Stand Up for the Week explained

Stand Up for the Week is a British television comedy series that was 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,^[1] moving to Saturday nights for the second series which began in March 2011.^[2] 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.^[3] For the fourth series Andrew Lawrence replaced Rich Hall.^[4] For the fifth series, Chowdhry took over as host and new regulars Angela Barnes, Simon Evans and Romesh Ranganathan replaced Chowdhry, Lawrence and Pascoe.^[5] In October 2015 Channel 4 confirmed there are no plans to produce more episodes of the show.^[6]

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,^[7] with Richardson taking on this theme at the start of the second series.^[8]

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.^[9]

Production

The first two series were recorded at KOKO in Camden, London, in front of a live audience.^[7] The third series switched to the Clapham Grand in South London.^[3] An unaired "try out" episode was made before filming of the first series began.^[10]

Episodes

Series 1

Episode	Guest performer	"The Chair" guest	Original airdate
1	Brendon Burns	Lembit Öpik
2	Mark Watson	Peter Shilton
3	Micky Flanagan	John McCririck
4	Tom Stade	Bez
5	Stephen K. Amos	Chico
6	Steve Hughes	Chantelle Houghton
7
8

Series 2

Episode	Guest performer	Original airdate
1	Micky Flanagan
2	Seann Walsh
3	Mike Wilmot
4	Paul Chowdhry
5	Carl Donnelly
6	Josh Widdicombe
7	Tom Stade
8	Neil Delamere
9	Andrew Lawrence
10	Dave Fulton

Series 3

Episode	Original airdate
1
2
3
4
5
6

Series 4

Episode	Original airdate
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Series 5

Episode	Original airdate[11]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Notes and References

1. News: Channel 4 lines up topical standup show hosted by Patrick Kielty. The Guardian. Mark. Sweney. 14 June 2010. 3 July 2010.
2. Web site: Current Comedy Series. British Comedy Guide. 12 March 2011.
3. Web site: New line-up for Stand Up For The Week. British Comedy Guide. 4 October 2011. 5 October 2011.
4. Web site: Andrew Lawrence joins fourth Stand Up For The Week series . 3 February 2012 . . 23 April 2012.
5. News: Stand Up For The Week announces new line-up . 7 October 2013 . British Comedy Guide . 7 October 2013.
6. Web site: C4 drops Stand Up for the Week. 9 October 2015. Chortle.
7. Web site: Stand Up For The Week. British Comedy Guide. 13 March 2011.
8. Series 2, Episode 1. Stand Up For The Week . Channel 4. 12 March 2011.
9. News: Laughing matters. The Northern Echo. 2 July 2010. 9 November 2010.
10. Web site: Comedy headliners. Chortle. 22 June 2010. 10 July 2010.
11. Web site: Series 5 (2013) . . 19 November 2013.