IAN HYLAND on last night’s telly

Jerk, BBC1 ★★★★★

While ITV has all but given comedy a cardboard box and ordered it to clear its desk, the BBC appears keen still on making us laugh. BBC1 has been giving it a real go on Monday nights - with mixed results.

Following an iffy start, the Martin Clunes vehicle Warren, where the Doc Martin star plays a driving instructor, has grown into a tidy little sitcom that – with a tweak or two – could be worth persevering with.

Sadly, the falling ratings for

This Time With Alan Partridge suggest Steve Coogan’s comeback should have been left to enjoy to cult status on BBC2. As for the late night offerings,

Fleabag has been just as brilliant as the first series which makes me extra sad that there won’t be a third. However, even Phoebe WallerBridge’s Fleabag failed to make me laugh out loud as often as the show that was tucked away after 11pm for four glorious weeks. American stand-up Tim Renkow’s Jerk is the sharpest new comedy I have watched in years.

Renkow, pictured left, uses his cerebral

palsy to get away with saying and doing things in public which no one should say or do in public.

The humour is so close to the bone you can almost taste the marrow.

As a result it’s one of those shows where you quickly begin to ask: “Should I really be laughing at this?”

Then you tell yourself, “If I’m howling this regularly and this loudly then it can’t be wrong.”

All four episodes are available now on the iPlayer and, presumably because Renkow is a bit lazy, they are all quite short.

The humour is so close to the bone you can almost taste the marrow