This week's comedy on TV and radio

The week's best comedy on TV and radio

Sunday March 29

PATRICK KIELTY'S COMEDY HEROES: An interview as part of Radio 2's Funny Fortnight in which the comedy icon talks about some of the movies he's made, his life growing up in New York, and working with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. Kielty previously spoke to Martin Short and Steve Martin as part of the same strand. Listen to that interview here. Radio 2, 9pm 

Tuesday March 31

PEN15: Comics Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle star in this adult 'cringe' comedy as fictionalised versions of their 13-year-old selves, navigating the trials of school life in the year 2000. It was well-received in the US, where a second series is planned for Hulu, with a 94 per cent approval rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. Sky Comedy, 9pm.

A NORMAL UNIVERSE: The sixth instalment in this occasional programme in which Henry Normal returns to his first love - poetry - after a hugely successful career offscreen, helping create the likes of Philomena, Gavin and Stacey and Alan Partridge. In this new episode, he explores our relationship to the vastness of the universe throughout eternity and beyond… Radio 4, 6.30pm

GEOFF NORCOTT: HATES BEING TOLD WHAT TO DO: Maybe the middle of a pandemic which requires everyone to pull together isn't the best time for this prerecorded programme, in which the right-leaning comic rails against the state interfering with his lifestyle. Like telling everyone not to go outside, perhaps? Radio 4, 11pm

Wednesday April 1

FRESH OFF THE BOAT: The third series of the sitcom lands on Comedy Central, telling of 12-year-old, hip-hop loving Eddie Huang and his family adjusting to a new life in suburban Orlando. Comedy Central, 9pm

Thursday April 2

MAXXX: This new comedy series revolves around a a former boyband star turned drug-shamed tabloid Laughing Stock Maxxx (O-T Fagbenle, the series' creator) trying to make a comeback to win back his supermodel ex-girlfriend Jourdan (Jourdan Dunn). Click here for an interview with Fagbenle. The full series will be available on All 4 after episode one has broadcast. E4. 9.30pm

Friday April 3

HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU: The series returns, but made under social distancing rules, with Steph McGovern in the host's chair and journalist Helen Lewis and comedian Miles Jupp joining Ian Hislop and Paul Merton. BBC One, 9pm

THE MASH REPORT: More satire, coming to you from the homes of host Nish Kumar and all the correspondents, plus newsreaders Steve N Allen and Ellie Taylor. BBC Two, 10pm.

Published: 29 Mar 2020