bits and bobs

JAM semi-regular Marcus Brigstocke is hosting a new Saturday night comedy programme called Saturday Live. Good luck to Marcus and the show.

Paul Merton is to host a new improv show on TV called Thank God You're Here. This summary is from The Sun.

New comedy show for ITV1
A new comedy show, hosted by award winning Paul Merton, is set to throw well-known personalities in at the deep end.
Thank God You’re Here, to be aired on ITV1, will see celebrities given the ultimate challenge - handed a costume, props and a set, but no script -all in front of a live audience.
Programme makers say each week a guest will be unaware of the scenario they are about to walk into and could be dressed in anything from a policeman’s uniform to a cheerleader’s outfit.
They will be guided through a blue door by Paul to be greeted by the line, “Thank God You’re Here” - after that, they’ll have to survive on their wits alone and blag their way through the scene.
Paul Merton, famed for his quick wit in shows such as Have I Got News for You and Room 101, will also perform in his very own off-the-cuff scene each week which will be kept from the comedian until he himself walks through the blue door.
He said: “I'm delighted to be hosting Thank God You're Here. It's a really great idea. None of the guests have any idea what they're walking into and anything could happen.
"We've got lots of great scenarios lined up and I can't wait to get started.”
Duncan Gray, ITV’s Controller of Comedy and Entertainment, said: "Thank God You're Here is a laugh out loud, funny, fresh show, built around Paul Merton’s unrivalled improvisational skill and popularity.”

And I like this line from a review of Paul's new stage show - in The Telegraph

Just imagine, for a terrible moment, if Paul Merton didn't exist how impoverished our lives would be. Radio 4's Just a Minute would lack its most breezily assured participant. Have I Got News For You would have no resident authority in dazzling surrealistic repartee. And whole generations would grow up without discovering the joys of Hollywood's early silent comedies.