After a hard stressful week isn't it delightful to slip into something nice and funny and not likely to get the Daily Mail huffing and puffing and hot under the collar? I resisted Would I Lie To You? for a while. Maybe it was the Have I Got News For You baggage Angus Deayton brought as first host, maybe it was the show's initial resemblance to a pub-gossip Call My Bluff. But at some point late to the party I decided that I loved this programme and now I'm hooked. There is nothing I enjoy more than unwinding to these all-star wind-ups.

I think it may have been the moment when Nick from The Apprentice and then Miranda Hart shared a "cuddle jumper" with Deayton's replacement Rob Brydon while David Mitchell looked on and laughed like a demented hyena. The programme certainly showcases the versatility of Mitchell at the moment, where he can be a stiff-shirted satirist on 10 O'Clock Live one night and then just let rip and loosen up on this.

Rob Brydon is a simply terrific host, who launches himself into each round with a mix of stylish, solemn commitment and witty gusto however preposterous the proposition is. But the star of the show almost every week  is really Lee Mack, who simply goes for the comedy jugular at every moment, as he does on every programme he is currently on – he had me in hysterics with a bit of stand-up grandstanding on the radio the other evening too. Just when you think a gag can't be topped he always goes and tops it, damn him.

I particularly liked his spurious claim that he could remember the names of all of his ex-girlfriends and their correct chronological order because their initials spelt out the word "Bermuda". He even went through them – "Dave - experimental year…" before Mitchell's eagle-eyed cross-examination picked holes in the fabric of his claim and it was fun just watching him flounder like a beached carp. Mack was equally brilliant a few weeks ago mocking Joan Bakewell's claim that she drinks lager with a banana for breakfast, miming her swigging from a can while flicking through the Guardian. The chemistry and banter between Mitchell, Mack and Brydon is always a joy.

Tonight's show looks like a corker. Bob Mortimer is a yarn-spinner par excellence and the more unlikely his claim the more likely it is to be true. Jon Richardson's deadpan declarations are bound to pull the wool over people's eyes, while there might possibly be a bit of token smutty fibbing from Sarah Millican. I suspect actor David Harewood will prove to be pretty good at this sort of thing too.

Maybe WILTY's exuberant playfulness and sense of fun has had a wider effect on panel games. I noticed last night that Mock The Week was not as abrasive as it has been in the past – though admittedly since Frankie Boyle left the show it could hardly maintain the same level of wilful brutality.

Perhaps my love of Would I Lie To You? suggests that TV panel comedy is entering a cosy phase. Or maybe it suggests that I'm entering a middle-aged phase. Whatever the reason it has started to mark the official start of my couldn't-give-a-fig-put-my-feet-up weekends. And that's the goddam truth. Would I, er, be telling you a porkie?

Would I Lie To You? is on BBC1, Fridays at 8.30pm.