Lamarr(s) attacks (Never Mind the Buzzcocks)

Member Name: dave27

Product:	Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Date:	12/02/04 (206 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lamarr

Disadvantages: Dumb guests

Laddish quiz games appealing to lager louts crossed with intellectually aspiring wits enjoyed a great role stage centre in the 1990's with such progs as Have I Got News For You (one of the first and still one of the best despite the removal of Angus Deayton), They Think It's All Over and even It's Only TV But I Like It, with all of them picking their guests from much the same rota of late night stars. Never Mind The Buzzcocks is the quiz programme which focuses on the music scene in a way that the bland and asinine Pop Quiz hosted by the insufferable Mike Read just could not. It's built on the punk/indie ethic and glories in the smart and sharp put down, snide remark and arrogant sneer. As such former stand up comic Mark Lamarr (the greasy 50's Ted from Shooting Stars) is the perfect host, particularly now he's dispensed with that unfortunate quiff of his. He's aggressive, smart arsed, obnoxious and pushy, just like the programme itself.

The show features an anarchic and disorganised contest between two teams of three on all matters popmuzik and relies for its entertainment value on the sparring and battle of wits between the various guests. The original team captains were Fat Man Phil Jupitus and Sean Hughes, but latterly the bizarre Bill Bailey has taken over from Hughes, moving things on to new levels of weirdness and antagonism.

It's important that you don't take things too seriously because the show's not about the competition, more the tomfoolery, and Lamarr goes wandering all over the place, penalising those he doesn't like and giving them a real kicking. Third Degree Sheila Ferguson and Dead Or Alive front man Pete Burns suffered particularly sharp put downs,
along with anyone who's unfortunate enough to have risen to fame as part of a manufactured pop band. At times, he's just plain ignorant and unpleasant, winding guests up until the elastic snaps, much as Spawn of the Devil Ian Hislop did with Paula Yates on Have I Got News For you. However, Buzzcocks is unquestionably funny and addictive stuff and has created its own cliches and language in a bizarre parallel universe.

There's much in common between Buzzcocks and it's main rivals, HIGNFY and They Think It's All Over, but it has managed to carve out its own distinctive space and fan base, but it's strictly late night telly fare with its bad language, harsh sadism and sharp snap. I really love it, although I certainly don't manage to catch it as much as I used to.

Typical of the Buzzcocks scene is the following excerpt from a recent show, as part of the Missing Words round. Lamarr gives a team the first line of a song and they have to guess what comes next ...

"Hello..."
"... I Love You?"
"No, Hello I'm Back Again - Hello..."
"...Is it me you're looking for?"
"No, Hooray - Hello..."
"... I Love You?"
"No, Goodbye - Hello..."
"My friend?"
"No, I Love You..."
etc etc REPEAT TO FADE

Mark Lamarr's undeniably irritating and unpleasant at times, but he does bring a lunacy and deadpan nastiness which elevates Buzzcocks to extreme heights of pleasure, and Jupitus and Bailey are strong counterpoints to his MC, each with their own modus operandi and routine,
but it's Mark's bitchiness to the guests which is the high point of the show, and you know that if they react to his barbs he's only going to get even more sharp and pointed.

He's at his best/worst when he gets someone who clearly doesn't understand the 'rules' of the game such as they are, and normally it's the loudmouthed drug sodden dumb Yanks who are most guilty of those particular failings, and when he gets one of them in his gun sights, Lamarr is off and running with his machine gun motormouth punching gaping holes in their intellect and holding them up to let the light shine through their transparent stupidity.

It's deliciously wicked and endlessly entertaining.

Another favourite bit of mine is when two members of a team produce vocal recreations of the musical intro to a hit song and the third member has to guess who it is, often with quite hilarious results. Now, Sean Hughes was always wonderful(ly bad) at that part and produced some of the show's most memorable moments, although Bill Bailey has brought his own qualities to bear since he took over from our Sean.

Hell, why don't you just check it out for yourself if you've not seen it, rather than take my word for it ... Buzzcocks is definitely an acquired taste, but it's extremely rewarding.

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