Harry Hill's ClubNite

Anybody else watch this? I loved it! The old anarchic spirit of Saturday Live! Colin Hoult's Anna Mann in particular was hilarious. Rosie Jones her usual ebullient self, Hill himself on top form. Wasn't so keen on Spencer Jones but apart from that, really enjoyed it.

Hmmm, I thought the C4 "Robot" ident skit at the beginning was hysterical, but after that it went down(harry)hill for me and conversely to you I thought the only bright and funny spot was Spencer Jones with his madcap humour, which looked not a million miles from what Harry does.

Might give it one more episode.

The double act, Egg, were about as funny as a burning orphanage.

Everybody else was decent enough and, for me, Anna Mann was the highlight of the show.

Quote: Sitcomfan64 @ 26th October 2019, 3:11 PM

The old anarchic spirit of Saturday Live!

This is exactly what I thought. A worthy successor. It will, of course, vary quite significantly week-to-week, depending on the guests. Looking forward to the rest of the run.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 26th October 2019, 3:19 PM

Hmmm, I thought the C4 "Robot" ident skit at the beginning was hysterical, but after that it went down(harry)hill for me and conversely to you I thought the only bright and funny spot was Spencer Jones with his madcap humour, which looked not a million miles from what Harry does.

Might give it one more episode.

That's fair enough, although obviously the show very much will depend on the guests, so unlike a sitcom I;m not sure it can really be judged as a series after a single episode. I know Rachel Parris is on a future one, along with Lucy Pearman and Tim Renkow, all of whom are brilliant live.

I've read a number of reviews in which the show is described as "anarchic" but the reality is that it's just about as far from anarchy as anything can possibly be.

The very essence of anarchy is the non-recognition of authority but when at school a class of pupils is being ever so silly by permission of the teacher, that's not anarchy: it's just a class of pupils being ever so silly by permission of the teacher. Likewise, Clubnite is a group of people being silly and funny with the permission and approval of every authority that has the power to tell them to stop it.

Another essential ingredient of anarchy is danger to everybody and everything in its vicinity: I didn't see anything remotely dangerous on Clubnite.

Where the threats to the established norms of TV broadcasting? There weren't any.

Where were the threats to the sensibilities of the snowflake generation? There weren't any.

I wonder how many complaints Ofcom will receive about the first episode of Clubnite?

My guess is that they will receive none at all.

And that ain't anarchy!

Episode 2 was another mixed bag.

Judi Love was excellent and is, for my money, Britain's best black comedian.

Am I allowed to mention she's black? Probably not - although, in my defence, I didn't notice she wasn't white until she told us.

In any event, she's a very talented comedian who celebrates and glorifies the cultural differences that the PC Brigade know don't really exist.

Lucy Pearman was wonderfully surreal and is a genuine comedic talent.

Mat Ewins was good: is he Stephen Merchant's little brother?

At one point in the proceedings, Harry referred to "fags", meaning cigarettes. If this episode is ever shown on Talking Pictures TV, they'll put a warning message on the screen before it starts!

Harry Hill has mastered the art of being both weird and wonderful.

Some of his guests, while exhibiting commendable levels of weirdness, need to do a bit of work on the "wonderful". Laughing out loud

It really is a mixed bag of a show. Mat Ewins, Suzi Ruffell and The Delightful Sausage were all funny, didn't like the first act at all. Two absolutely stonking acts on next week though in the form of Jess Fostekew and Huge Davies so looking forward to that. I will give Harry credit though, he's essentially managed to get the atmosphere (and variable quality) of a night out at a comedy club onto the screen.

In tonight's episode, Harry himself was on top form.

I thought Paul F Taylor and Eddie Kadi were the best acts of the evening.

I wonder if I'm the only viewer who thinks the set is far too bright and generally far too vivid to create anything like the best environment for a show like this?

It's ideal for a little kiddies' show but hardly ideal for a comedy club.

From a visual perspective, the comedian is usually the least attractive thing on the screen! Laughing out loud

Well Huge Davies was brilliant. Such confidence, certainly a talent to watch, as it Jess Fostekew.

Last night's episode had some decent turns.

I like Jamie Demetriou but I know he's not everybody's cup of tea, especially when he writes and stars in sitcoms. Still, I think he's a significant talent on the comedy scene.

Mo Omar was enjoyable: he has a nice face that will serve him well in comedy and his material is good.

I was a bit worried when I heard the headline act was an Australian lesbian comedian: I fully expected her to come out on stage with a flamethrower and ask all the women in the audience to move to one side.

Luckily, however, it was somebody called Zoe Coombs Marr, who turned out to be a very likeable person with skilful delivery, good material and, as far as I could make out, she doesn't hate men at all.

So, three cheers for Zoe Coombs Marr - a very worthy headline act!

Last night's episode had some excellent acts and some memorable comedy moments but whoever arranged the running order of those acts should be fired.

Too many acts really, especially the more straightforward stand-up ones.