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 Inside the box: How today's television comedians made the step up ...

television Justin Lee Collins has presented five series of The Friday NightProject with Alan Carr. The show has just finished its first run asThe Sunday Night Project and will return at Christmas. After astint on MTV in 1997, his big break was presenting the StrictlyCome Dancing spin-off on BBC 3.

"My initial break was as a stand-up comedian. I got through tothe final of the BBC Comedy Awards and a week after the show wastelevised I got a call from an MTV booker. I didn't even have anagent at the time and was doing stand-up in Bristol and twopart-time jobs, selling double glazing and working in a video shop.I thought the call was a wind up.

I did a show called MTV Hot every Friday night for about eightmonths. I remember being told during the second week that my showhad the highest ratings of the entire channel, which meantsomething like 30,000 people had watched it! Apparently I hadbeaten Beavis and Butthead. Things seemed to be going well and Idid a show called Pirate TV for a while, over the summer of 1998.Then I didn't present another TV show until 2003.

I always hated stand-up. The only thing I ever got out of it wassleepless nights, but I couldn't see any other way in. Every time Igot a bit of TV I hoped I could stop doing it. I was about to get ajob in another video shop but I worked out I could earn as muchdoing 10 minutes of stand-up as I would for a whole day there. Myagent was pushing me to do as many gigs as possible, and I got backon the phones and called anybody who had ever paid me anything toperform before. It was the first time I really committed myself todoing stand-up.

I threw myself into it and I started to get noticed a bit more. In2002 I started to do some work for Bravo and in 2003 I met Alanwhen we did a few things together for Channel 4. When I was offeredThe Friday Night Project I only had one question – who wouldmy co-host be. When they said it was Alan I asked where tosign."

David Mitchell and Robert Webb are best known by their alter egos,Mark and Jeremy of Peep Show. A sixth series of the show wascommissioned earlier this year.

David Mitchell

"There's no doubt that our big break – or at least thebiggest of the medium-sized breaks, came with Peep Show. The firstseries was quite low key and I always thought it deserved a future,but it was very much hand-to-mouth. No one ever came to us andsaid: 'Right, let's have another three series'.

For the first year after I left university I was telling myself Iwas going to be a comedian without really knowing how it was done.We were doing a show at Edinburgh at 11am and there was one daywhen only two people were in the audience, one of whom was areviewer. That's when you think: 'Are we making fools of ourselveshere?'

Our agent soon started to set up meetings and our breaks reallycame from getting to know the people who worked in the business,even though we weren't known by the public. Two years down the linewe were making a living from writing comedy for shows like The 11O'Clock Show, The Jack Docherty Show and Armstrong and Miller,while trying to pitch our own things.

The hardest step is breaking in, but there are always people intelevision going around trying to find new talent. They arefrightened of missing talent that another network might pick up.Rob and I got our material in front of them by doing our Edinburghshows every year. I would have faced rejection for a lot longerthan I did before giving up. Had I still not got where I am now, 10years on, I'm not entirely sure I would have given up yet."

Robert Webb

"David and I were first on television together on a BBC showcalled Comedy Nation. We played a couple of advertising executivescoming up with a new car ad, which was highly derivative from Fryand Laurie. It was produced by Phil Clarke, who later produced thefirst series of Peep Show on Channel 4.

We learnt a lot as comedy writers before Peep Show came along. Thefirst series went out very quietly, and we were amazed anddelighted to get a second series. In 2006 our BBC2 sketch show ThatMitchell and Webb Look and Peep Show went out in the same year. Wealso did the Apple ad, Magicians and a national tour. Possibly withthe Apple stuff there was a wee bit of overexposure, but it is verydifficult to turn any of those things down.

There are some fairly traditional routes into television. UnlikeDavid who isn't as hellbent as I am, I went to Cambridge just to bein the Footlights. Then we did Edinburgh and got an agent. The mostimportant thing is to practise. You have to keep doing it and findways to get people to see you. Then you'll end up on a list ofpeople who commissioners call up when they are looking for newperformers. There are so few people who can do it really, reallywell that the commissioners just follow the talent. They don't knowwhat the zeitgeist is, they just follow the creative people andbrilliantly say: 'We're looking for the next Office', when TheOffice was kicked around for years."

Jason Manford is a team captain on Channel 4's topical quiz comedyshow 8 Out of 10 Cats and host of Tonightly, a platform for newcomic performers which started last Friday. It is running for 16consecutive nights and promises "satirical news, comment andall round silliness".

"The first television I did was on the first series of JohnnyVegas's Ideal three years ago, and I think he was using everycomedian in Manchester at the time.

I started doing stand-up when I was 17 and then I trained to be anactor at Salford University, the same course Peter Kay did. As soonas I left uni I was doing stand-up full time, but my first bigsuccess was in 2005 when I was nominated for the Perrier Award atmy first year at Edinburgh. I had worked hard on the show for acouple of years and all the TV people are on the Perrier judgingpanel so that was probably the catalyst for getting televisionwork. Making 400 people a night laugh doing stand-up is a goodliving and I wouldn't do just anything to be on television. I onlywant to do stuff I would watch myself, and I've been offered thingswhich I decided weren't for me, like Big Brother's Big Mouth whenRussell Brand left. I was a guest on 8 Out of 10 Cats first and hada bit of a to do with Piers Morgan.

When Dave Spikey decided he wanted to leave they asked me to takeover as captain. For every telly producer who thinks you'rebrilliant, you'll find an audience who tells you you're not. My dadwill tell me when my jokes aren't funny, and that helps me keep myfeet on the ground. For the new show, Tonightly, it has been reallyrefreshing to meet people who haven't been doing stand-up for thatlong and like me are still excited by the cameras – there area lot of bitter people knocking about."

Laura Patch and Dolly Jones met three years ago on the celebrityimpression show Star Stories. They started writing together andhave just made a one-off for Funny Cuts, an E4 initiative for newcomedy talent.

Laura Patch

"Star Stories was definitely my big break. That's where Dollyand I met. We started writing together and went to the productioncompany Baby Cow and they nurtured us. The first series came out inSeptember 2006. It's a mixed bag of actors doing loose impressionsof the stars. You might do Paris Hilton as Marilyn Monroe. Theformula is that whoever the episode is about is naive and innocent.For example, Kate Moss might just fall on a line of cocaine. BeforeStar Stories I was doing stand-up comedy and earning a living fromacting in adverts. The casting director saw a fringe play I was inand invited me along to the audition. I'd done loads of low budgetfeature films and pilots and was quite used to them not gettingcommissioned. I assumed the same would happen with StarStories."

Dolly Jones

"After drama school I was doing bits of theatre and televisionlike Midsomer Murders. I was writing in Spain with a friend when Igot the recall for Star Stories and wasn't sure I wanted to spend£300 on a flight not to get it. But I was told I was down tothe last three and decided to go back and got it. It's a huge castand you play all sorts of parts. This series I'm playing PrincessDiana, Heather Mills, Madonna and Elton John's mother.

Laura and I hit it off immediately and started writing togetherlast summer, mainly because we laughed a lot together and enjoyedmaking each other laugh. We have done three stand-up gigs togetherand Shane Allen [Channel 4's comedy commissioner] came to the firstone and then commissioned us to do Funny Cuts on E4, which goes outthis Thursday as part of a series of 12 15-minute shows for newtalent.

Comedy was what I should have done all along. If you want a steadylife, it's definitely not the thing to go for, but that's part ofthe excitement. I'm glad I went to drama school because myconfidence grew there and it gives you time to focus, but I know alot of very good actors and comedians who haven't been."

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