Where to see the best comedy sketch shows

James Corden, Mathew Horne and Al Murray are three of the biggest names in British comedy, and for their new programmes they have all switched from sitcom or stand-up to sketch comedy. Horne and Corden debuts tonight on BBC3, while Murray – best known for his Pub Landlord character – has a primetime Friday night slot on ITV1 for Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder. All three comedians will be hoping that their creations and catchphrases enter common parlance, like the dead parrots and yeah-but-no-buts of yore. By far the most exciting way to see this exhilarating form of comedy, however, is live.

I don't mean in 10,000-person arenas, where hubristic TV sketch shows can end up (rarely does a comedy sketch blossom in a hangar), but on the circuit, in the comedy pubs and clubs, where troupes such as Pappy's Fun Club, The Penny Dreadfuls and Idiots of Ants are out-funnying the stand-ups and their television counterparts.

With comedy widely acknowledged as a beneficiary of a recession – cheap night out; people need cheering up, etc – sketch looks to be quite the credit-crunch antidote, with its zippy pace, characters and greater capacity than stand-up for escapism.

Tim Key is a member of The Cowards, an absurdist sketch quartet who have graduated to BBC4 with a recent miniseries. Key says that sketch has a unique live appeal. "You can play little tricks – like the 'big reveal' at the end of a sketch, which explains who the people are and where they are – which is harder to do on television." What adds frisson to a Cowards live show, and is responsible for their loose, naturalistic style, is that they stay loyal to the first draft of a sketch, resisting the temptation to hone and tweak, bringing a tangible rawness that would get lost amid the editing process.

Live sketch can also unlock the rock'n'roll potential in a group, as demonstrated by Idiots of Ants (an all-male quartet) and Lady Garden (an all-female sextet) who jointly headlined two nights at London's Pleasance last week. Both acts are slick and quick; both are in their 20s; both adopt a uniform (white shirts and skinny black ties for the men, green school sports bibs for the women); and both segue from skit to skit with a blast of The Chemical Brothers or Electric Six.

Jon Reed, who runs the Other Side comedy clubs across Yorkshire, says that sketch can trump stand-up in the live arena. "There's a fantastic energy in having four comics on stage together, and, thematically, an audience will hear different things than from stand-up comics. In Edinburgh this year, the stand-ups will do a lot of credit crunch jokes, quantitative easing, that sort of stuff, whereas sketch always brings different themes and ideas. That's the genius of it when it works: they create a world entirely of their own."

The vibrancy of the sketch scene is partly due to the influential If.Comedy Awards (formerly the Perriers), which nominated We Are Klang in 2006 and Pappy's in 2007 for its main awards. A new generation of sketch acts have been born partly as a result, and sketch-only nights continue to pop up across the capital: Idiots of Ants' night of new material at the Pleasance, called Crash Test Comedy; The Works at Madame JoJo's; and The Sketchy Collective at The Albany in Regent's Park, to name a few.

Still, for all sketch groups, ultimately it is TV or death; they cannot survive on the live circuit alone. Payment gets split between a group, and there's a lot of standing in a circle distributing tenners. What's more, leaving behind the London comedy scene and touring is not an option for most sketch groups, due to myopic bookers, according to Reed. "There's a bit of a stigma about sketch comedy," he says. "Most people's experience of it is people doing skits of teachers in the sixth form and it being very in-jokey. Hardly any clubs put on sketch comedy. Generally, if they do, it's 20 minutes, categorised as a variety act. I come from the sketch side of the circuit, though, so I have a passion for bringing that to my audiences."

All of which makes TV, ironically, the natural endpoint for a sketch group. But how to get there? Assuming all wannabe comedians do the Edinburgh Festival bootcamp, radio is traditionally the next place of apprenticeship. The support act to Horne and Corden's live show, Nick Mohammed, and one of Al Murray's co-stars, Laura Solon, both have had Radio 4 sketch shows in the past year, as have the outstanding, Victorian-themed sketch trio The Penny Dreadfuls.

The internet is being exploited as well, with Idiots of Ants in particular focusing on the web rather than radio. YouTube clips increase a group's exposure, and act as mini-pilots for a potential TV show, demonstrating the group's abilities on screen. The Ants' "Wii Breakfast" skit has clocked up 750,000 views on YouTube; "Facebook in Reality" has over 2 million. Surely that sort of statistic is persuasive to a comedy commissioner?

It is, up to a point, but Lucy Lumsden, the BBC's comedy commissioner, says that rushing to put sketch comedy on television can be counterproductive. "A talent has to be completely ready to do a TV show," she says. "There is a sense that you can just skip off the Edinburgh stage and go straight into a TV show, but you have to take your time, or the writing won't be as good. We can make the most of Radio 4 and our multiplatform, where we try out new people. When we commission somebody we want to be super-confident in them."

Sensible or overcautious? Hoorah for giving The Cowards a series on BBC4, but why three episodes, rather than six, leaving little room for their talent to flourish? Lumsden argues that this policy reduces pressure on the group and allows the channel to launch two comedies rather than one.

Another route towards mass exposure is to abandon sketch for sitcom. The Mighty Boosh did it; We Are Klang have done it (temporarily, at least) for their new BBC show about incompetent councillors. Idiots of Ants say they are working on sitcom ideas and that they see worth in the Monty Python/Simon Pegg route of moving from sketch TV to feature film. Pegg, don't forget, was in the team behind Big Train, one of the most underrated sketch shows.

Whether Horne, Corden and Murray's series turn out to be era-defining or mere vanity projects remains to be seen, but right now there are hugely talented groups out there gigging and getting belly laughs every time. Bovvered? You should be.

Paul Fleckney is the editor of www.londonisfunny.com . 'Horne and Corden' starts on BBC3 tonight at 10.30pm

On the circuit: The five best sketch troupes

Pappy's Fun Club

Four chaps dealing in industrial-strength silliness. Their innocent larking would appeal to any age. The If.Comedy award nominees and Chortle Award winners are currently on tour.

Lady Garden

Six females recently graduated from Manchester university with TV written all over them. Versatile actors, sharp scripts and carrying that swagger of youth, hopefully they will fulfil their promise. One member, Beattie, is Jennifer Saunders and Ade Edmondson's daughter.

We Are Klang

A trio deservedly stepping up to BBC3 with their own show this autumn. Otherworldly to look at (yes, it does help) and the most twisted of this bunch. If.Comedy Award and Chortle Award nominees.

Idiots of Ants

This male quartet of highly skilled actors has an accessible mates-down-the-pub dynamic. Pacey and surreal, they appeared on BBC3's 'The Wall' and received 2 million YouTube hits for their 'Facebook in Reality' sketch.

The Penny Dreadfuls

Theatrical Victorian sketch trio with Radio 4 and BBC7 series behind them. Recently bade farewell to their incredible 'Aeneas Faversham' series of shows. About to unleash their new show in Scotland.

Also recommended: Fat Tongue, Sunday Defensive, and Superclump.