Some good comedy content on The Jonathan Ross Show this week. Ross is joined by rising stand up star Laura Smyth, go-to TV host Tom Allen and the legend that is Sir Michael Palin. Also appearing on the show are boxing icon Anthony Joshua and singer Lulu who talks about working on her single The Man Who Sold The World with David Bowie and her two marriages: “When I was young, I wanted a white picket fence and I wanted the dream.”

I first saw Laura Smyth when she was the winner of the Funny Women competition. She was the outstanding act on the night and since then has been making waves with her mouthy, no-nonsense comedy about her family life and her work. She recently made a really powerful radio documentary about her treatment for cancer and has become a regular on TV panel shows. Catch Smyth here, she is going to be a big star, there's no doubt about that.

Tom Allen took a while to become an overnight sensation but he has now finally made it. He is so successful that finally, in his late thirties, he even left the family home and bought his own house, albeit just a few minutes walk away. Allen was recently seen on the BBC fronting  his first documentary, Big Gay Wedding.

As for Sir Michael Palin, now 80, is there anything this national treasure has not done, from making comedy history in Monty Python to traversing the globe in all sorts of different ways. He is one of the country's greatest stars. And to think Noel Edmonds was one of those offered the role as presenter of Around The World In 80 Days but, according to Palin, declined.

Palin says he is still friends with the surviving Pythons and was a close friend of the late Terry Jones. He sees Terry Gilliam most often because they live close to each other in north London. He recently said on Radio 4's My Cultural Life that reuniting with his former Monty Python colleagues makes him 'rather tearful'.

The Jonathan Ross Show, Saturday, April 6, ITV1, 9pm.

Picture: ITV1