Mock The Week

Sandals

Move over "The Panel"

scram "Have I GOt News For You"


Push Away "Whose line is it anyway"

there is a new king in town and it's called "Mock the Week"

For those of you who don't know

Mock the Week is a British topical panel game, hosted by Dara Ó Briain. It debuted on BBC Two in June, 2005.

Created by the same people responsible for the comedy game show Whose Line is it Anyway?, Mock the Week is a cross between it and Have I Got News For You. There are two teams of three, with Rory Bremner and Frankie Boyle as team captains and the rest being guest comedians such as Linda Smith and Jo Brand.

Each week, in front of a live studio audience, Dara tests the wits of the comedians through a series of satirical games based on the news.



Viewers will see the panellists battle it out in a game of competitive stand-up; improvise phone calls between Charles and Camilla or Bush and Blair; demonstrate what Saddam Hussein's dating video might look like; and portray news stories solely in sound effects.



Dara O'Briain says: "There may be teams, but there'll be no winners and losers - as long as whoever's in the news gets a good kicking."



Rory Bremner says: "I'm really looking forward to working with Dara and the team behind Whose Line Is It Anyway? – the mix of topical satire and spontaneous comedy should be irresistible."



And Series producer Dan Patterson comments: "Mock The Week is an entirely new breed of comedy show – part panel show, part stand-up and part performance.



"New comedians will be joining established performers in taking a satirical swipe at the news and world events."



Dan Patterson was co-creator (with Mark Leveson) and producer of the series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which ran for ten years on British tv before successfully transferring to the United States.



He has a track record in encouraging future stars: Clive Anderson, Josie Lawrence and Paul Merton all rose to prominence on his shows.



Intelligent political comedy that takes no prisoners, Mock The Week is all about the survival of the quick witted.



The producer is Mark Leveson and executive producer is Jed Leventhall.



Mock The Week is directed by Geraldine Dowd and is an Angst Productions production for BBC TWO.

Mock The Week

Host

Dara O'Briain

Co-hosts

Rory Bremner and Frankie Boyle (team captains)

Broadcast

Angst Productions for BBC2, 2005

Synopsis

A topical panel game from the creators of Whose Line is it Anyway?.

The similarity to the late, great Whose Line is enough to be obvious, but not such that it looks like a straight revival. In fact, this is a pretty neat adaptation of a classic format to a different style of humour. Rather than the off-the-wall surrealism of WLIIA, we have games based on current affairs, and there's more of a straight stand-up comedy feel to some of them rather than actorly improv. A few games are carried through from the previous show - celebrity dating videos work just as well in this format as they did in the original - but it's mostly a new show using only the basic template of the old. There's no real scoring system, and it's obvious that the show we see on TV is edited down from a much longer performance. An obvious reference point is Have I Got News For You?, though in truth we suspect the true influences come more from the countless topical shows that seem to be crammed into every available space on Radio 2 and Radio 4 these days (even the title has a distinctly Radio 4 ring to it). There also seems to be a hint of If I Ruled the World..., the short-lived panel game hosted by Whose Line's Clive Anderson and featuring Jeremy Hardy, also a recurring guest on this show.

But enough of comparisons, the important thing is that this is a lot of fun. The cast are well-chosen - likeable stand-up Dara O'Briain slips effortlessly into the Clive Anderson role, Rory Bremner is not only sharp but also clearly loves doing the show (notice how often he cracks up laughing at other people's jokes) and newcomer Frankie Boyle has proven to be a natural. The emerging double-act between Bremner and regular guest Hugh Dennis is a pleasant surprise too. And what else are you going to watch on a Sunday night anyway? We declare Mock the Week a winner and will now ask the entire cast to present the credits in a style of our choosing. Except they don't do that on this show. Pshaw!


DId you see it, what do you think
Personally it is rock-in

Crucifix

I saw it there a few days ago. Twere not bad.

Daelus

I saw the end of an episode a while ago and it was pretty funny. I liked the section where they had to improvise things like: "What the voices in Tony Blair's head are saying". Pretty good, overall, from what I could see.

mike65

Always Link to Ones Source

Its not bad, a bit hit and mix, clearly the idea of a team winning or loosing a particular round is notional to say the least. O' Briain is fine though at times a bit eager.

Hugh Dennis is my fav panelist.

Mike.

Dinner

I saw it. I think its brilliant. I nearly pissed myself at some parts. My favourite (who's name escapes me) was the fella who said "I'm a killer......Queen in the last round. I think he's on Bremner Bird and Fortune (or was it Rory Bremner or was that the other guy?).

O'Briain is so well suited to hosting comedy programmes. He was great at the Panel, Have I got news for you and now this.

