British Comedy Guide
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The Kevin Bishop Show. Kevin Bishop. Copyright: Objective Productions
The Kevin Bishop Show

The Kevin Bishop Show

  • TV sketch show
  • Channel 4
  • 2007 - 2009
  • 13 episodes (2 series)

Fast-paced Channel 4 sketch show built around Kevin Bishop. Includes a number of celebrity impressions. Stars Kevin Bishop, Jim Howick, Katie Males, Oliver Maltman, Karen Gillan and Sam Hazeldine

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Episode menu

Series 1, Episode 1

The sketches in this week's show include Daily Mail DVD giveaways that reveal the screen-tests of Bruce Forsyth in The Shining and Al Pacino's take on Superman; the American remake of Countdown with a bikini-clad Carol; the new single, Legalize, from STD Kelly; and Sienna Miller's new perfume Publicity.
STD Kelly: Legalize. Kevin Bishop. Copyright: Objective Productions

List of Sketches

The Dark Knight
Gordon Ramsey
Celebrity Siblings: Brian Cowell
US Countdown
Jonathan Ross introduces Ricky Gervais (1)
Screen Tests For Famous Roles: Al Pacino in Superman
Screen Tests For Famous Roles: Bruce Forsyth in The Shining
Screen Tests For Famous Roles: Sly Stallone in Pride and Prejudice
Fony Playbox: Barman Attractor
Jonathan Ross introduces Ricky Gervais (2)
Unpopular Dr Doolittle
Fragrance Advert: Publicity by Sienna Miller
Pioneers of Medicine: Smallcock disease
Pimp My Ride: Stephen Hawking
Cold Sore Mountain
Pimp My Ride: Stephen Hawking (Part 2)
Christopher Walken and Gary Lineker
Lynda La Plante's The Charmer: Drink
Helmet Cam: Free Fall
Sophie's Choice The Musical
Wannabe-DJ Gary: Traffic Report
Guantanamo Bay Playset advert
The Bourne Realisation
Jonathan Ross introduces Ricky Gervais (3)

== Advert Break ==

Jonathan Ross introduces Ricky Gervais (4)
STD Kelly: Legalize
Fony Playbox: Illegal Immigrant Traffic Light Window Screen Washer Man
The Psychological Profiler
Film4 Pun Season: Bridget Jones' Diarrhea
Film4 Pun Season: Groundhog Gay
News 25: Ralph Fiennes
News 25: Channel Football Results
The Lazy Vampire
Classic Movie Twists Completely Given Away: Fight Club
Classic Movie Twists Completely Given Away: The Sixth Sense
Classic Movie Twists Completely Given Away: The Usual Suspects
Nursery Crime Squad: Three Bears
Helmet Cam: Winter Olympics
The Jodie Marsh Story
Jonathan Ross introduces Ricky Gervais (5)
Criminal Mastermind
Dangerously High School Musical
Indiana Jones - Google Search For The Holy Grail
Fragrance Advert: Recession by Gordon Brown
Jonathan Ross counting money
News 25: Continuity Outbreak

Broadcast details

Date
Friday 25th July 2008
Time
10pm
Channel
Channel 4
Length
30 minutes

Cast & crew

Cast
Kevin Bishop Various
Jim Howick Various
Katie Males Various
Oliver Maltman Various
Karen Gillan Various
Guest cast
Jodie Marsh Self
Writing team
Kevin Bishop Writer
Lee Hupfield Writer
Andrew Dawson (as The Dawson Bros) Writer
Steve Dawson (as The Dawson Bros) Writer
Tim Inman (as The Dawson Bros) Writer
Samantha Martin Writer
Les Keen Writer
Josh Howie Writer (Additional Material)
Paul Hupfield Writer (Additional Material)
Lisa Fishwick Writer (Additional Material)
Michael Livingstone Writer (Additional Material)
Matt Morgan Writer (Additional Material)
Production team
Elliot Hegarty Director
Lee Hupfield Producer
Michael Livingstone Producer
Phil Clarke Executive Producer
Andrew O'Connor Executive Producer
Mark Davies Editor
Jonathan Paul Green Production Designer
Mark Thomas Composer

Press

It's virtually impossible to name a sketch show that isn't 'hit and miss', it goes with the territory, but this certainly erred on the side of miss.

More disappointing, however, was how predictable and safe many of the sketches were - I could have written much of this review before the show even began, and that's a real shame.

Anna Lowman, TV Scoop, 28th July 2008

Half an hour of being peppered by parodies and splattered by spoofs is exhausting stuff - but worthwhile. Even the bits that aren't especially funny are superbly performed by [p=875]Bishop and his small team.

The Custard TV, 27th July 2008

Kevin Bishop does impressions - of Jonathan Ross, Gordon Ramsey, Al Pacino, lots of people. Generally there's a twist. So Al Pacino is auditioning for Superman, on a DVD that comes free with the Daily Mail. And here's Cowell - not Simon though, his (much) less successful brother Brian. They're still impressions, though. And I'm not really seeing anything I haven't seen on Bremner, McGowan, French and Saunders even. Do we need another? Guess how Americans are portrayed. Fat and stupid. That's just lame.

Sam Wollaston, The Guardian, 26th July 2008

The first rule of sketch comedy is: if you're going to tell a bad joke, make it short. Elbowing its way into a market already crowded by everyone from Lucas and Walliams to Armstrong and Miller, The Kevin Bishop Show stuck admirably to this maxim. Bishop, the man behind the sporadically hilarious Star Stories, had me chewing my fist in embarrassment at times, and laughing, too.

I particularly enjoyed the American version of Countdown (the letters board read: HAMBURGRE) and Bruce Forsyth's audition for The Shining (axing his way through a door, Heeeeere's Brucie! Nice to see you...). There was satire, including spoof adverts for the fragrances 'Publicity by Sienna Miller' and 'Recession by Gordon Brown'.

By keeping sketches short and silly, Kevin Bishop and his show just about carried the day. But nothing he dreamt up made me laugh as hard as the talking tree.

The Telegraph, 26th July 2008

In Channel 4's British Comedy Award-winning Star Stories, Kevin Bishop was a revelation. Each week his schoolboy-cheeky caricatures of everyone from Tom Cruise to Alex Ferguson stole the show. So Channel 4 gave him his own sketch show.

The pilot earlier this year was, not to put too fine a point on it, poor. All the more reason to rejoice that this first episode of the series proper is in a different league, with a string of impishly silly, very funny ideas, mostly film or TV spoofs.

It doesn't hurt that the pace is ridiculously fast: if you don't like one skit, don't worry, another will be along in seconds.

There's the Daily Mail DVD giveaway that includes Bruce Forsyth's try-out for The Shining; there's Pimp My Ride with Stephen Hawking; there's Sophie's Choice - The Musical; and a visit to Simon Cowell's brother Brian, who runs a convenience store in Rotherham. Best of all there's a running joke about Jonathan Ross that makes it safe to assume Bishop won't be invited on the former's chat show any time soon.

David Butcher, Radio Times, 25th July 2008

Kevin Bishop's new sketch show - like most sketch shows - is a hit-and-miss affair. It is mostly celebrity based, relying on spoofs of TV and film, and his impersonations are deliberately more impressionistic than accurate. But the sketches are so fast that none of the duds have time to do any damage and there are enough imaginative and entertaining flights of fancy to make it all worthwhile.

David Chater, The Times, 25th July 2008

There's some terrific comedy when the king of spoof - Kevin Bishop - returns. He came to the forefront in Star Stories, and is well on form in The Kevin Bishop Show. Don't miss it.

DigiGuide, 17th July 2008

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