The Church of England launched a stand-up comedy club yesterday at the start of Lent, as part of a wider effort to make the period more fun.

The club's founder, Helen Tomblin, hopes to keep the material clean and says that cutting out the swearing and crude material can enhance the standard of the humour, reports the BBC.

The club - the Love Life, Live Lent campaign - invites people to share clean jokes about what is traditionally a period of abstinence and solemn reflection in the run-up to Easter.

But according to comedian and writer Arthur Smith, comedy without any "grit" would be very bland.

"Humour is meant to challenge a bit. I agree that some comedians swear too much but a well-placed swear word is a marvellous bit of grammar. Used just into the punch line, maybe as the penultimate word, a big swear word will probably enhance the laughter.

"Just a stream of filth can be dull. And if you are a bit nervous on stage the swearing is a way of hiding a lack of material."

Comedy also needs cruelty and victims, he says, and while observation comedy like Peter Kay's is often victimless, too much of it can be sterile.

However, Christian stand-up comic Andy Kind believes there is such a prevalence of crudity on the circuit that all new comics mistakenly think that is a blueprint to follow. But there are successful exceptions.

"Peter Kay is not completely clean but what he does very well is find common ground with a lot of people. Laughter is all about recognition and he's so successful because he finds common ground with more people than any kind of comic. That's why he's successful, not because people are aware of him as dirty or clean."