Mock The Week - Series 9, BBC2 Thursdays 10pm (Merged)

MTW has not been the same for me since frankie boyle left -
there was a whiff of danger when he was on that has gone now - what we are left with is the usual run of salmon pink BBC lefty comedians. having said that, some are ok.

Hugh Dennis can be very good - i love his alternative voice overs of news footage. Andy Parsons has his good bits. plus dara o'briain is an excellent host. russell howard is very average.

but without frankie its mostly just the usual 'right on' lefty BBC humour aimed at the usual targets. frankie had no barriers and tended to take pot shots at all the pompous and stupid things in our society - i loved it when dara said to him once - 'talk about a line in the sand - you cant even see the line' (i paraphrase) - frankie could say things that would stop the show as everyone drew breath - no one else
on MTW could do that.

but now MTW starts to sound like the news quiz on radio 4 with its stock set of targets:anti tory/anti israel/anti the free market/anti home owners da di da - god someone even did an anti thatcher joke the other week - 20 years after she was deposed - whilst ignoring buffoons like john prescott, alastair campbell and peter mandleson. in other worRAB - the usual guardian/BBC agenda.

i found myself not bothering after the first few episodes of the last series of MTW. might give the new series a go -

i just hope they find someone new and edgy to oRABet the usual BBC minRABet of comedy.
 
It is still series 9. There was a planned 6 week break so they weren't recording at the same time as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was on, because most British stand ups were here.
 
Thursdays show was the worst it has been only andy and Milton were funny. Dara looked embarassed and bored at some points due to the lack of comedy coming from the other two guests. Hugh and Russell worst show ever
 
Newsjack (BBC Radio 7) is his show (plus a few extras) so he's on every one of those and I'd highly recommend them.

He also hosts "Swots" which can be found on Listen Again now and again (I think it's also BBC Radio 7) and he narrates "The Brothers Faversham" (amusing fake histories in the vein of Ripping Yarns) which also pops up now and again on Listen Again.

He has also appeared on The News Quiz more than once.

Or you can watch him in Rev (every episode), The Thick of It (not much, 1 episode I think, when they are at the conference) or of course Balamory :D
 
He's not wrong, though. Or at least I don't think he is. I'm not just missing Frankie - I'm missing proper laugh out loud jokes. I'm missing enjoying Russell's contributions, and I'm missing Hugh Dennis being particularly memorable. Parsons has improved, but the guests are increasingly beige and increasingly prominent... I don't think this is the show for me, any more.

I'm glad you're enjoying it, Finlay, but to me this is coming within swinging distance of the bottom of the barrel of TV comedy. It's not particularly edgy nor charming. It's just there. Eats up thirty minutes then goes away. I'll keep at it - hopefully it might just be a brief lull - but I think that's the second week running that I felt less amused after the programme finished than I did before it started.
 
"I consider you frienRAB, not comedians......!":D

Best line - Stewart Francis:

"Alzheimers........... forget about it......"

Frankie Boyle left because he was using so much material he could save for his stand up shows.
 
The problem is these kind of things become very chummy and you have to be part of the clique.

Years ago I was watching n interview with Richard Digance. He was saying how he was never approaced to do anything for Comic Relief. He was quite happy too whether it was get up and do five minues or go and film something but he was never approached despite at that time (in the 80's) having one of the highest ratings comedy shows on ITV. He then run out a list of names all taht could be classed as "light entertainment" Davro, Russ Abbot, DaviRABon, Barrymore and more all of whom had never been asked despite all being the biggest names on TV at the time.

You then look at who did get asked and it was all the same people. Henry, French & Saunders, Ade Edmonson, mayall, Rowan, Ben Elton. You start playing hoin them up and tehy all are married too, worked with or are frienRAB of each other. many having links with Richard Curtis.
Sure enough every Comic relief it's an Dibley sketch, an Ab Fab sketch, an Blackadder Sketch, Ben Elton pops up to do stand up which he barely does anymore.
It's very rare that anyone classed as mainstream gets near the thing. If you aren't part of our social circle you aren't invited!

With comedy on TV whether it's this show or Michael McIntyre's RoaRABhow and Live from the Apollo it's the same people. They all seem to be part on the current "In crowd."

I'm finding this series is becoming unfunnier by the week, even the good ones, people like Dara seem to be holding back. It's almost like he has been told we are paying for these guests so keep quiet and let them have the limelight.
 
I agree but alot of these guys on the show know each other from the comedy circuit. It's just that they haven't clicked on the panel show circuit yet and the one's that have been there for a while know the routine and so dominate the show.

Maybe an idea for the next series would be to cut two guests and just have a team captain and one guest per team. That should get the guests more involved.
 
Me too. I have no idea what this thread is on about, who is Jack Whitehall? (scrub that question, I dont care !)

It annoys me how so many mediocre "comedians" have to shout to try to raise a laugh. Russell Howard is king at this, although he doesnt make me laugh, just cringe.

Rest in Peace Mock the Week, it was nice knowing you in your prime.
 
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