Tim Key

I first noticed Tim Key on Charlie Brooker's Newswipe TV series on BBC Four, where he did readings of his "topical poetry" to camera. These were short, pointedly unpoetic monologues about the issues of the day, delivered with a comic poise that brought to mind the late Tommy Cooper. He now has his own radio show, Tim Key's Late Night Poetry Programme (Radio 4, Wednesday), in which he reads more of his poems and argues with his long-suffering assistant, Lord. By rights, it shouldn't be very funny; but it is.

Wednesday's programme was themed around chance, which had prompted Key to write six numbered poems. His plan was to roll a die and perform the poems in the order thus dictated, but the number four kept appearing. "Have you touched the dice with a magnet?" he asked Lord, who protested that Key had totally failed to understand the nature of probability. Key decided to read poem number three instead, provocatively titled The Wrong Number That Led to a Marriage ("He had woken her up/ but she had been charmed by his blustering apologies and his flattery/ after an hour or so, the pauses became longer, and more comfortable"). By this time I was spluttering into my tea and resolving to tune into this Wednesday's instalment, which tackles the theme of superstition.

My Heroes and heroines: Tim Key

Comic poet Tim Key talks about some of his personal heroes including Mike Leigh, Harold Lloyd and Andy Murray.

Round-up of 2011: Comedy

Tim Key, Tommy Tiernan, Stephen Merchant, Luke Wright and Jerry Sadowitz make our laugh-list.

Programmes that pull together a bunch of festival turns are often ragged and random - not this one. As your compere Arthur Smith explains at the top of the show, all the acts have at least a modicum of BBC4 sensibility about them. Alex Horne and his, um, Horne Section offer silly but dazzling musical comedy, while Tim Key does something similarly clever and stupid with his poems. David O'Doherty has a Bontempi organ and a unique way with words, while Nina Conti offers an ingenious and brilliantly improvised variation on her familiar ventriloquist routine.

My secret life: Tim Key, poet and comedian, 35

Tim Key talks about his personal life.

Best of 2011: Comedy

The best comedy shows of 2011, including Tim Key, Tommy Tiernan, Stephen Merchant, Luke Wright and Jerry Sadowitz.

An interview with Tim Key

"It's a sad indictment of my current career that there are moments where I'm just sitting at my desk writing poems on crackers with a Sharpie." Emma McAlpine speaks to comedian, poet and actor Tim Key.

In some instances, there might be a studio audience but they are the best crowd of all: forbidden to heckle and required to laugh. All things considered, it should the easiest gig of their lives. So why do they make it feel like such hard work?

Mark Watson's Live Address to the Nation on Radio 4 was a case in point. We already knew the show was live, since the title told us as much, though just in case we had forgotten, Watson kept shrieking "We're live!" and "This is a shambles!" and remained in a state of heightened panic throughout. His hysteria was slowly transmitted to his co-hosts Tim Key and Tom Basden, whom he kept urging to talk faster, thus removing the wind from their comic sails. Watson had a certain puppyish energy, but he wasn't far off the mark in his hapless assertion: "There's a risk that the show will only be funny for those who are here."

Mark Watson's Live Address to the Nation

Assisted by Tom Basden and Tim Key, Mark's back on Radio 4 to look once again at some of the qualities and character traits that make a person.

This is bold. It really is live and because of that, and the time of night, it's going to be expensive (all the behind the scenes people will be on overtime). And Mark Watson wants you to join in, too, discussing the big questions crucial to people's understanding of themselves and society, looking for big answers. There's a live studio audience who'll join in, plus Watson's two sidekicks Tim Key and Tom Basden, but your tweets and emails are requested. If it ends up sounding like that spoof, Down the Line, you've been warned.