, a divinity graduate and son of a United Reform minister.

The News Quiz Benefit

This week's News Quiz lineup consists of Andy Hamilton, Miles Jupp, Sue Perkins and Jeremy Hardy. But as we had a picture of most of them last week, instead here's Sandi with one of our excellent script writers - Simon Littlefield.

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.

Edinburgh Interview: Miles Jupp

Miles Jupp returns to Edinburgh with his seventh solo show about attempting to become a cricket journalist. Emma McAlpine speaks to the actor and stand-up comic about meeting your heroes, David Bowie's recycling and his best TV work to date.

Journalism ruse just wasn't cricket for Miles Jupp

Award-winning comedian and TV actor Miles Jupp has told STV about why he's used his disastrous attempt to become a cricket journalist for his latest show at the Edinburgh Fringe.