Mad Mad World. Paddy McGuinness. Copyright: Roughcut Television
Mad Mad World

Mad Mad World

  • TV panel show
  • ITV1
  • 2012
  • 8 episodes (1 series)

Panel show that looks at fun news stories, events and TV clips from around the world. With Paddy McGuinness, Rufus Hound & Rhys Darby. Stars Paddy McGuinness, Rufus Hound, Rhys Darby and Rob Rouse.

Press clippings

Mad Mad World review - Episode 1.7

It's finally been and gone - the first (and I think it's safe to say only) series of Mad Mad World. My previous reviews have been quite uncomplimentary and this one isn't much better.

UK TV Reviewer, 11th August 2012

Former Phoenix Nights star and comedian Paddy McGuinness hosts the last in the series of the entertainment panel show in his usual holiday-rep style. Treading ground previously pioneered by our TV critic Clive James and Chris Tarrant in the Eighties and Nineties, the quiz focuses on wacky news stories and video clips from around the world. Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords) and Rufus Hound (Celebrity Juice) head up two celebrity teams. Their guests this week are David Hasselhoff, Louie Spence and Coleen Nolan.

Toby Dantzic, The Telegraph, 10th August 2012

Such is the dearth of new programming during the Olympics that I am obliged to review Mad Mad World, a show well into its run which I had rather hoped to avoid ever setting eyes on.

My low expectations were met in full. Mad Mad World is yet another comedy panel show in an already saturated market that is more than happy to rehash other formats rather than attempt anything microscopically different. They even steal the funny buzzer noises as pioneered by QI.

The basic premise creaks with unoriginality and old age - aren't foreigners and their television shows funny? Clive James certainly thought so, three decades ago. Clips are exhumed, many already viral on the internet, and two teams make purportedly witty comments about them. Several of the rounds feature still photographs from news stories, which rather defeats the object of the exercise and suggests that any attempt at quality control was long since abandoned back in the pub where the idea was originally hatched.

Paddy McGuinness is the perfectly competent host, and the panellists make a decent fist of trying to make the show look unscripted. A sliver of spontaneity did infiltrate proceedings courtesy of guest Stacey Solomon, who was endearingly ditzy throughout, but even she could do little to lift the suffocating miasma of complacency engulfing the whole sorry enterprise.
"What is unique about this Venus de Milo?" asks McGuinness of a peculiar looking statue.

"Is it made of shit?" replies team captain Rufus Hound.

It was. But it certainly wasn't the only thing that evening.

Harry Venning, The Stage, 7th August 2012

Mad Mad World review - Episode 1.6

I find myself spending the whole forty minutes of each episode wishing it to improve but when the credits role and the closing music kicks in I merely feel disappointed.

UK TV Reviewer, 5th August 2012

Given the success of gloriously trashy dating programme Take Me Out, it's no surprise to see its presenter Paddy McGuinness at the reins of this equally cheesy panel show. Comedians Rhys Darby and Rufus Hound head two celebrity-packed teams for a light-hearted quiz based on news stories and TV clips from across the globe. This week's motley crew include comic Stephen K. Amos, This Morning host Eamonn Holmes and ditzy X Factor graduate Stacey Solomon.

Toby Dantzic, The Telegraph, 3rd August 2012

Mad Mad World review - Episode 1.5

I think the premise of the show is quite good - it's like Tarrant On TV teamed with Celebrity Juice, with various bizarre clips being shown from TV shows around the world for a host of star guests and comedians to pass comment and answer questions on. Why then, why isn't it more entertaining to watch?

UK TV Reviewer, 31st July 2012

Paddy McGuinness's nifty Riverdance footwork makes a lively opener to this new panel show, based on international news clips and with comedians Rhys Darby and Rufus Hound as team captains. But just as Paddy is game enough to show off his skills at Irish dancing, he's game enough to work with some pretty shoddy material.

The clips are on the geriatric side (there's a Star Wars-themed wedding from 2009) and some of the gags they throw up from guests Janice Dickinson, Louis Walsh, Jason Byrne and Rob Rouse are more mean than clever. Thank the casting department, then, for the presence of Rufus Hound, who kindly goes along with some of the soggier gags before interjecting with a proper one of his own. Saturday nights are a tough nut to crack, but Mad Mad World needs some sharper implements.

Emma Sturgess, Radio Times, 30th June 2012

Ever thought the 'Devised by' credit at the end of QI seems a bit overblown for a digressive Q&A panel show? Well, ITV1's slack-jawed version of basically the same set-up, hosted by - and you'll like this - Paddy McGuinness, is here to prove that John Lloyd and co must be doing something to earn their money. McGuinness is joined by team captains Rufus Hound and Rhys 'Conchords' Darby, alongside Louis Walsh, a model and two miscellaneous comedians for an eternal 'What Happens Next?' roundelay of low-end YouTubia and silly foreign types. A child falls down, a woman accidentally farts on live TV, an African chap squirts water out of his nose all over Paddy, while the international flavour, laddish vibe, salty banter and shiny floor are suggestive of a pub quiz on an oil rig.'Ding-dang-do I?!' No.

Adam Lee Davies, Time Out, 30th June 2012

Earlier this month Rufus Hound said he quit Celebrity Juice because he wanted to take a break from comedy. Last night he appeared as a team captain on Paddy McGuinness's new panel show Mad Mad World. Objective achieved already, Rufus.

Ian Hyland, Daily Mail, 30th June 2012

Paddy McGuinness: German TV is the weirdest!

Take Me Out host Paddy McGuinness hunts down the world's strangest telly in his new Saturday night show...

What's On TV, 29th June 2012

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