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"Simon Amstell&amp;#039;s sitcom Grandma&amp;#039;s House returned to BBC Two last night and looks set to remain as divisive as ever. Some love the show&amp;#039;s quirky style and awkward atmosphere, while others have criticised Amstell&amp;#039;s performance - he&amp;#039;s a fine comedian, they argue, but definitely not an actor... Of course, the history of stand-up comics trying their hand at sitcom is a long and muddy one. Sometimes it works to great effect, sometimes... not so much. This week&amp;#039;s Friday Fiver takes a look back at a few of the more notable attempts - both the good and the bad... Jerry Seinfeld in Seinfeld (1989-1998) Surely the greatest example of a stand-up comedian adapting his act for television? At its peak, Seinfeld was wildly successful and remains hugely influential. The show didn&amp;#039;t shy away from Jerry&amp;#039;s stand-up background - the first few seasons&amp;#039; episodes would open and close with a burst of his observational material... A fourth season storyline even went all meta, with Jerry and hapless pal George (Jason Alexander) pitching a sitcom pilot to NBC. Like Amstell, Seinfeld wasn&amp;#039;t the strongest actor, but it didn&amp;#039;t really matter - the show remained consistently hilarious for nine years...      Frank Skinner in Shane (2004)  Let&amp;#039;s be clear, we like Frank Skinner - the comedian and football fanatic is brilliantly quick-witted and a likeable screen presence. But ITV sitcom Shane - named after the 1953 Western film - was not his finest moment. Skinner played the title character, a middle-aged taxi driver dissatisfied with his lot in life... The biggest problem with Shane was that Skinner made no attempt to write real characters or naturalistic dialogue - each scene built to nothing more than a cheap gag, seemingly imported wholesale from Skinner&amp;#039;s stand-up.  Mercifully, the show ran for just seven episodes. A second series was filmed, but never aired - we can only imagine how bad that must have been. Oh, and singing the &amp;#039;feem toon? Leave it to Dennis Waterman, Frank. Lee Mack in Not Going Out (2006-Present) Aside from having a catchy-as-hell theme tune, Not Going Out also gets brownie points for giving the hilarious Lee Mack a major career boost. Unlike the other sitcoms on this list, which see established comics dip their toes into telly, Not Going Out was really where Mack made his name.  The show itself is a more up-to-date version of that classic &amp;quot;odd couple&amp;quot; scenario, focusing on Mack&amp;#039;s quick-witted slacker and his tongue-in-cheek banter with best friend Tim (Tim Vine), flatmate Lucy (Sally Bretton) and, in the first series, his landlord Kate (Megan Dodds). Oh, and it also had Miranda Hart before she was known as just Miranda. What&amp;#039;s not to like?       Dylan Moran and Bill Bailey in Black Books (2000-2004) Cheers Black Books for giving us two amazingly funny men for the price of one. We&amp;#039;ve already detailed exactly what makes Channel 4&amp;#039;s dark comedy so great in a Tube Talk Gold post, but here&amp;#039;s a recap.  Bernard, Moran&amp;#039;s vicious, disgusting and unhinged book shop proprietor, is so unbelievably grim that he sort of becomes loveable, while the character&amp;#039;s weird and happy-go-lucky whipping boy Manny (Bailey) is the perfect comedy companion. Throw in Tamsin Greig&amp;#039;s walking disaster zone Fran and it&amp;#039;s no wonder that Black Books became a cult classic.        Ed Byrne in Sam&amp;#039;s Game (2001) Most people know Davina McCall best for her ten-year stint as the shouty host of Big Brother - but do you remember her ill-advised attempt at a sitcom? ITV was hoping for a UK answer to Friends, but what they got was something... less good. Comedy newbie McCall roped in established comic Ed Byrne for support, and while the Irish stand-up was undoubtedly the best thing about the show, even he couldn&amp;#039;t save it. Only six episodes aired before ITV wisely took the decision to can Sam&amp;#039;s Game. Were you a Seinfeld fan? Do you even remember Sam&amp;#039;s Game? Let us know below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/tube-talk/news/a377570/stand-up-comics-in-sitcoms-friday-fiver/>