As the general election campaigns shift up a notch, all eyes are on Thursday, 7th May, when the United Kingdom chooses a government, old or (hopefully) new.

Usually, this has nothing to do with humble alternative comedy websites like us, but this year, Channel 4 is following its tradition of their alternative Christmas message, with a full blown seven hours of live comedy and comment in their Alternative Election Night, recruiting a cavalcade of stars to make a long game of counting a lot more entertaining.

Led by David Mitchell (Peep Show) and former Newsnight host Jeremy Paxman, the team will also include the likes of Richard Osman, Romesh Ranganathan, Cathy Newman and TVO’s very own Aisling Bea. The team have already released a delightful trailer, which you can see below.

Channel 4’s commitment to making light of the election, which will no doubt ensure a large number of people who normally don’t bother to vote do the right thing and join in on 7th May, doesn’t end there.  This week saw the launch of their political comedy Ballot Monkey, starring Ben Miller, Daisy Haggard and many more, including Crims star Theo Barklem-Biggs.

There’s also a special run of topical panel show The Last Leg, and a live broadcast of star-studded play The Vote  from Donmar Warehouse, featuring Nick Burns, Mark Gatiss, Catherine Tate, Dame Judi Dench, Nina Sosanya, Kadiff Kirwan and many more.

Finally, there’s this video, released yesterday, asking why you should give a xxxx about voting. In case you can’t quite place the face – that’s Steve Brody, who starred in forgotten favourite Angelo’s alongside Sharon Horgan, Paul Kaye, Alice Lowe, Shelley Longworth and Simon Farnaby.  He was also in the incredible one-off Lifespam with many of the same team, as well as Life’s Too Short, I’m Alan Partridge, Cardinal Burns and Blunder. Enjoy.