Coming to the Stage

A British stand-up comedy programme performed from the Hammersmith Apollo Theatre in west London.

Fist of Fun was a British comedy television and radio programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring. A lot of the show's comic material was adapted from Lee and Herring's radio programme Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World. Each episode of Fist of Fun featured several disparate sketches and situations. Fist of Fun began as a BBC Radio 1 series in 1993, before becoming commissioned as a television series on BBC Two in early 1995. It was broadcast at 9pm on Tuesday nights, and was successful, but not a major ratings-winner. The second series was aired on Friday nights, and although its ratings were relatively good, the show suffered from a lack of preparation and poor promotion. The show was not given a third series, and Lee and Herring went on to write This Morning with Richard Not Judy, for BBC Two. Many other comedians who appeared in the series went on to fame themselves, including Kevin Eldon, Peter Baynham, Ronni Ancona, Alistair McGowan, Al Murray, John Thomson, Rebecca Front, Mel Giedroyc, Sue Perkins, Ben Moor and Sally Phillips.

Outrageous stories from stand-up comedians, musicians and more show why real life experiences always make the best material.

Def Comedy Jam is a HBO television series produced by Russell Simmons. The series had its original run from July 1, 1992 to January 1, 1997. The show returned on HBO's fall lineup in 2006. Def Comedy Jam helped to launch the careers of several African-American stand-up comedians.

Russell Simmons' name is in the title -- he's an executive producer -- but it's JB Smoove who is front and center as host of this stand-up showcase, which features a roster of rising comics and veteran stars doing their thing. Smoove gets into the act as well with new material, and JB also gives viewers an added bonus by performing in pre-taped sketches woven into each episode.

Get to know six comedians who are staging a stand-up laugh riot. Killjoy Comedy puts the mic in front of comics who are re-writing the old insult comedy playbook.

Trait d’humour gives carte blanche to up-and-coming comedians. In every episode, a comedy star welcomes four young comics who perform their stand-up acts.

The series features a host of Canadian Francophone comics. The result? Eight side-splitting comedy specials that showcase the richness and diversity of French-language humour from sea to sea!

The best and biggest performances from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival's late night club.

In his first new show since 2009, Russell performs at the legendary Electric Ballroom alongside some of the best comics in the country. It's Russell's first ever TV stand up show and every week he's joined on the bill by two hand-picked comedians. He'll be performing brand new material while also answering questions from twitter and delving into the live audience.

Stand Up for the Week is a British television comedy series shown on Channel 4, featuring stand-up comedy performances reflecting topical events. The show began in June 2010 with a six-episode series aired on Friday nights, moving to Saturday nights for the second series which began in March 2011. The first series was hosted by Patrick Kielty, with regular performers Jack Whitehall, Kevin Bridges, Andi Osho and Rich Hall. Bridges replaced Kielty as host for the second series, with Jon Richardson joining as a regular performer. Richardson took over as host of the show for the third series which aired in late 2011, and aside from Rich Hall returning, an otherwise entirely new group of regular performers joined the show: Seann Walsh, Sara Pascoe, Josh Widdicombe and Paul Chowdhry. For the fourth series Andrew Lawrence replaced Rich Hall. For the fifth series, Chowdhry will take over as host but it is unknown who will replace him or if any other regulars have been replaced.