“When you sick so sad you cry, and in crying, cry a whole leopard from your eye, when you sick so sad you place your face in the puddle of a lay-by, waiting for a lorry to splash it… and find yourself born dead through your own arse, then welcome in Jam…” No, it’s not the opening to Mary Harney’s keynote address at the PD party conference earlier this month, but rather a sample from one of the twisted, Lear-like monologues which set the tone for each episode of Jam, the typically skewed 2000 TV venture from Chris Morris currently being repeated on Channel 4.

Though set to receive a DVD release later this month (mooted extras include such novel-sounding features as “Lava Lamp viewing option” and “First 19 seconds of episode 5”), Jam still begs to be seen in the medium for which it was intended. Adapted from the groundbreaking late-night radio show Blue Jam, the series represented a significant shift in Morris’ career path, moving away as it did from the savage, no-holds-barred news/current affairs parodies of Brass Eye and The Day Today towards a far more low-key brand of social satire. Directed in a surreal, David Lynch-like style by Morris himself, and with a soundtrack boasting killer tracks from everyone from Minnie Ripperton and Sade to Aphex Twin and Brian Eno, the damn-near unmissable Jam can be seen at midnight on Wednesdays on Channel 4.

Jam’s influence can be discerned in Double Take, the latest impression show to have found its way into the BBC2 schedules. Perhaps the most apt description of the program would be Dead Ringers directed by David Cronenberg, if, of course, the Canadian auteur himself hadn’t already helmed a feature of that very same title! Nonetheless, director Alison Jackson has made maximum use of her photography background, utilising everything from grainy security-cam shots to flickering video footage so as to disguise the actors impersonating the likes of David Beckham and Prince Charles. Though probably a little too reliant on the usual soft-targets of royalty and mainstream media figures for much of its subject matter, Dead Ringers has hit the spot regularly enough to warrant investigation. It can be seen late Saturday nights on BBC 2.

Gossip dept. – a certain comedic actor (and no, it’s not Dylan Moran!) fresh from the set of Conor McPherson’s new movie The Actors had an interesting take on what it was like to work with the movie’s leading player, one Michael Caine. “The interesting thing about Michael these days is that he’s a storyteller,” our source began, with a degree of diplomacy that proved to be a tad deceptive. “If you ask him a question, he’ll give a colourful, anecdotal and usually very long answer. And, although that’s entertaining for the first few days, after about a week it begins to pall a little. It really does get to the point where you’ll be standing there listening to him ramble on about one of his showbiz adventures from the early days, and be thinking to yourself, “That’s great, Michael. Now when are you going to ask me a question?!”

Finally, budding thesps could do worse than heed the advice recently offered on the craft by Analyse This/Groundhog Day director Harold Ramis, which Laughlines was fortunate enough to be privy to. “The key to great screen-acting,” started Ramis, leaving his audience breathless with anticipation, “can be found in a scene I did in Ghostbusters. The camera cuts to me examining a patient, when another character calls my name offscreen. I quickly glance around, revealing the scrupulously po-faced expression I wear throughout the movie, only on this occasion offset by phallic headgear. Olivier understood this technique. Brando was a keen student too, I believe.”

Method, schmethod.