The Secret Census
Comedy Lab pilot starring Jack Whitehall in which the comedian conducts hidden camera stunts to see if the public are honest
- Strand:
- Channel 4's 2010 Comedy Lab Pilots
- AKA:
- Jack Whitehall's Secret Census
- Genre:
- Sketch Show
- Broadcast:
- 2010 (Channel 4)
- Episodes:
- 1 Pilot
- Starring:
- Jack Whitehall, Jamelia Davis, Gemma Atkinson
- Writers:
- Jack Whitehall, Aiden Spackman, Freddy Syborn
- Production:
- Magnum Media
Jack Whitehall asks 'how honest is Britain?' in this Comedy Lab pilot. He oversees a secretly filmed poll centred on this topic and creates a number of outrageous stunts on unsuspecting members of the public.
Would individuals lie in court if a celebrity asked them? Or would they pretend to be off their head on drugs for £20? Results are then discussed with co-presenter Jamelia and the studio audience.
Our Review: A very 'Yoof TV' programme - we're probably a bit older than its target demographic so found it hard to properly judge the show.
The stunts themselves were pretty funny. Watching the public pretending to be on drugs was amusing due to the terrible acting on show; and we liked the stunt in which a succession of men having to pretend to be Ronan Keating for a good cause suddenly found themselves having to try and sing as him.
However, these elements only made up a fraction of the show - the rest wasn't so good. The Secret Census was clearly made on quite a cheap budget - and it showed.
The worst thing was the format though: the studio chat and 'analysis' of the results was boring filler, and the statistics clearly weren't reliable anyway so we're at a loss why they bothered trying to give them any kind of meaning (more people would lie under oath in court than would lie for a good deed? Come off it!)
The interaction with the audience was a complete shambles too, as everyone was packed too closely together for Whitehall to get any proper responses.
So, overall, not a complete success sadly. The Comedy Lab strand is a place to learn from mistakes though, so maybe given tweaks to the studio aspect of the show this programme could yet be turned into a successful series?
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