Rory Bremner to satirise Scottish politics in one-off

Rory Goes to Holyrood will see the impressionist try to determine whether there are any laughs to be had from Scottish independence.

Rory Bremner set for theatre debut

Impressionist Rory Bremner to star in Noel Coward's Relative Values alongside Caroline Quentin.

Rory Bremner bemoans death of political satire

As someone who has made a career out of studying politicians, it's no surprise Rory Bremner was fascinated when he was given a contrasting section of society to observe.

Rory Bremner: There's a serious problem with TV satire

Rory Bremner has claimed that there is a "serious problem" with the lack of political satire on British TV.

Rory Bremner attacks BBC's Mock the Week

Rory Bremner, the comedian, has attacked BBC news quiz Mock the Week for being too aggressive and treating some guests with disrespect.

Hosted by Rory Bremner, Mike Yarwood: So This Is Him! profiles the first great impressionist, Mike Yarwood.

Yarwood was somewhat before my time, so this documentary was one of those chances to appreciate a comedian whose shows are never repeated. Of course, there is a reason why impressionism and satire isn't repeated that often...

My own knowledge of Yarwood before this programme was limited to knowing a handful of people he mimicked - Harold Wilson and Eddie Waring - and knowing that he fell into decline because he couldn't impersonate Margaret Thatcher. But there was so much that surprised me, including the fact that Yarwood invented the phrase "I mean that most sincerely, folks." It's associated with Hughie Green, but Green himself never used.

In the documentary for Radio 2, Bremner claims that one of Yarwood's great achievements was to humanise politicians. He wasn't as vicious and cutting as the later satirists on shows like Spitting Image, which probably didn't help him in his later career.

While Yarwood suffered due to changes in how people like to receive their laughs, there's no doubt he was a great comic. If only they repeated his stuff more often - and indeed Spitting Image for that matter...

When a show causes your hands to involuntarily clamp your face in a Munch-like scream of a Sunday evening, it seems careless not mention it. And so, while there was some good, honest programme-making in the schedules last week I must purge myself of Kookyville before returning to the sphere of the critically temperate.

"Welcome to a sketch show with a difference ..." purred Fenella Fielding, deployed in the Tom Baker/Little Britain role of ironic posho narrator. "These people are not actors or comedians and there's no script ... they're just real funny people."

And if you thought that some combo of comedians, acting, scripts or forethought was almost fundamental to the sketch-show format, then you obviously lack the basic contempt for human beings of the Kookyville commissioners. This, you see, was nothing less than the first example of "constructed reality comedy", in no way the kind of idea that would be farted out by an Apprentice contestant should they ever be asked to tackle TV production.

As with your basic constructed reality show, the idea was that a bunch of purportedly non-fictional people go about their purportedly non-fictional lives while excreting stilted dialogue in obviously staged set-ups. Only here, in a presumed attempt to justify that comedy billing, the dialogue came with the added stench of sub-Frankie Boyle obnoxiousness.

Not every scene was unwatchable. The one involving two Essex girls' protracted intellectual struggle at a farm was merely a failed audition piece for The Only Way is Essex, while Bradford entrepreneur Afzal safely plumped for being re-christened Ricky Meh-vais with his unofficial tribute to David Brent. More attention-grabbing, sadly, was swearword-happy pensioner Ronnie who, likely concerned about the mellow view of her generation being peddled by BBC1's Last Tango in Halifax, mimed a diarrhoea episode in her local Chinese. Before volunteering to chew Simon Cowell's balls.

So vanilla, you say? Well, then, I give you the mother-daughter pair Suzanne and Annierose, seen gawping and gasping at a dwarf before contemplating the horror of one trying to suckle Annierose's breasts. And - my favourite - the hotelier couple who joked about trying to throw a Thalidomide victim through a window, which also allowed for that old impressionist's standard routine, wholly ignored by Rory Bremner et al, the "ickle-wickle Thalidomide victim voice".

The programme was fair in one respect; the joke, such as it was, was on everyone: the short and disabled; the "real" comics, representing all those funny, uncouth sorts outside metropolitan media circles; the godforsaken viewer; and, of course, the beleaguered Channel 4, increasingly prone to trolling audiences for attention. In that respect, Kookyville succeeded, whipping up a social media gale and instant reviews along the lines of "Put this atrocity out of its misery". But the obvious point, inside the Twittersphere and out, is that exercising your right to provoke mindlessly will eventually result only in mass unfollows.

Rory Bremner & Sandi Toksvig head new C4 daytime lineup

Rory Bremner and Sandi Toksvig are to present new game shows on Channel 4.

Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section Edinburgh Special (Radio 4, 7.15pm) might bring some smiles at last to this now-dreaded comedy slot, introduced by Radio 4 controller Gwyneth Williams with the best of intentions: to cheer us up at the end of the weekend. Alas, that's harder to do than say as anyone who has sat with gritted teeth through the rants of Sue Perkins or the travails of Rory Bremner can attest. Alex Horne's 6.30pm week-night series was at least tuneful.

With Rory Bremner no longer a regular presence on our screens, and the likes of Jon Culshaw, Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona failing to deliver much bite, there was a definite gap in the market for a risk-taking, quick-witted impressions show - until about three weeks ago, when this excellent series abruptly filled it. It showcases a handful of enjoyably sharp sketches lampooning the likes of Bear Grylls, Simon Cowell, the Gallagher brothers, Fearne Cotton and Amy Childs. Particular highlights are Brian Cox admitting that he buys his vintage leather jackets from Urban Outfitters, and Adele singing her drinks order to a barman in a pub.