Taskmaster comes to Channel 4 and the rest of the week's top TV comedy

The week's best comedy on TV and radio.

Monday October 12

STAND UP FOR LIVE COMEDY: Darren Harriott hosts a gig in Birmingham with Bella Hull, Kemah Bob and Chris Washington. BBC One, 10.45pm.

JOHN BISHOP’S GREAT WHALE RESCUE: The comic follows the Free Willy-style quest to take two Beluga whales from captivity in Shanghai and release them in Iceland in this two-part series. ITV, 9pm

Tuesday October 13

CRAIG & DANNY: FUNNY, BLACK AND ON TV: Red Dwarf co-stars Craig Charles and Danny John-Jules celebrate 50 years of black British comedy legends, looking at the likes of Charlie Williams, Desmond’s and The Real McCoy as part of Black History Month. ITV, 8pm

SORRY I DIDN’T KNOW: Russell Kane, Verona Rose, AJ Odudu and Nathan Caton join team leaders Chizzy Akudolu and Judi Love in this panel show about black history, hosted by Jimmy Akingbola. ITV, 10.45m

Wednesday October 14

URBAN MYTHS: Joan Rivers AND BARBRA STREISAND: This episode is based on Joan Rivers’ recollections of the time when she was a struggling club comic and being in an off-off-off-Broadway play that included a love scene with a 16-year-old Barbra Streisand. Katherine Ryan plays Rivers, her comedy hero, and Jessica Barden is Streisand in this short film written and directed by Sue Perkins. Sky Arts, 10pm

Thursday October 15

TASKMASTER: It’s back….and in a new home. The first Channel 4 episode of Taskmasker airs tonight with a new batch of contestants - Daisy May Cooper, Johnny Vegas, Katherine Parkinson, Mawaan Rizwan and Richard Herring – being given silly things to do by Alex Horne and judged, harshly, by Greg Davies. The first episode of the new series is entitled God’s Haemorrhoid. Channel 4, 9pm

MO GILLIGAN: BLACK, BRITISH AND FUNNY: Gilligan take a look at the British Black comedy circuit that rarely breaks into the mainstream consciousness. He talks to pioneers of the scene such as Angie Le Mar, John Simmit, Slim and Michael Dapaah – the man beihnd spoof rapper Big Shaq. Channel 4, 10pm

COMEDY LEGENDS: JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS :  Barry Cryer pays tribute to the Seinfeld and Veep star. Sky Arts, 9pm.

Friday October 16

BETWEEN THE COVERS: Comics Lolly Adefope and Ellie Taylor join Sara Cox for her new book show, alongside musician Ricky Wilson and presenter Richard Osman

Published: 11 Oct 2020