''Stand Up for the Week'' is a

British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...

comedy series that was shown on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, featuring

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

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 Patrick Kielty (born 31 January 1971) is a Northern Irish comedian and television personality. Background Kielty was born in County Down, Northern Ireland, and grew up in the village of Dundrum. He is one of three sons born to the businessm ...

, with regular performers

Jack Whitehall Jack Peter Benedict Whitehall (born 7 July 1988) is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. He is known for starring as JP in the series ''Fresh Meat (TV series), Fresh Meat'' (2011–2016) and Alfie Wickers in the series ''Bad Educat ...

Kevin Bridges Kevin Andrew Bridges (born 13 November 1986) is a Scottish stand-up comedian. His 2012 television series '' Kevin Bridges: What's the Story?'' was based on his stand-up routines. He has appeared on many television panel shows including '' Would ...

Andi Osho Yewande "Andi" Osho (born 27 January 1973) is a British stand-up comedian, actress and television presenter. Life and career Osho was born in Plaistow, East London,In an interview for BBC Radio 4 Extra's ''MacAuley & Co'' in 2011 at the Ed ...

and

Rich Hall Richard Travis Hall (born June 10, 1954) is an American comedian, writer, documentary maker and musician, first coming to prominence as a sketch comedian in the 1980s. He wrote and performed for a range of American networks, in series such as ...

. Bridges replaced Kielty as host for the second series, with

Jon Richardson Jon Joel Richardson (born 26 September 1982) is an English comedian. He is known for his appearances on ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' and ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' and his work as co-host with Russell Howard on BBC 6 Music. He is the presente ...

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 Sean Christopher Walsh (born 2 December 1985), known professionally as Seann Walsh, is an English stand-up comedian. Early life Walsh was born in Camden in London, but was brought up in Brighton. He left school with one GCSE examination pas ...

Sara Pascoe Sara Patricia Pascoe (born 22 May 1981) is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has appeared on television programmes including ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' for Channel 4, '' QI'' for BBC and '' Taskmaster'' for the digital chann ...

Josh Widdicombe Joshua Michael Widdicombe (; born 8 April 1983) is an English comedian, presenter and actor. He is best known for his appearances on ''The Last Leg'' (2012–present), ''Fighting Talk'' (2014–2016), ''Insert Name Here'' (2016–2019), ''Mock t ...

and

Paul Chowdhry Tajpaul Singh Chowdhry ( Punjabi: ਤਜਪੌਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਚੋਦਰੀ, born 21 August 1974), better known as Paul Chowdhry, is an English comedian and actor. He is of Indian Punjabi Sikh descent. He began his stand up career in 1998 an ...

. For the fourth series Andrew Lawrence replaced Rich Hall. For the fifth series, Chowdhry took over as host and new regulars

Angela Barnes Angela Barnes (born 9 November 1976) is an English stand-up comedian, mostly known for her appearances on ''Mock the Week''. Early life Barnes was born in Sidcup, London and brought up in Maidstone, Kent. She went to Invicta Grammar School t ...

, Simon Evans and

Romesh Ranganathan Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan (born 27 March 1978), is an English actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and often self-deprecating comedy. Ranganathan has made numerous appearances on television comedy panel shows, and in 2016 he co-p ...

replaced Chowdhry, Lawrence and Pascoe. In October 2015 Channel 4 confirmed there are no plans to produce more episodes of the show.

Format

Each episode features an introduction and performance from the host, and routines from the regular performers with the first two series also including routines from a guest performer. Some of the regular performers have specific themes. In the first series Whitehall's routine focused on celebrity news, Osho's on the internet, and Bridges' on sport, with Richardson taking on this theme at the start of the second series. The first series also featured a segment called "The Chair", in which a celebrity guest sat through a two-minute comedy routine about themselves from Kielty, after which they had 30 seconds to talk about or defend themselves.

Production

The first two series were recorded at KOKO in Camden,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, in front of a live audience. The third series switched to the

Clapham Grand The Grand (previously The Grand Theatre) is a Grade II listed building on St John's Hill, near Clapham Junction in Battersea, South London. It was designed by Earnest Woodrow and was first opened in 1900 as The New Grand Theatre of Varieties. ...

in South London. An unaired "try out" episode was made before filming of the first series began.

Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Series 4

Series 5

References

External links

* * *{{IMDb title, 1708367 2010 British television series debuts 2013 British television series endings 2010s British comedy television series British stand-up comedy television series Channel 4 comedy Television shows set in London