Career: Carr began performing on the stand-up circuit, doing up to 300 shows a year for three years, before taking his act to the Edinburgh festival in 2002. This brought him to the attention of TV bosses, and before long he was presenting series such as Your Face or Mine and Distraction. Since then, he's rarely been off TVscreens, hosting the first run of the Friday Night Project, 8 Out of 10 Cats and numerous Channel 4 list shows. He's also made a move into acting, appearing in Alien Autopsy, Confetti, Stormbreaker and Telstar. He is one of Britain's busiest comics and his DVDs are big sellers.

Career: Riley's big break came in 2008 when she was chosen from more than 1,000 applicants to replace Carol Vorderman on Countdown. She presented her first show alongside Jeff Stelling in January 2009, and reached her 1,000th episode in June 2013. Away from the numbers and letters on Countdown, she began co-hosting The Gadget Show alongside Jason Bradbury in June 2013. She was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing in 2013 and was the fifth celebrity to be eliminated.

Career: In 2003, Richardson won his heat of the BBC New Talent Comedy Search, and a year later did well in the Laughing Horse New Act of the Year competition and J20 Last Laugh Comedy Search. Encouraged by these successes and kind words from Jasper Carrott and Dave Spikey for a performance at the Criterion Theatre in London, his confidence grew. More stand-up followed, including appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He went on to feature on numerous radio shows before moving into TV. Richardson appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Have I Got News For You before becoming a team captain on 8 Out of 10 Cats. He's since published his first book, It's Not Me, It's You! and taken part in various documentaries.

Career: Her debut Edinburgh Festival Fringe show, Sarah Millican's Not Nice, won the if.comedy award for Best Newcomer in 2008; she hasn't looked back since. She has appeared as a panellist on 8 Out of 10 Cats, Have I Got News for You, You Have Been Watching and as a performer at The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008 and 4 Stands Up. She was featured in the Manchester edition of Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, broadcast in June 2009, and provided vocal work to the BBC's natural history footage for Walk on the Wild Side. She briefly joined the Loose Women panel in January 2011 and launched her own show, The Sarah Millican Television Programme, in 2012.

Career: His success as a stand-up was crowned when he won an award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He came to the attention of TV bosses after a stint on the radio. Lee was cast in The Sketch show alongside long-term collaborator Tim Vine. After a short-lived stint presenting They Think It's All Over, Mack and Vine began work on Not Going Out. The series revolves around two friends with opposite backgrounds and personalities, much like the two comics themselves. Mack has recently become a regular on comedy panel shows such as Would I Lie to You? and Have I Got News for You. He also has sell-out tours and best-selling DVDs to his name.

Career: Manford was nominated for the Perrier Award in Edinburgh in 2005 for his show Urban Legends. He then became a regular at comedy clubs across the UK. His first major TV appearance was as a guest on the Channel 4 panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats; he later replaced Dave Spikey as a team captain. His stand-up shows are hugely popular and he has given snippets of his routine on shows such as Live at The Apollo and Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow. He was an instant hit as host of The One Show but quit after some Twitter indiscretions. In July 2012, he revealed some versatility by appearing in the West End revival of the musical Sweeney Todd. In 2015, he starred in the BBC One drama Ordinary Lies and played Leo Bloom in a touring version of Mel Brooks' The Producers.

Career: Osman has worked behind the scenes as an executive producer on a number of TV programmes, including Deal or No Deal, 8 Out of 10 Cats, and 10 O'Clock Live. As the UK creative director of TV production company Endemol, he pitched the quiz Pointless to the BBC. As a way of explaining the rules, he played the co-host during a run-through. He was asked to do the role for real when the show was commissioned. Pointless started on BBC Two in 2009 and was an immediate hit. It quickly made the switch to BBC One. Since being in the spotlight on Pointless, he has made guest appearances on QI, Have I Got News for You and Would I Lie to You? He also guest presented an episode of The One Show alongside Alex Jones.