Laughing at people can be fun (Mock The Week)

Member Name: blissman70

Product:	Mock The Week
Date:	23/02/09 (148 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great humour and entertainment

Disadvantages: none for me but maybe for some

This BBC 2 topical comedy was created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson, for independent production company Angst Production, was first aired in June 2005, bringing 50 half hour episodes (to date) into 6 series... each one hosted by Dara O'Briain.

The theme tune is called "News of the World" and is sung by The Jam.


** BRIEF IDEA

It is a simple panel game format with two teams of three... being described by some as a mix of 'Have I got news for you' with a pinch of 'whose line is it anyway'.

Each team consists of two regular members plus one guest, the regular members having changed over time but have included the likes of..
Hugh Dennis, Frankie Boyle, Rory Bremner, Andy Parsons and Russell Howard.

* With guest appearances including... (*This list was found on from BBC site)

Ed Byrne, David Mitchell, John Oliver, mark Watson, Gina Yashere, Jo Brand, Andy Peters, Michael McIntyre, Jo Caulfield, Adam Hills, Jon Culshaw and many others


** THE GAMES INVOLVED

There are several regular games, such as ...

* Headliners...where a photograph of someone in the news appears on the screen together with some initial letters of a newspaper headline, the aim is to guess the headline...

* This is the question, what is the answer?... Where all the panellists have to the guess the question to an answer displayed on the screen...

* Spinning the news... six or just four panel member stand around what is called the 'performance area', ( a small section, similar to the set in Whose line). On the large screen is a 'random generator' which spins to reveal a topic which one of the panel members would have to act out a piece about the picture...

* Scenes we'd like to see... again takes place in the performance area where each panellist races to the microphone in the centre to take part in coming up with lines that certain people would be unlikely to say... for example, unlikely lines Tony Blair would say in a general election, or unlikely things that the pope would say... and so on.


** OTHER GAMES

Apart from the regular games other games to occasional crop up, such as...

* Between the lines... consisting of one panel member impersonating some one famous who has been on the recent news whilst another member speaks what he think is the truth.

* Newsreel... this game consists of one member from each team putting words around the pictures which appear on the screen


** IN CONCLUSION

From the start you can tell this is well rehearsed and fed mainly by some good script writers it doesn't seem to matter as this is still one of the funniest satirical shows in a long time.
Every round is as funny as the previous, with the not so hairy O'Briain being the perfectly comical host, with his funny expressions and even funnier looks... combining him with the great bunch of panel members brings some fantastically funny banter throughout... (although every time I look at Russell Howard I can't help but think that he looks like a Blue Peter presenter), creating thirty minutes of eye watering, side splitting entertainment.
Even though the show is meant a quiz show there are not so many questions involved, with some questions being answered after many minutes of sarcastic comments from the members, each one giving there best 'stupid' answer to bring many laughs from the audience, (and even the others on the show)...but this is what the show is about and is what make the show as comically popular as it has become.

Personally, I can't help but laugh at the way the panellist perform through the show, managing to bounce off each other with some fine one liners, comically slating each other, sometimes involving members of the audience... and even O'Briain gets some pasting as well, giving just as much as he gets...

In all, a brilliant comical look at some of the news from the week and if you enjoy watching the likes of shows such as "have I got news for you" or even "whose line is it anyway" then this is defiantly for you as the humour is the same for of quick witted dryness that makes such shows as popular as they are.

If you like the show then you may be interested in the DVD, entitled ""Mock the Week: Too hot for TV"", released in November 2007, consisting of three hours of entertainment, containing of a few extended episodes of series 5, which were apparently too hot to air on TV...

Summary: a different look at the week just gone