So Radio 1 seems to have turned the corner on investing in comedy

There's a whole raft of comedy coming up on Radio 1 this Christmas. Can it be turned into a permanent offering?

Fact attack

Thanks, probably, Ben Cooper

• This is awesome news. To underline how really awesome this is, think about the fact that the station seems to be doing this willingly. The last BBC Trust report on Radio 1 didn’t tell them there was a pressing need to get into comedy. They’re doing this of their own volition. That bodes very well for the prospects of comedy on the station in future.

• It also shows how much the station is trying to change, which is, again, a good sign for the prospects of getting more comedy on air. Stewart Lee names Chris Moyles as the face of laddy excess on Radio 1; he’s been the highest profile casualty of the shake-up during 2012, but check the schedules, and you’ll find pretty much all the old guard (bar Fearne bleeding Cotton) either gone or on their way out. Blandmeister Reggie Yates has been replaced by YouTubers AmazingPhil and Danisnotonfire. Bellowing idiot Vernon Kaye was dropped for has-toyed-with-comedy-video Matt Edmondson. There are what we could perhaps term ‘comedy allied professions’ popping up all over the schedules.

• Re: the Christmas shows: we know that the station commissioning just two shows doesn’t sound like much, but it’s worth noting that it has become the norm for radio to trial one-offs at Christmas to see if they can be developed into something more permanent. If they go well, there’s every hope they could serve as the blueprint for Radio 1 bringing other voices ‘on board’, as elderly Kiwi Zane Lowe likes to say.

• The Nick Helm show sounds awesome.

• The Doc Brown doesn’t appeal to us as much but we’ve never seen Dong live in London, so to speak. And as the 1Xtraier show, this clearly isn’t aimed at us anyway. Which is a point worth bearing in mind whenever you hear anyone criticising Radio 1.

• Everyone - us included - has harked on about how Chris Morris’s Blue Jam started on Radio 1, and how daring that was, and it’s true - but it’s also an irrelevant point when it comes to talking about the station today. Chris Morris was 35 when he made Blue Jam. In an age where radio stations are slavishly ordered to serve specific audiences, this isn’t a criticism that can be leveled at Radio 1, which has a remit to serve 15- to 29-year-olds. 35, however, is the perfect age for 6Music, who despite their comedy credentials don’t have a single comedy show on their books.

• We’ll agree that the criticism that young Lee and Herring were allowed to dick about on Radio 1 holds a bit more water but WHO KNOWS what may come of the Nick Helm show.

• We have no particular thoughts on the Tom Deacon show, other than to note that it’s going to stand or fall on the basis of who they have on. Which, fortunately, we’ve already drawn up a list for. (He’s also doing a road trip ‘thing’ at new year for Radio 1 with Carl Donnelly and Joe Lycett, providing another possible idea to be developed in the future.)

• We have no idea how the machinations of BBC Radio management work or who to thank for this, but all the changes line up exactly with when Ben Cooper became controller of Radio 1. Erm...thanks?