One third decent, one third disappointing, one third tired. Comedian Simon Brodkin has been building a name for himself on the standup circuit in the guise of happy-go-lucky cockney lad Lee Nelson, which helped get him a co-starring role on Al Murray's misfiring sketch show Multiple Personality Disorder last year. Indeed, Lee Nelson's Well Good Show owes a debt to Al Murray's own signature character, The Pub Landlord, as it essentially combines Landlord-style audience interaction with early-Harry Enfield sketches and laddish games. Squeeze in some diluted Ali G-esque patter, and the result is something of a mess, but a mess with charm.Brodkin's background as a standup holds him in good stead for dealing with real people and ad-libbing, meaning the best moments of Well Good Show are whenever his Lee Nelson character is meeting and chatting with the studio audience. I like Lee as a character, mainly because he's the most likeable pastiche of "chavs" I've seen. Compared to the likes of garrulous Vicky Pollard from Little Britain or Catherine Tate's stroppy Lauren, Lee's something of a breath of fresh air. He's a dense idiot, but he's not malicious, and he's actually very likeable. Brodkin pokes fun at chavs (their speech patterns, slang, dress sense, perceived intelligence), but he's never cruel towards those he's mocking. In some ways, chavs get their best PR in years with Lee Nelson as the latest cultural ambassador. Of course, another point of view is that Lee isn't edgy or controversial enough to become a pop-culture hit, but I think satisfying a gap in the market with a character who isn't dark or divisive is commendable. Post-Ali G, what's left to say at this stage?
The downsides of Well Good Show are nearly everything else, although I quite like Brodkin's preening footballer Jason Bent. Not because Bent taps a new vein of comedy (he's just another dimwit who happens to be a pretty-boy sportsman), but because there's always mileage in poking fun at metrosexual, overpaid footballers. The gags may be signposted a lot of the time, hitting the same basic punchline that Bent's a scouse airhead who doesn't understand the world around him, or the politics of the game he's paid millions to play, but it'll give you a few chuckles.
The least interesting character is Dr. Bob; an incompetent foreign doctor with a Groucho Marx moustache. Essentially a renamed Dr. Omprakash (the character Brodkin portrayed on the short-lived BBC3 comedy The Wall), it's well-trodden comedy ground and consequently only of passing interest. I'm no longer shocked or tickled pink by the sight of a doctor being soothingly-mannered but rude to his patients, or causing accidental bloodshed with botched operations.
The final ingredient to Well Good Show is the studio-based games, involving a volunteer from the audience. These aren't exactly cutting-edge comedy skits, but there's some fun to be had. In one, a bachelor had to choose a date from a lineup of "women" with their backs to him, all but one revealed to be ugly, old or men. In another, a middle-aged man had to play "higher or lower?" with a lineup of people about how many sexual partners they've had in their lifetime, including a vivacious woman, a midget and a porn star. Rather lazy, post-pub silliness. The only real concern is how often Well Good Show targets old people as the butt of jokes, with the elderly often trotted out to gurn, participate in games, or sing karaoke. Are old people the only demographic you can safely ridicule these days? With a BBC3 show airing at 10.30pm, who over-60 is going to see it and complain? Is that the thinking?
Overall, Lee Nelson's Well Good Show isn't that great, but enough of the show relies on Simon Brodkin's skills as a live performer to pull it through the comedy quicksand. The sketches and games aren't offensively bad, they're just relatively weak and employ obvious material. I wouldn't make Well Good Show appointment viewing, but it's well-scheduled and provides 30-minutes of disposable amusement every week.
17 JUNE 2010: BBC3, 10.30PM
