Three Comedians, Two Teams, One Music Quiz (Never Mind the Buzzcocks)

Member Name: karenuk

Product:	Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Date:	27/03/01 (113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good laugh, entertaining, seeing a new side to celebs

Disadvantages: can be a bit hit and miss at times

I had been planning to read some more of my rather boring Catherine Cookson book tonight, but my other half decided he wanted to watch Never Mind The Buzzcocks (BBC 2, Mondays at 9pm).

As he turned the television on, I saw two of the guests were the very sexy but a bit arrogant Darius Danesh (famous for his unique rendition of Britney’s Baby One More Time on Popstars) and the rather sexy but slightly arrogant Dane Bowers. (Hmm, I can see a pattern developing here…) So I thought I would watch it while I was on the computer, maybe even write an opinion…

For those that haven’t seen Never Mind The Buzzcocks, it is a comedy quiz show – you know, one of those where they dredge out a few celebs, toss round some questions, and some of them get answered. This one is about music - but the main part of it is to take the mickey out of each other and get a load of laughs. That can make it a slightly hit and miss formula, but it usually works.

Mark Lamarr is the presenter and quiz host, who really steals the show with some great one-liners and put-downs. I am sure some of it is scripted, but he does ad-lib too and it’s a joy to behold. Although he can be rather cutting, the guests know what to expect and take it in good spirit most of the time.

Comedians Sean Hughes (the Irish one with sleepy, drunken eyes) and Phil Jupitus (the large, cuddly Northerner with a cute grin) are the regular team captains, who have two guest stars with them each week, to help or hinder, depending. They keep the humour flowing too, often at the expense of the celebs.

There are various rounds of the quiz, including Spot The Ex-Star where five people line up in an identity parade, for the teams to guess which one used to be famous. This week’s show featured Renato (from Renee and Renato’s Save Your Love) and the lead singer of The Primitives. I like this bit, because I usually remember when they were well-known
(being old!), I’m nosy (so I like hearing what they are now doing) and I’m quite good at recognising people.

There is also a round where two of the team members sing, hum or la the opening bars to a song, which the third member has to guess the name of.

The final round is answering questions against the clock, providing the next line of a song. The funniest bit of this section was when one of the girls from Steps was on and didn’t know the next line of their own song!

Of course, one of the best things about these shows is that you can get an idea of what celebrities are like, away from their usual singing careers. At it turned out, Dane definitely came across as smug and arrogant, whereas Darius was happy to join in fully, laugh at himself and look a bit of a prat. Hopefully he made a few quid out of it too. But if not, don’t worry, he’ll have a triple platinum album by the time he’s 35!

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