Mock the Week

This BBC panel game is mostly based on the week's events and media coverage. It's very funny most of the time.

It varies in quality, depending on who is taking part during that episode. Whilst most are good, there are some episodes which are mediocre.

Mock the week is amazinggg....its so entertaining that through a life that throws so much 'crap' at us this is the little thing that makes my week bearable!!! it never fails to deliver a smile on my lips and each comedian has their own flavour to add to the show making it a unique and superb show! Russell, Andy, Frankie and Hugh are the obvious faves but Gina and Ed are pretty cool too.

This is a show that i desperately want all on DVD and one that i never miss, keeps me smiling, lightens up my week and one i miss when it is between seasons!

The comedians don't get half the praise they should do for the entertainment they provide!!

so sit back, relax and laugh your freaking ass off!!! i certainly do!

In a mix of Have I Got News For You and Who's Line is it Anyway this topical news quiz is entertaining but is far from being as clever as it thinks it is. In essence it is a quiz with questions relating to the news given to the panel made up of two teams but it also features rounds where individuals step forward to make jokes on a topic given them by host Dara O'Brian. The two aspects work as well as each other although personally my preference is for the panel format more than the "stand-up" format.

And maybe that is why I enjoy the show but am not a massive fan of it. You see, to me, it all does seem very much like everyone has prepared their lines and their routines and at times it does seem like they are delivering their stand up routines in response to questions that they aware of long before the show began. Of course I know that with all panel shows they are aware of the questions and subjects to some degree but here it is consistently more evident as the various panellists seem pretty separate in what they are doing.

The effect of this is to delivery some funny lines but for the show itself to feel a bit disjointed and fragmented. Of course it does depend on the panellists involved but recently they have been stand-up performers who are used to delivering alone rather than jamming off others.

Overall though, a topical news quiz that aims for a lower end of the market but is still enjoyable and entertaining. The stand-up nature of it produces plenty of good laughs in each episode but does have the downside of fragmenting the banter and making it feel like everyone queuing up to deliver their lines rather than genuinely sparking off one another.

This is one of the funniest programmes on TV. It doesn't matter that some parts are scripted, the delivery of the lines is timed perfectly and anyone with a sense of humour will be laughing out loud. The guests have a brilliant banter going on, and the stand-up challenges are hilarious.

The guests aren't the same every week, adding variety and all the panelists have a different type of humour to offer the audience. Dara O'Brain is brilliant, he seems to fit the part of a host excellently, and the panelists who are there every week (Hugh Dennis, Frankie Boyle and Andy Parsons) are amazingly funny, with humour that should cater for everyone's tastes.

I usually like Mock the Week, and think the regular panellists are superbly witty and entertaining. However, I was appalled at how often Shappi Khorsandi was spoken over and ignored as she tried to say something on the show which aired 25 January in the UK. It could have just been the editing, I suppose, but it looked extremely discourteous.

I thought she only really came across properly during the rounds where she was able to take the mic unimpeded by the male panellists. This is a shame as female comedians are a rare breed and those there are should be given the opportunity to do their thing.

NP