The Sketch Show

With a line-up including Ronni Ancona and Jim Tavare, plus writing credits from the likes of Ricky Gervais, and production by Steve Coogan and Henry Normal, you'd think that this would be something special. BIG mistake! Without a doubt, this has to be one of the poorest comedy shows ITV has put out in the last 20 years - and as you can imagine, it's up against some pretty stiff competition!

The punchlines to the sketches are so transparently obvious, you can see them coming as the sketch starts, but not in a fun intelligent way (see The Fast Show for a better example of obvious punchlines). Example: Man #1 is collecting money in a bucket. The bucket reads 'Pickpockets In Need'. Bet you can't guess what happens next?? That's right, Man#2 takes money from the bucket rather than putting some in. Oh, hilarity!

I can't stress highly enough how much this should be avoided. Think Three of a Kind without the laughs and you're getting pretty close.

ITV - must try harder!

First of all I think it was a shame that only two series of this show were made. The sketches were fresh and original and not boring and predictable like most comedy shows are. Maybe the people that don't like it should watch more than 10 minutes of it before posting their reviews as Im afraid to say not every sketch can be hilarious.

I loved it! 10/10.

I don't know what it is about the Sketch Show that appeals to me. IT has all the elements that I usually hate and will usually turn me off a show forever; a lot of the sketches are either really bad puns or are highly predictable, and the cast, all made from British stand-up comedians of varying fame, are all incredibly smug and very sure of themselves without really being brilliant at acting. But having said all this, it works, and really well.

The show is hilarious at best and grimace-forming at worst but it still always makes you smile. Perhaps it's because it doesn't always try to be funny, and when it isn't being funny, it knows it, and so do the cast. I first saw Jim Tavare doing a piece at the Montreal comedy festival some 15 years ago with his double bass, and the humour is very much the same. I love it.

Lee Mack is especially good, he has some very good routines that he accomplishes with a smarmy and very unlikeable air but the fact is he is more often than not playing very smarmy and unlikeable characters and in the process is poking fun at them.

And with all those comments also said, occasionally they will come up with an absolute pearler of a sketch that stands out in the history of sketch comedy. The one in the men's toilets, for example, or the sign language sketch- neither of them particularly clever or witty but both just make you fall about laughing. I thoroughly recommend this, particularly to my fellow countrymen who are bored as I am with the tired and hopelessly predictable comedy of Skithouse and Comedy Inc. 4 stars out of 5.

"The sketch show" is one of the funniest shows I have ever seen!

The sketches are funny and entertaining.

I don't know how they come up with it all! The actors are amazing at acting different characters.

The humor is one-of-a-kind, but oh...so funny! "The sketch show" always makes me laugh.

Personally, I just love British TV-series ( most of them), and the sketch show is one of my favorites. The humor maybe weird, and different, but that is just exiting, isn't it? Hilarious!

I recommend the show to anyone who cares for a laugh!

Re: Transparency of jokes.

The Sketch Show is the sort of comedy that is hilarious without trying to be too clever. That's what I like about it - its simplicity. The humour comes from the way its acted and delivered - without needing to resort to excessive crudeness or political impersonations which you find in a lot of comedy shows these days. It's light entertainment that is a good filler for half an hour every Monday night.