I absolutely can not stand Comedy Panel Shows. I have tried watching many of them but I don't find them funny. I think one of the reasons I don't like them is the reason I never liked "Who's line is it anyway". It is supposed to be off-the-cuff and made up on the spot but I always get the feeling they know what the topic or question is going to be and the jokes are written beforehand. I simply can get over that fact and it seriously impinges on my possible enjoyment of the comedy. I wonder if its more of a British thing because I'm in the US and there are basically no Comedy Panel Shows on TV at all. I know they are very big outside Britain also like in Germany and Austria (which is were I'm from originally). I also don't like the way people act on them. They always seem too self satisfied with their "jokes". It's not spontaneous or at least I don't think it is and that possibility destroys it for me. I watched "QI" and thought that if it was only Fry by himself it would be a much better show.

So There....

Hmmm. I know what you mean to an extent but sometimes it's really funny - and sometimes it's excrutiatingly embarrassing. Like most of the women on Mock the Week.

And half the men.

They are popular in Britain because they are a cheap way to make comedy, compared to a sit-com. It also very much an established radio format which TV plunders for ideas.
QI does at least have a central idea that is suited to that format, but the proliferation of these shows is producing diminishing returns.

They can be an easy watch, but I think there are certainly too many of them. I liked them more when I was younger, not a fan these days really.

Oh, I like Charlie Brooker's one, but that feels quite different to the norm.

I really like a lot of the panel shows, Would I Lie To You? in particular. But some I would gladly get rid of.

Yeah, panel shows are shit.

8 Out Of 10 Cats is garbage.

Can't believe it's still on the air.

I really couldn't care less if a panel show is scripted or not, or indeed whether or not it feels it. I just want it to be funny. Most are, to a greater or lesser extent. But there are certainly too many of them, playing for too much of the year, with the same group of comics circuiting them, I suspect at the expense of good sitcom.

Cheap and easy to produce I guess so there's always going to be a lot of them. Even QI grates with me now. I love the trivia side and the guests are always well chosen, but Alan Frigging Davies is an utter stinking nobwit.

I like most panel shows, they are basically what got me into liking comedy in the first place. Here in Australia for the last few years we've had 3 local produced ones. As far as the comics appearing on them it conists of a group of about the same 12 people.

It doesn't bother me if the guests are aware of the topics beforehand. It would get kind of boring if no one said anything everytime a question was asked because no one knew anything about it. I think in some cases they are made aware of the general topics rather than specific questions.

Quote: reds @ December 6 2011, 12:48 AM GMT

I like most panel shows, they are basically what got me into liking comedy in the first place. Here in Australia for the last few years we've had 3 local produced ones. As far as the comics appearing on them it conists of a group of about the same 12 people.

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Is one of them Adam Hills? And does he get his bloody fake leg out in Australia as often as he does here...?

Keep it simple and employ talent and it works. Nothing is as funny as the genuinely spontaneous; that is why the telly will never make you laugh as much as your mates do.

WILTY succeeds because the format does not lend itself to heavy scripting and Rob, David and Lee are all at the top of their game. Possibly the worst example was that Simon Bird/Nick Mohammad thing which was just pre-scripted humiliation of gormless celebs.

Quote: zooo @ December 6 2011, 8:53 AM GMT

Is one of them Adam Hills? And does he get his bloody fake leg out in Australia as often as he does here...?

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One of them was. It was called Spicks and Specks. It was a music quiz show like Nevermind The Buzzcocks, but tended to be more aimed at an slightly older audience. It ran for about seven years, with the final ever episode airing recently. I hadn't watched for a long time but he didn't seem to go on about his leg in that, although I think he often refers to it in his stand up.

Barring a few exceptions panel shows are mostly mediocre trash. But I suppose their one redeeming feature is that they help keep Andy Parsons off the streets.