The best of the week's comedy on TV and radio

The week’s TV and radio comedy highlights:

Sunday January 5

PATRICK KIELTY’S COMEDY HEROES – MEL BROOKS: In this interview, Mel Brooks talks about some of the movies he’s made – including Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein – his life growing up in New York, working with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor and creating some of the most iconic moments in movie comedy history. Radio 2, 7pm 

Wednesday January 8

JOE LYCETT’S OBSESSIONS: Joe Lycett returns for a second series, exploring the nation's obsessions. In the opening episode weather presenter Carol Kirkwood shares her obsession with a cat called Donald, while Radio 1 DJ Clara Amfo reveals her love of trainers. Radio 4, 6.30pm

THE SKEWER: Following a couple of trial episodes, this experimental, open-door satire starts a full series. The brainchild of Jon Holmes, the show is not so much about sketches, jokes and one-liners, but instead a 'disorientating' soundscape. Radio 4 says the format ‘attaches the listener to a late-night drip of current events as they melt into the brain, evoking a feeling of drifting off, but with the occasional uncomfortable sleep-twitch’. Radio 4, 11pm

TONY LAW’S SURREAL GUIDE TO SURREAL COMEDY: In a repeat of a show first heard on BBC Radio 4 Extra in 2014, absurdist comedian Tony Law takes us on a journey through the twists and turns of surrealism in comedy, including rare interviews from Gerard Hoffnung and Chris Morris. Radio 4 Extra, 11am 

Thursday January 9

8 OUT OF CATS DOES COUNTDOWN:  Sean Lock and Harry Hill take on Jon Richardson and Rose Matafeo, while Alex Horne and The Horne Section join Susie Dent in Dictionary Corner. Channel 4 9pm 

Friday January 10

THE GOES WRONG SHOW: This week the Cornley Drama Society have chosen to put on a Second World War drama. Director Chris plays Rufus Heal, a dashing pilot reduced to a desk job solving German codes in a top secret Allied facility after losing his leg, assisted by uptight Englishwoman Valerie Sky and French codebreaker Camille. BBC One, 8.30pm

KING GARY: Tom Davis plays the title role of a brash working-class Essex builder eager to impress the neighbours and fill his dad's big shoes in this new series. Read more here. BBC One, 9.30pm

 SICK OF IT: Karl Pilkington and his eternally grumpy internal alter-ego return for a second series, as his fictional self embarks on some soul-searching about how little he’s achieved in his life, and vows to do something about it. Pilkington reveals more about the series here. Sky One, 10pm

Published: 5 Jan 2020