The best comedy on demand

This week's comedy on demand.

I Am Anna Mann

The wonderfully peculiar alter-ego of Colin Hoult finally has her own podcast, mostly about her favourite subject: herself. In the opening episode, the ebullient acting legend shares her views on the environment, vegans, shell-picking and fellow thesp, the dear departed 'Drunk Old' Freddie Basden.

The Archiveologists

Joe Wilkinson is probably best known for his shabby, shambolic appearances on 8 Out Of 10 Cats Do Countdown; Diane Morgan for her ill-informed Philomena Cunk reports or her role on BBC One's Motherland.

But they first came to prominence on the comedy scene as the oddly-named double act Two Episodes Of MASH� and now they are reunited for this new series of BBC comedy shorts in which they provide new commentary for archive footage.

The first one goes behind the scenes of the library in 1970s Luton ('Built on a plague pit, Luton is essentially a shithole,' Morgan deadpans, using what now counts as Presidential language) and is on iPlayer now.

Brian and Charles

We've mentioned this film from comedian Brian Gittins before, but it's worth another mention as it has just been accepted into the South by South West festival in Texas, where it will be screened as part of the narrative shorts competition.

The story is that the reclusive Gittins was once so lonely that he built himself a robot companion called it Charles Petrescu, who keeps him company in the remote farmhouse they share. The film co-stars Chris Hayward at the mechanoid pal - who sometimes accompanies Gittins in his live shows -  and was directed and edited by Jim Archer:

The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale

As many have observed, Netflix is moving from acclaimed auteurist shows into the mainstream content usually found on network TV as its subscriber base grows . This 13-part series, which kicked off, is a perfect example of that - a snarky clip-based look at the week in popular culture.

It's a much-imitated format - deployed so successfully by Russell Howard in the UK - and one that Community star Joel McHale is very much associated with, having hosted The Soup on the E! TV network for 11 years from 2004. This new show is very much the same as that in all but name, deploying celebrity guests, pre-taped sketches and video clips.

The Joel McHale Show isn't especially distinctive or sophisticated but does provide laughs as it mocks the likes of WWE wrestling, dramatic car crashes in Asian TV shows and the fact that the Africaans word for child sounds very much like a c-bomb going off. Guest stars in episode one include Kevin Hart, Alison Brie and Paul Reiser.

Watch here.

Published: 24 Feb 2018