Oh dear. A wonderful, dance-track trailer on YouTube. A lot of early buzz from live studio audience members. A great deal of hype from the BBC. All leading to...
A big disappointment.
I found last week's first episode amusing enough, given the hit-and-miss style of most sketch shows. It survived thanks to its pace and the fact everything was new. But now, in episode 2, we're already faced with a major slow-down, repetitive sketches, and a general collection of unfunny, or outdated, characters and half-baked ideas. ..
A sketch-by-sketch assessment, then:
You're A C*NT: A passable Simon Cowell impersonation, but the only "joke" here is that Cowell's criticism of contestant is "you're a c*nt". As unfunny as it sounds, but ridiculously reprised throughout this episode!
Butterfield Detective Agency: The obese Butterfield character is a lampoon of all those old men on adverts trying to flog us insurance and suchlike. This week he's fronting his own detective agency, showcasing crazy disguises. Elicits a few chuckles, but spoofing these adverts is old news.
Modern Elvis: A fun little insight into what Elvis Presley would be doing if he were still alive today. I liked the image of Elvis as a guest-star in a early-90s rap video!
BuyIt Channel: This week, the cheesy male presenter (Peter) bizarrely turns into a vampire whenever his co-presenter (Catherine Shepherd) presents an arm or neck to him. Very weak idea that should never have been filmed.
Acting Masterclass... with Al Pacino: Okay impersonation from Peter, but the joke that Pacino thinks about a dead pet ant when he wants to cry in movies wasn't amusing. The second part, with Pacino's bad cockney accent reminding a student of his dad grandfather, was even worse.
Buzzer News: As with last week, a news anchor tries to summarize the day's news, but a buzzer sounds whenever he gets a word/phrase wrong. Pretty funny, and doesn't outstay its welcome. "10 b.m?"
Michael-6: I just don't get what's supposed to be funny or insightful about having a Jerry Springer-style TV host be a robot. Peter just gets to mechanically pose questions, then short circuit and gurgle milk. Still, it raised a smile when a guest corrected the pronounciation of his name "Pennishole" to "Penis Hole".
Charles Dickens Fruit Corner: A little flight of fancy, with Dickens books being reissued with yoghurt-style fruit corners!
Modern Life... Let's Have A Baby: Funny "how to" guide set in the 70s, this time focusing on bringing up babies. I particularly liked the explanation for why babies always cry -- they have premonitions of future atrocities.
Basil Fawlty Impersonators Chat Line: About as funny as last week's Pirate Chat Line. Yes, yes, we get it Yawn.
Poison Sockets: Fun little advert, reminding you to turn off your "poison sockets" around the house. Zany and quick.
Drawn-On Wrinkle Cream: Unamusing advert spoof about wrinkle cream, but for people who draw their wrinkles on! Ye-es.
Ringo Remembers: Peter can do impressions of all The Beatles. So let's do a sketch where he plays all the Beatles, with a toilet humour song on a rooftop and a bloke playing Yoko Ono. We can rhyme the word "poo", too! Sigh.
So yes. Very, very weak material here. It's all the kind of random thoughts bandied about in early script meetings, but with 90% of the dross making it to filming and the final edit!
I like Peter Serafinowicz, and I loved his Look Around You series (a spoof of 70s/80s educational TV), but sketch comedy doesn't seem to be his forte. Is it coincidence that the best sketch again spoofs 70s-era educational videos?
By their nature, sketch shows are hit-and-miss, and all comedy is subjective -- but I find it hard to imagine even staunch Serafinowicz fans considering this a success.