Sandals

did anyone see this week's episode, I missed it was at the tall ships in Waterford, was it as good?

mike65

Eh? Its on tomorrow night (Sunday) except its going to be cancelled I suspect - I mean MOCK the week of London bombing? I doubt it.

Mike.

Sandals

Oh good, it was originally on Thursday, I love it, they wont cancel it "giving in to terrorism" and all,

mike65

Not true, TV stations are pulling progs and films left, right and centre. Anne Robinson was cancelled (though not forever sadly!), loads of films have been replaced, Eastenders even got a late edit (prolly something to do with Walford tube station).

Mike.

Sandals

God i didnt think it was that bad at all. ( sidenote = That french bakery beside abrakebabra opens until 3 am now! deadly)

Lump

Originally in Eastenders the house blew up. It was late edited, and I personally played it out to Dublin, so really I'm to thank for Ireland getting their fill of Eastenders this week. I'm sorry

John

mike65

I forgot about Johnny Allens house going up in smoke. It did'nt need a big bang. It just shows how telly hams everything up.

Mike.

AdMMM

I watched it and thought it was excellent. However did it appear to anyone else that some parts of the show looked rehearsed?

monkeyfudge

|.Murderer.| wrote:

I watched it and thought it was excellent. However did it appear to anyone else that some parts of the show looked rehearsed?

Yep. I saw a bit of it last night and felt that it felt far too staged. I know alot of Have I Got News For You is pre-scripted but at least the pull it off well. None of this felt like it was off-the-cuff. I'm really not a fan of any of the comedians that were featured on it, so I really didn't find the thing funny at all.

flamin moe

last nights was just a compilation of the last two or three weeks - saw it for the first time sunday last week, and it was much more 'natural' than last nights compliation, very funny was my impression anyway

Our man in Havana

I take it it will be back to normal this Thursday?

Lump

It was never on thursday.

John

Mossy Monk

Lump wrote:

I personally played it out to Dublin

i know you work for the BBC but what do you mean by "played it out"?

qz

Something you would never hear a French person say:

"I'll have a bottle of Burgundy and a Dairylea Dunker please."


Pissed my pants.

Big Ears

qz wrote:

Something you would never hear a French person say:
Pissed my pants.

I found the funniest bit of that was 'I know it was hopeless but we kept fighting anyway ' .

Good show , I prefer the panel but this certainly isn't bad .

eth0_

Pity it has Dara 'EHHHHHHHHHH' O'Briain presenting it. He is dreadful. I've never once so much as cracked a smile at him. And his constant 'Ehhhhhh'ing is incredibly irritating.

Lump

Mossy Monk wrote:

i know you work for the BBC but what do you mean by "played it out"?

Well because the tape was re-edited and the new verison was only finished a day before, RTE had to recieve a copy. So basically I play from my room in the BBC, it goes to our Central Appartus Room, then to the BT tower, up to a satellitte and is picked up on the pylon in RTE. Means the programme is delivered in 30 minutes, but it costs about £200 to hire the Satellitte.

John

eth0_

how big is the file? Can't it be transferred over broadband/leased line?

Lump

HA HA HA, No. It's not a file for one thing. It's on a tape. So it'd have to be put onto a computer.... then transferred (Digitising costs money and time). The plan by the BBC eventually is to have a tapeless system in place. Initally with in the building, studios, to Post-production to the broadcast servers. A 30 minute programme would be about 162,000 Mega Bytes.... What ever that is in gigabyes... 158 Gigs...


John

Cactus Col

eth0_ wrote:

Pity it has Dara 'EHHHHHHHHHH' O'Briain presenting it. He is dreadful. I've never once so much as cracked a smile at him. And his constant 'Ehhhhhh'ing is incredibly irritating.

No way, Dara O'Briain is brilliant on it. The best thing on The Panel too.

eth0_

Lump wrote:

A 30 minute programme would be about 162,000 Mega Bytes.... What ever that is in gigabyes... 158 Gigs...


John

Wow, just wondered how big it would be. That's pretty massive alright!

Elmo

I think these types of shows are killing themselfs. You will never see the like of Have I Got News For You or They Think It's All Over.

I wasn't impressed by this show.

I like Dara O'Brien they should just let him have Have I Got News For You.

mickd

I watched the first episode of this and thought it was rubbish. Merton and Hislop are in a league of their own when it comes to topical wit. Dara O Brian is v good presenter but this stuff is lame. Bremer is hardly up and coming and Jo Brand whose entire comic repitoire consists of "i am fat, ugly and have got periods" does not make for entertaining viewing methinks.