YHBW is Brooker's jump to the mainstream and the format proves to be the best use of his personality yet. Whether it be sitting alone on Screenwipe's couch speaking to a camera positioned on the corner of a table, or sat behind a desk for the current affairs spin-off Newswipe, Brooker usually paints himself as the lone, caustic, grumpy git. It's been a solo performance that, for all his undeniable perception and wit, has always made him feel remote and not particularly likable. Cleverly, Brooker opts to show a softer side to her personality with YHBW -- mainly because he's in the company of other people and free to laugh at their jokes and feed off the atmosphere of a live audience. Simple interaction with people made him feel a lot more likeable, while simultaneously stirring some colour into the show itself.
The three shows tackled in YHBW's first episode were soft targets, but it was still fun to see them beaten about the head. First up was BBC1's tea-time magazine series The One Show, with its incongruous mix of lighthearted fluff and "serious issues". It fuelled almost 20 minutes of material and got the show off to a strong start. The highlight though was undoubtedly Deadliest Warrior, a frightening and horrendous US series that pits historical fighters against each other, aided with studio combat demonstrations, realistic punch-bag dummies, computer simulations and actor reenactments -- like William Wallace versus a Zulu Warrior, or (most unforgivably) the IRA vs. the Taleban! It was so tasteless and amusingly wrong that I half-suspected it was all a Chris Morris-style prank.
All said, YHBW was full of funny clips/reviews, amusing four way banter, and some enjoyable games (loved Jamelia and Herring's attempt to read an autocue where the seriousness of the sentences fluctuated wildly.) But the real surprise was seeing how comfortable Brooker appeared to be as the presenter, relishing the audience response and delighting in making everyone laugh while sharing his telly discoveries.
7 July 2009
Channel 4, 10pm
