What's up with British Quiz/Panel Shows?

[terry.330]

I was looking up Noel Fielding, Bill Bailey and Richard Ayode on YT and apparently this seems to be just about all they do now. It almost seems like these shows exist just to keep a handful of comedians employed. Either that or the shows are just such an easy way to make income and stay semi relevant these guys don't seem to feel the need to make original stuff anymore.

Is this just an accepted thing in the UK that if you're a comedian that's successful to a certain level you can just kind of retire and go the panel show circuit? Makes sense for a guy like Stephen Frye but a lot of these guys are still fairly young and while they've been successful they don't really have a large body of work.

Are these guys just not getting cast anymore?

 

[StevenK]

It's turning into a well worn path.

The panel shows here do very well so there are quite a few of them and there are actually not that many comedians who are particularly good at them. Some people write funny, some people act funny, some people are panel show funny. If I was to give examples of those I'd say John Cleese writes funny, Robin Williams acts funny and Bill Bailey is panel show funny. Nobody wants to hear John Cleese be spontaneous and no camera man wants to attempt to film Robin Williams trying to sit still at a desk for an hour.

Richard Ayode has taken a very strange path, he kind of does an openly comedy version of Louis Theroux nowadays, surrealist. I'd say Noel Fielding is kind of the same, and I suspect almost everything they've ever been in they've had to at least partially write themselves - nobody ever casted them did they?

Anyway, I'm rambling. Long story short people love the shows here, there are lots of them and not that many comedians who do them well so the ones that do make a good living out of it. Paul Merton's being doing it for 30 years.

 

[terry.330]

It's just weird to me, we don't really have these types of shows in the US. The closest we've had would maybe be Politically Incorrect, that would have returning guests and while it was comedy is was still almost strictly political and current events discussion. In the 70s there were a lot of variety and hokey game shows that had celebrity guests but nothing quite like the UK panel shows.

 

[StevenK]

It's just weird to me, we don't really have these types of shows in the US. The closest we've had would maybe be Politically Incorrect, that would have returning guests and while it was comedy is was still almost strictly political and current events discussion. In the 70s there were a lot of variety and hokey game shows that had celebrity guests but nothing quite like the UK panel shows.

Have you watched much/any? They're actually pretty decent.

If you get a chance I'd recommend in no particular order

Would I Lie To You
Mock The Week (ideally Frankie Boyle years)
8 out of 10 Cats does Countdown
QI
Never Mind The Buzzcocks (Simon Amstell years, often brutal)

And if you have literally fuck all else to do with your whole life

8 out of 10 cats (original one)
Taskmaster

 

[kingcuckmelon1]

Know that every woman on those panels is a token.... proof

 

[StevenK]

Know that every woman on those panels is a token.... proof

What if there were 2 women on the show?

 

[HornheaDD]

I just want to come in and say that England television wins because they have Matt Berry. We have Matt Berry in What We Do in the Shadows, and his Toast of Tinseltown series but... we fail without a Matt Berry.

 

[kingcuckmelon1]

What if there were 2 women on the show?

Good point. The least attractive one is the token. The other is the eye candy.

 

[100proof]

Brit panel shows are how I discovered Frankie Boyle, so they've got that going for them. I'm not a huge fan but they definitely have their moments. Mostly just people shitting on current events and each other. The closest US equivalent was Colin Quinn's Tough Crowd back in the 00s.

 

[madmanjock]

Shows like Mock the Week and Have I Got News for you are particularly part of the political process over here. We know the Conservative party would use your granny’s ashes to fertilise the crops if it saved putting her in a care home, and that the Labour Party are run by delusional liberal fucktards even if Kier Starmer looks semi-presentable - but still, thanks to free press we can laugh about it all.

Compare that to Russia where they poisoned the main political leader Anatolievich Navalny in an attempted assassination, and then arrested and branded him a terrorist… as bad as shit is here in the UK it makes you appreciate in the grand scheme of things at least we are free to laugh about it.

 

[LoneSage]

Shows like Mock the Week and Have I Got News for you are particularly part of the political process over here. We know the Conservative party would use your granny’s ashes to fertilise the crops if it saved putting her in a care home, and that the Labour Party are run by delusional liberal fucktards even if Kier Starmer looks semi-presentable - but still, thanks to free press we can laugh about it all.

Compare that to Russia where they poisoned the main political leader Anatolievich Navalny in an attempted assassination, and then arrested and branded him a terrorist… as bad as shit is here in the UK it makes you appreciate in the grand scheme of things at least we are free to laugh about it.

Yup.

 

[kernow]

You realise most UK people don't watch any of this right

 

[terry.330]

You realise most UK people don't watch any of this right

That's what I was wondering, seems like a lot of time filler for shitty network TV. A small step up from our daytime talk shows.

Just seems weird to see one of the guys from The Mighty Boosh commenting on an embarrassing quiz show.

 

[kernow]

I like Noel Fielding, he's pretty funny. But yeah he judges a bakery show nowadays. Everyone sells out

Never mind the buzzcocks was absolutely brutal with mark lamarr and amstell

 

[Heinz]

You realise most UK people don't watch any of this right

Don't lie you love Paul Hollywood.

I quite like the quiz shows to be honest.

 

[norton9478]

You realise most UK people don't watch any of this right

It's no Benny Hill.

 

[madmanjock]

You realise most UK people don't watch any of this right

Sure, but I’ll happily be in the part of the population that’s avoiding Ant & Dec on tv

 

[Lagduf]

I like Noel Fielding, he's pretty funny. But yeah he judges a bakery show nowadays. Everyone sells out

Never mind the buzzcocks was absolutely brutal with mark lamarr and amstell

There is no taboo on selling out these days. If anything societal perception is you’re the moron if you don’t accept easy money from sponsorships, lame gigs, etc. “Influencer” and YouTube culture is the culture of selling out.

 

[LoneSage]

There is no taboo on selling out these days.

Just as it should be.

Anyone who refuses a large amount of money in exchange for their art reaching a larger audience is either a moron or already wealthy, end of story.

What's that quote about Mike O'Kain and Jaws 4. "I've never seen it and by all accounts it was terrible. However, I have seen the house it built and it's terrific." Goddamn right, get that money.