Talking Telly: C4 to debut new Boyle show; orders election night comedy follow-up

As Channel 4 unveiled their fall and winter lineups this week and continue to develop other projects, they clearly aren’t skimping on the comedy in future months as they fill the hole left by departing “Big Brother.” Nor are they skirting away from controversy or political humor, with former “Mock the Week” panelist Frankie Boyle returning to television and a rumored return by the cast of “Channel 4′s Alternative Election Night”

“Frankie Boyle’s Tramadol Nights” was described by Channel 4 promoters as “no-holds-barred stand up” show that will feature pre-filmed sketches. Considering Boyle’s uneasy at best relationship with the censors at the BBC, one of the highlights should be a sketch described at the British Comedy Guide as “‘Untitled Street’, a new BBC soap opera which is so politically correct that actor’s faces are blanked out to avoid offence and plots are so ambiguous that the viewers have to guess for themselves what it’s about.”

Two other new shows slated for fall and winter runs on C4 feature unknown comic Morgana Robinson, who will be doing sketch-based comedy that sounds very Catherine Tate-like as well as celebrity impressions, and not-so-unknown Robert Webb, who will debut “Robert’s Web” *rimshot* where he examines the funny available online each week before a studio audience.

As for a possible return of Jimmy Carr, David Mitchell, Charlie Brooker and Lauren Laverne, the British Comedy Guide says that C4 has ordered an untitled show by the team that produced the special to run on either Thursday or Friday nights at 10 p.m. from Zeppotron, the production company behind Brooker’s “Newswipe,” Mitchell’s “Would I Lie To You?” and Carr’s “8 Out of 10 Cats” (which also returns this fall.) Talks are reportedly underway to bring back all four presenters, but there’s a very tight turnaround on inking deals. The show is reportedly slated to begin airing in October.

In case you actually watched regular BBC or Sky election night coverage and missed the excellence of the C4 show, it was probably the closest that “The Daily Show” has ever come to England beyond getting John Oliver to jump across the pond. Quite sensibly, they didn’t put Brooker on until after the polls closed. No problems with that on the follow-up!