Comedy DVDs Round-Up

Comedy is a funny old thing: what makes one person helpless with laughter can leave another resolutely unmoved, which generally has less to do with the quality of the material, and more to do with the individual’s sense of humour. But among the following selection of DVDs - covering comedy from observational and bloke-next-door to surreal and fantastical - there is likely to be something that tickles your fancy, or better still your funny bone.

Lee Mack: Going Out, Anchor Bay Entertainment

When I watched this show live I wanted Lee Mack to stop for a moment in his relentless gagfest just so that I could catch my breath; I was laughing so hard that it hurt. So a benefit of the DVD is, I suppose, that one could use the pause button, but I found I didn’t as Mack’s quick wit is a joy to experience again. He’s an old-fashioned comic in that he uses an initial set-up followed by a soft gag, a meandering story and then back-reference to where he began before he delivers a cracking payoff, and his craftsmanship is almost palpable. Many will know Mack from his regular appearances on TV panel shows, where his quick wit and dry humour always go down well, but he really is a comic to see live if possible, and this DVD is a good introduction for those who haven't yet had the pleasure. The extras - a gag-filled, self-deprecating backstage interview and footage of his support act, Simon Evans - are well worth watching.

• Find Going Out on Amazon

Stephen K Amos: The Feelgood Factor, ITV Studios Home Entertainment

Stephen K Amos, who has just got the television breakthrough he has so long deserved, is a master of audience interaction. It doesn’t matter where he’s playing, a venue big or small, or whoever is in the front few rows - he can magic comedy gold out of even seemingly unpromising material. He has a prepared show as well, of course, and it's mostly observational with some subtly political undertones when he touches on his London-Nigerian background. His subject matter ranges from ugly babies and toys he received as a kid to songs we sing in the shower and daft things people say to him when he visits foreign countries, but mostly it’s about finding things in common that make us laugh. The one extra - a poorly edited interview - won’t detain you long.

• Find The Feelgood Factor on Amazon

Dave Gorman: Stand-Up. Live, Avalon

This show started life as Sit Down, Pedal, Pedal, Stop and Stand Up, where the comic cycled 1,600 miles around the UK in 33 days and did a show each night along the way, and there’s a lovely picture and video gallery of that tour as an extra, along with a funny and interesting audience Q&A after this well-edited show was recorded at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre. Dave Gorman, who invented a form of internet-based autobiographical comedy with his shows Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure and Are You Dave Gorman?, is one of the brightest comics around, but doesn’t constantly tell you that; rather his comedy is a wonderful mixture of down-to-earth observation and an affectionate but knowing take on British eccentricity.

• Find Stand-Up. Live. on Amazon

Sean Lock: Lockipedia, Universal

Sean Lock is a sardonic but very likeable comic who has come up with an interesting format for this live show. In addition to his regular gags and storytelling, which he is very good at, he plays a form of Battleships with his audience, where he calls out a seat number and the person sitting in it has to suggest the subject of a gag, hence Lockipedia. It either works or it doesn’t, but when it does it shows what an experienced and clever gagmeister Lock is. The extras are great value - including two of Lock’s live TV appearances and a picture gallery of his UK tour, with a nicely deadpan voiceover by Lock.

• Find Lockipedia on Amazon

John Bishop Live, 2 Entertain

John Bishop is growing as a performer (and is also turning into a very decent actor, as his appearance recently in Skins proved), but his origins as a club comic still sometimes come through, as some borderline dodgy jokes attest. He’s the quintessential Liverpool comedian - cheeky, matey and blokey - and this was recorded in front of a home crowd, who really add to the atmosphere on this DVD, an extended version of his Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominated show Elvis Has Left the Building. The extras, which include Bishop’s hilariously deadpan tour diary and a visit to an Elvis tribute convention at Porthcawl in Wales - are great fun.

• Find John Bishop Live on Amazon

Harry Hill’s TV Burp Gold 3, ITV Studios Home Entertainment

Quite how Harry Hill persuades television companies and performers to release clips as a backdrop to his marvellously irreverent gags on ITV’s TV Burp, I don’t know - but fair play to those who do, including the cast of most British soaps (EastEnders and Coronation Street make more than a few appearances). This is an hour-long best-of of the third series and includes running gags that take on a surreal edge as singer Susan Boyle is put into a "subo" wrestling match with that large actress off EastEnders (here played by an actor in a fatsuit), and there's also much pleasure to be had from poking affectionate fun at reality shows and celebrity-fronted "documentaries". There's also the bonus of a backstage look at how the gags are set up and how the programme is produced, with contributions from Hill's director and co-writers.

• Find TV Burp Gold 3 on Amazon