Gallery: The Face of Satire

Photographer Rachel King worked with the artists India Banks and Frode Gjerlow and the illustrator Tom Morgan to create these fabulously inventive portraits of well-loved comedians from Johnny Vegas to Sara Pascoe.

Knee-jerk reactions, klaxons and Kiesselbach's plexus are among the subjects under scurrilous discussion as QI returns for its 11th series - which means we've reached the letter K in our comedy intellectual hike through the alphabet. Fount of all knowledge Stephen Fry is back on his throne, the kittenish Alan Davies by his side, joined tonight by perennial quiz show panellist David Mitchell, versatile Jack Whitehall - showing his brainy side after laddy larks with One Direction on A League Of Their Own - and comedian Sara Pascoe. Kick back and find out how Father Christmas, the colour orange and pandas manage to pad their way into the show.

Sara Pascoe: And now for Nietzsche ...

Sara Pascoe is thriving at standup, but she'd rather be an 18th-century essayist. She talks to Brian Logan about politics, philosophy - and gigging with the RSC.

This week's new live comedy

Previews of Birthday Girls, Gráinne Maguire and Sara Pascoe.

Pascoe & Monahan to attend Labour Party fundraiser

Sara Pascoe and Patrick Monahan are previewing their Fringe shows at the "Stand up for Labour" fundraising event in Carlisle.

Sunderland Comedy Festival: full programme revealed

Hebburn duo Jason Cook and Steffen Peddie, Paul Foot, Patrick Monahan, Sara Pascoe and Carl Donnelly are some of the names touching down on Wearside next month, with 33 shows scheduled over ten venues.

Sara Pascoe: Live At The Apollo was stressful

Comedian Sara Pascoe, 31, has been on Live At The Apollo and in sitcom Twenty Twelve. She is gigging around Britain and will pop up in the next series of QI.

Sara Pascoe's The Endings; and is euthanasia funny?

Coverage about Sara Pascoes new play The Endings and forthcoming BBC Three sitcom Way To Go.

The recession is preying on the minds of tonight's stand-up comedians. Sara Pascoe has a solution to credit card debt: make chip and pin machines talk like disapproving parents ("But you've already got a coat!"). Host Kevin Bridges is on flying form, dissecting the financial crisis: "Europe's skint, America's skint," he notes sadly. "I hope Africa have got some good rock bands, because we need a concert."

But the surprise of the show is Phill Jupitus, who comes on with the moody confidence of a man with nothing to prove. He doesn't bother with gags; he just does one long, taboo-torturing routine about dealing with his daughter's boyfriend. It's like a whole sitcom boiled down to one routine, and it's brilliant.

Arguably the most successful stand-up show on British TV has returned for its eighth series on BBC One, and not much has changed.

This opening episode featured Dara O'Briain as the headline act, mostly talking about stupid things people do in their holidays, including his own experience at trying to surf in Australia. Guest Danny Bhoy also talked a lot about Australia, as well as the problems Scotland might have if they get into the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. However, the best act on the night for me was ventriloquist Nina Conti, who did a brilliant improvisation act which involved getting two members of the audience on stage and making them wear fake mouths which she controlled, turning the pair into life-sized dummies.

Live at the Apollo demonstrates some of the great comic talents that are out there, but once again the show still has the problems. Firstly is the length of the show. It used to be 45 minutes, now it's 30 minutes. Admittedly there are extended repeats, but for the last series they didn't appear until months later. Personally I think they should scrap the 30 minute format and just have the straight 45 minutes.

The other, bigger complaint Live at the Apollo gets is the lack of diversity among the comics chosen. The main one is the lack of women. Other than Conti the only other women appearing are Kerry Godliman and Sara Pascoe. Now given that Conti, who is both a woman and the first ventriloquist to appear on the programme, was the funniest person on in the latest episode, I think that's proof that a bigger range of performers could do wonders for it...