COMEDY DVDS

Cometh what we apparently now call Black Friday, cometh the annual avalanche of stand-up DVDs. Reigning supreme is Sarah Millican (right), the undisputed queen of stand-up, and with the sales to back it up. She launches Home Bird Live with no reason to change her bawdy homespun material. Plain-talking and honest, she gets away with some pretty coarse content thanks to that twinkly Geordie charm. Somewhere there’s a feminist fighting to get out, with talk about Kate Moss and why she’s stopped buying women’s magazines. But mostly this comic everywoman focuses on dishing out no-nonsense laughs with refreshing frankness. As she puts it: ‘Sometimes you laugh at a shared experience, but mostly you laugh ’cos you’re glad you’re not me.’

After The Harry Hill Movie’s mixed reception and the early closure of his X Factor musical, it’s been what you’d call an ‘annus Harribilis’ for the big-collared loon. So what better time for Harry Hill’s Sausage Time? His first live show in a decade highlights him at his man-childish best, combining all the elements of music hall and seaside slapstick that brought him to the fore in the first place. Soon he’ll be hosting ITV’s reborn Stars In Their Eyes, so the live material should be cherished as a rare nugget among the TV dross.

The Pub Landlord is celebrating ‘20 Years At The Lager Top’ since starting out as Harry Hill’s drummer. In

One Man, One Guvnor, Al Murray’s alter ego (pictured left) still feels relevant, as if politics has finally caught up with his xenophobic worldview. Speculating that the Landlord and Nigel Farage were separated at birth, he self-mocks: ‘What a pretty pass that the mother of all democracies should end up with some bloke waving a pint around offering commonsense solutions.’