Dave Allen broke into British TV on Val Doonican's BBC TV show in the mid-1960s, soon graduating to a series of his own where a relaxed raconteur style, cigarette in one hand, glass of whisky in the other, distracted from his daring in choice of topics. Sex, death and religion were well within his witty compass and all, from time to time, got him into trouble with the press. He's been followed by observational comics such as Jack Dee, Dara O'Briain and tonight's presenter Ed Byrne, but he was funnier than any of them.

My abiding memory of Irish comedian Dave Allen, apart from his pointedly perceptive and very funny 1970s-80s TV show, was seeing him perform his live stand-up (or in his case sit-down stand-up) in the early 1990s. During the course of two hours, in his usual relaxed demeanour, he talked about sex, religion, the Irish, and his teenage son - and it was hilarious - so much so that my sides literally did hurt by the end. So it's fitting that Radio 2's comedy season includes this celebration of the much missed Allen, who died in 2005. Fellow Dubliner and stand-up Ed Byrne is the guide to the career of a man whose taboo-breaking observations about death and particularly the Catholic Church established him as an alternative comedian before the term had even been coined.