A new series of Live at the Apollo kicks off tonight with a Christmas Special featuring John Kearns, Dan Tiernan and compere Judi Love. The long-running programme might not pack the same star-making punch as it did when it was on BBC One but it is still an important staging post in any ambitious comedian's career.

And it's great to see one of my favourites, John Kearns, on the show tonight. On the surface you couldn't get two acts more different that former Westminster guide Kearns and former hairdresser Judi Love. For a start you can't imagine John Kearns guesting on Loose Women and you can't imagine Judi Love walking onstage wearing a pair of goofy false teeeth and a fake monk's bald patch, two things that have become Kearns' stand-up trademarks.

And yet maybe they are not as different as they might initially seem. Both are massive comedy fans and, despite Kearns oddball appearance, he is a lover of mainstream light entertainment. In fact you can currently see him performing a tribute to Michael Ball and Alfie Boe alongside fellow award-winner Adam Riches at the Soho Theatre. Details here. Kearns genuinely unironically loves these primetime people, as well as Morecambe and Wise, Michael Barrymore and other TV stars he grew up watching.

And Kearns is already very much part of comedy history himself. He is the only performer ever to win the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer and Best Show. And he did it in consecutive years, 2013 and 2014. 

Since then Kearns is probably best known for his appearance on the Comedy Central series Guessable? and C4's Taskmaster in 2022, which introduced him to a whole new audience, who might admittedly have been surprised if they bought tickets for his live shows and suddenly saw this strange figure ruminating onstage in a weird wig and wonky teeth.

But as I said, there is room for all kinds of comedian on Live at the Apollo. For every Michael McIntyre, John Bishop and Jason Manford there's a Sam Simmons, Spencer Jones and Nick Helm. Long live Live at the Apollo. And long live John Kearns. Oh, and Dan Tiernan is pretty good too.

Live at the Apollo, Tuesdays from December 17, 9.45pm, BBC Two

Pictured l - r: John Kearns, Judi Love, Dan Tiernan.