Nick Helm

Udderbelly Festival 2013: the top ten comedy shows

This year's Udderbelly three-month programme offers over 40 chuckle-inducing shows. Time Out picks Tony Law, Ardal O'Hanlon, The Boy with Tape on His Face, Susan Calman, Doc Brown, Austentatious, Glenn Wool, Nick Helm and Simon Munnery.

Ben Target builds bridges with Nick Helm

LiF's latest blogger is mahatma Ben Target, who each month embeds himself in that cankerous pit of human anguish: the light entertainment industry. Here, he will humbly resurrect the soul of a suffering artist. This month: Nick Helm.

It all sounds very About A Boy. A selfish, immature thirty-something gets landed with caring for an intelligent, far-too-grown-up-for-his-age 11-year-old. But Uncle - the fourth and final pilot in the 4Funnies strand - isn't an fluffy romcom, it's a smart, foul-mouthed sitcom with a brilliantly rude lead performance by stand-up circuit fave Nick Helm.

Andy (Helm) is a depressed, selfish, washed-up musician on the cusp of killing himself. But just before he can take the suicide plunge he receives a call from his single-mum sister Sam (Daisy Haggard), who begs the miserable layabout to pick up her son, Errol, from school and take him to football practice. Andy hates Errol and Errol hates Andy, but when a blackmailing truce is called, they begin to get along. If this all sounds a little predictable, it is. But Uncle's sharp script shows promise - it's packed with jokes and neatly balances dark gags and cutesy morals. And Helm's performance makes Andy a sweary, sarcastic, self-centred treat.

The latest 4Funnies pilot stars standup Nick Helm in his acting debut. Oliver Refson has written and directed Uncle, in which Helm plays Andy, an out-of-work musician charged with looking after his 11-year-old nephew Errol on the day he hoped to kill himself. Typical. The simple task of taking him to football practice, though, spirals into a bizarre adventure for the pair, involving a faked injury, a car crash and a trip to a gay club. Oh, and lies. Lots of lies.

Frankie Boyle makes for a supremely incongruous presence on a broadcaster shortly to be taken over by Paralympics coverage. All part of the glorious diversity of Channel 4's offerings, we suppose, but there's certainly something telling in the absence of preview material for the comic's new show. Could the lawyers be working right up to transmission? (Actually, no - the show hadn't actually been filmed by the time we wrote this - thanks to Frankie Boyle for the tip-off.) But the name isn't just a groansome pun: this is Frankie's take on the Windsors' annual cringeathon, with red carpet chat, music, celebrity guests and comedy from the likes of Sarah Millican, Rob Delaney and Nick Helm. 'I will appear on TV for very possibly the last time... it cannot end in anything but disaster,' says the man himself. Confrontational and controversial, or just a load of hot air? Tune in to find out.

For those wondering what a variety performance hosted by Frankie Boyle would look like, here it be: an "entertainment extravaganza" featuring guest musicians and comedians such as Rob Delaney and Nick Helm. Boyle has also hinted this may be his final TV performance. And that being the case, it may apparently be even more controversial than usual! We wait with unbated breath.