Kayvan Novak's Fonejacker joins an impressive roll-call of today's most distinctive and successful comedy talents that includes Russell Brand, Ricky Gervais, Peter Kay, Stephen Marchant and Mitchell and Webb. All were unknown when they got their first screen break on Comedy Lab, the showcase that gives new writers and performers free rein in a half-hour late night slot. Finding and developing new talent is one of the most important jobs, Channel 4 does. Its appeal to the under-35s and its capacity to take risks other broadcasters can't or won't, all make it a natural home for emerging talent. Investing in new comedy talent is a high-risk business: the failure rate is daunting and the successes are often lured to other channels. But comedy is a rich source of innovation, and innovation is Channel 4's life blood.

Comedy Lab, which celebrated its tenth ground-breaking year in 2007, is Channel 4's most productive talent nursery. Innovation is its hallmark: it introduced Peter Kay as a writer/performer in an early mock-documentary The Services, reinvented Candid Camera in Trigger Happy TV (1998), brought the Modern Toss cartoons to life (2005), and elevated prank calling to an art form in Fonejacker. On and off-screen talents uncovered by Comedy Lab have gone on to produce some of Channel 4 and E4's most striking recent comedy successes including Phoenix Nights, Smack the Pony, Green Wing, Fonejacker, and Peep Show, which scooped Best TV Comedy and Best Comedy Actor for David Mitchell in the 2007 Comedy Awards.

The tenth anniversary series continued that honourable tradition with fresh talent and novel formats - among them the world's first documentary sketch show, a multicultural sketch show, and the riotous BAFTA-winning Blowout. Its ten-year track record proves this is the space to watch for comedy names of the future.