Graham Norton

The Michael McIntyre Chat Show: where did it go wrong?

The producers of the comedian's ailing show are clearly trying to revamp it to play to his strengths. What do Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross have that he doesn't?

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Although I knew the programme was coming, I did feel that it received very little in the way of promotion before it aired last Monday. I have to say I didn't expect much going in, primarily as it was placed in the dreaded 10:35 slot for shows that BBC One aren't that proud of. To his credit McIntyre proved to be an endearing presence, as he often is, although he really didn't ask his guests that many probing questions.

I did feel that the programme was better depending on the quality of the guest, so to me it was at its best when Sir Terry Wogan appeared and reached a lull by the time we got to Lord Sugar.

One of the things that irritated me the most about McIntyre was the fact that he continually broke the fourth wall, whether that was to inform Lily Allen that somebody was talking to him in his ear or the pre-credit sequence in which we saw him talk to the audience ahead of the show itself. In fact McIntyre seemed more at home addressing the audience than he did when he was forced to go into chat show host mode.

His interactions with the crowd provided the funniest moments especially when he played the first ever round of 'Send to All'.

Though not as bad as some celebrity-fronted chat shows, especially the one that Allen herself hosted, I don't think that McIntyre really suits the chat show format in a way that others such as Alan Carr and Graham Norton do. Thankfully his likeability shines through which doesn't make watching the programme a chore, but at the same time I don't think I'd ever choose to watch it again.

Radio Times review

The path from comedy to chat show is a well-trodden but perilous one. Alan Carr and Graham Norton have both skipped down that route with ease but now Michael McIntyre finds out whether his bouncy style of humour will work in the static format of a chat show.

Stand-up comedians don't always find it easy to allow someone else into the spotlight so he'll need to rein in his boisterousness a bit. If he wants pointers, two of his guests have been in the hot seat themselves before: Terry Wogan and Lily Allen (although the latter was widely panned for her efforts). It'll be interesting to see how Michael copes with his other guest, too - Lord Sugar doesn't suffer fools gladly, so he's not always the easiest interviewee.

Does the world really need another chat show? Decide for yourself as irrepressibly perky comedian Michael McIntyre tries to remind himself to shut up long enough to let his guests get a word in edgeways. Graham Norton, Alan Carr and Jonathan Ross will scarcely be quaking in their boots at McIntyre's opening guest list: Lily Allen, Lord Alan Sugar and Sir Terry Wogan can all be relied on for a jolly anecdote but it's a pretty safe choice for an opening gambit. McIntyre will need something a little edgier if he's going to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

It's a clash of the titans of TV entertainment as multi award-winning Graham Norton plays host to multi award-winning TV hosts Ant and Dec in the last hurrah of the current series. The cheeky banter will be on overload between a trio never lost for words, so will the rest of the guests - supermodel Naomi Campbell (right), Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul, The Fall's Jamie Dornan, soon to star in Fifty Shades of Grey, and Brit Award-winner Ellie Goulding - be able to get a word in edgeways?

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Radio Times review

When you've clocked up as many great performances as Gary Oldman, you can afford a bit of silly stuff, and his new movie is silly with a cult twist. He stars in the remake of 1987's cyborg sci-fi RoboCop as Dr Dennett Norton, the creator of the freaky man-machine with a nipped-in waist and a surprising fondness for free will. In common with many of Oldman's characters, Dr Norton looks like he smells of old coffee - a nice match with Nick Frost, whose role as tubby wannabe Latin dancer Bruce in new British romcom Cuban Fury seems to be powered mainly by iced buns.

Graham Norton will bring them together in a frenzy of near-the-knuckle jokes and slyly clever questions. He'd do well, though, to avoid the subject of the one role they (almost) have in common: the antihero of Martin Amis's Money, John Self, who eluded Oldman but came to Frost with pretty dire results.

Radio Times review

It's not long ago that Matthew McConaughey had become a byword for lightweight romantic comedies and going shirtless at every opportunity. But the role that recently won him a Golden Globe was lightweight in the literal sense: McConaughey shed three stone to play a rodeo cowboy dying of AIDS in The Dallas Buyer's Club.

The award put the icing on a remarkable return to the Hollywood A-list and tonight he discusses his comeback with Graham Norton while Alan Davies provides comedy cover and Sheryl Crow provides music.