It's Thursday, it's nine o'clock so never mind anything else... (Never Mind the Buzzcocks)

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Date:	16/10/08 (426 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: incredibly funny show

Disadvantages: none!

I love Thursday nights because at nine o'clock I can sit down and watch one of my favourite programmes on TV - Never Mind the Buzzcocks. It could be described as a music comedy quiz but the emphasis is definitely on the comedy! By nine thirty I know that I will probably have laughed more in the last thirty minutes than I will have done all day!

The show is currently hosted by the fabulous Simon Amstell. To me he is a master of dry comedy and every week he seems to relish putting down all of the guests with very sharp wit and humour. The show used to be hosted by Mark Lamarr (who everyone thought would be an incredibly hard act to follow) but I think that Amstell is just perfect for the job!

The other two regulars on the show have been the team captains - Phil Jupitus and Bill Baily. Both are very funny in their own right and I love Bill Baily's wild unkempt slightly manic look compared to Phil Jupitus's suit wearing smartness. Sadly, Bill Baily has recently left the show and at the moment has been replaced by a series of guest presenters. I will really miss his appearance on the show.

Each team has two guests each week who are known in either the world of music or television. They don't shy away from some controversial guests either such as Amy Winehouse who insulted everyone in sight or Preston from The Ordinary Boys who stormed off halfway through the show after being taunted a little bit too much about his wife Chantelle who he met on Celebrity Big Brother!

My favourite guests have been Anthony Costa from Blue who, despite gross provocation from Simon Amstell, refused to rise to the bait and get annoyed. I also enjoyed the show where Martin Freeman and Matthew Horne appeared on opposite teams and tried to outdo each other with serious puzzled winsome looks! I always enjoy all the guests though and , apart from Preston, they all seem to be having a great time and really enjoying the banter that makes the show so successful.

The show follows the same formula each time with four music rounds - all of which are just a vehicle for the comedy! The first round usually features footage of a couple of stars and there folows a quite bizarre multiple choice question about something strange that each person has done. Generally though it just provides an excuse for the panellists to have a bit of a pop at the people involved.

The second round is the intros round. The captain and the more musical member of the team have to provide the intros to songs that the other team member should know without the aid of any musical instrument! This is usually very funny especially when the guessing team member looks totally blank!

Thirdly, usually there is the identity parade. Panellists have to pick out a musician who is no longer in the public eye. The audience are shown a video of that person in action but the team members do not see this. They then have to pick the person out of a lineup of five. It's amazing they get it right so often as I find it hard to pick most people out and I've seen the clip. I do wish at this stage that they would provide just a little information about what that person is doing now but this doesn't really happen. Sometimes there is a variation on this and teams have to put celebrity lookalikes in order according to certain criteria or match them with objects associated with them!

Finally there is the Next Line round. Simon Amstell reads out lyrics and the teams have to supply the next round. This is funniest when the lyrics are from songs that one of the guests actually sang and they don't recognise them.

It's amazing with this show just how quickly thirty minute goes especially when you spend most of that time laughing. It's got a very successful formula but it's really made by the all the people that appear on the show. The well chosen guests are generally up for it and don't mind being made fun of, the team captains are very funny (although I wil wait to see who becomes the permanant replacement for Bill Baily!) but for me the star of the show is Simon Amstell. I find him incredibly funny in a bit of a posh smarmy way. He also has a bit of boyish charm which I think helps him to get away with a lot of the things that he comes out with.

Overall I think this is a great show and if you've never seen it it will be worth tuning in to BBC2 at 9 pm on Thursdays to see what you think. I hope you're not disappointed. It's also worth bearing in mind that if you like it you can catch lots of repeats on the Dave channel too!

Summary: Thirty funny minutes!