Press clippings Page 33
Which is the smuggest nation on Earth?
It's not me asking that question - well, it is, but not originally - but the host of a new show called The Matt Lucas Awards (BBC1, 10.35pm).
That host, though you may find this hard to believe, is Little Britain's Matt Lucas, who originally did a similar programme on Radio 2.
Each week he's joined by three guests - tonight it's Jason Manford, Graham Garden and German stand-up comic Henning Wehn - to debate the sort of award nominations which for obvious reasons don't get a look-in elsewhere.
Others under consideration include the most dreadful football song ever sung.
Mike Ward, Daily Star, 10th April 2012Matt Lucas's solo project, minus his comedy partner David Walliams, is the flip side to Room 101. Instead of nominating the worst things in various categories, his guests each week will be nominating the best - although sometimes, as tonight, they're giving awards to the worst too.
This show started life on radio in 2009 called And the Winner Is. They recorded an unbroadcast pilot last year which was staged to look like a glitzy award ceremony, but that felt too formal, and so they've taken the show in completely the other direction and it's now shot in a studio masquerading as Matt's front room. His mother's in it too, and it really is his mum - not just Matt in a wig.
It's a fun concept that ought to work - and it also deserves a Matt Lucas Award of its own for the Best Title Song For A Comedy Panel Show as well as Most Overqualified House Band. David Arnold, who's seated at the piano, didn't just write the theme tune for Little Britain and Come Fly With Me, he's most famous as the composer of the last five James Bonds.
The trouble in this first episode is the lack of chemistry between the guests. Jason Manford is a safe pair of hands on any panel show and Graeme Garden tries hard, but Henning Wehn - the self-styled German Ambassador for Comedy - is a bit of an acquired taste, and from the stony expression on Jason Manford's face, he doesn't get the joke either.
Jane Simon, The Mirror, 10th April 2012While his partner in catchphrase comedy David Walliams has been busy with headline-grabbing, charitable sporting heroics and judging Britain's Got Talent, Matt Lucas has been developing this panel show that's such an easy win of an idea, it's a wonder nobody's thought of it before. Based on Lucas's radio show And the Winner Is..., the format is a low-key awards ceremony for a diverse array of unsung topics - from "dullest pastime" to "least likely to have actually occurred Bible story".
Each week, three celebrity guests will suggest nominees for various suitably wacky categories and then fight it out with Lucas to prove their case. First up, comedy types Jason Manford, Henning Wehn and Graeme Garden debate subjects such as "dreadfullest football song ever sung" and "smuggest nation of people" (that one's between the Swedes, the Chinese and the English, they reckon). Covering topics we can all muster up an opinion on, it's essentially a more celebratory Room 101. A fun enough watch, if you can stomach the self-indulgent theme tune featuring a cartoon Lucas singing about being "that man from those other shows you like".
The Telegraph, 8th April 2012This is the third attempt to put JAM on the box, the BBC having done it previously in 1994 and 1999. Parsons and Merton appear in each episode, with guests appearing being Sue Perkins, Gyles Brandreth, Stephen Fry, Liza Tarbuck, Graham Norton, Josie Lawrence and Julian Clary. There are also a fair number of new contestants: Jason Manford, Miles Jupp, Ruth Jones, Phill Jupitus, John Sergeant and Russell Tovey.
The format is the same, but there are some obvious changes; for a start, there's no scorer sitting next to Parsons. Instead he just has the scores on a screen, and the clock is started by a large button next to him. There's also a little bell rang to indicate they are moving into the final round.
Some things do remain the same, though. The studio is designed to look like the art deco BBC Radio Theatre, where the radio series is normally recorded. For some reason, however, the studio lights change from blue to purple when the subjects start. Why they need to do this I have no idea. I find the camerawork even more irritating. There's no need to cut from here to there every three seconds.
However, there's still much to enjoy from this show. I for one enjoy the little amusing asides that go through out each episodes. My personal favourite was in the fourth episode when the panel kept making jokes about Miles Jupp being the supposed love child of Gyles Brandreth. The jokes just kept snowballing throughout.
With regards to the TV adaptation, I know that there will always be people who will insist that it's not as good as the one on radio, but there are always people who complain about TV adaptations of radio shows. If we rejected every TV adaptation of a radio adaptation out of hand we wouldn't have had the TV successes of shows like Whose Line is it Anyway? or Little Britain.
I'd love to see more episodes of the TV version of Just a Minute; but I doubt they'll produce them. Unless they want to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary, that is, and given that Parsons is 88 years old that might be a bit dangerous.
Ian Wolf, Giggle Beats, 3rd April 2012Comedians line up for Teenage Cancer Trust Night
Hosted by Jason Manford - a long-term Teenage Cancer Trust supporter - the evening of comedy also stars Tim Minchin, Jimmy Carr, Jon Richardson, Stewart Francis and Dave Spikey.
The Huffington Post, 30th March 2012Jason Manford set to star in ITV nudist sitcom
Stand-up comedian Jason Manford is set to star in a new ITV sitcom. Naked House is about a family of naturists.
British Comedy Guide, 28th March 2012While Sport Relief night tends to be overrun by comedians attempting to locate their inner athlete, here five sports personalities turn the tables by trying their hand at standup comedy. The brave volunteers include England cricketer Michael Vaughan, rugby star Ben Cohen and broadcaster Gabby Logan. Each gets a mentor (among them Patrick Kielty and Jason Manford) to provide advice, inspiration and possibly a shoulder to cry on, as they hone their material for three minutes in front of a live audience.
Martin Skegg, The Guardian, 20th March 2012Jason Manford to make stage debut in Sweeney Todd
Former presenter of The One Show will take role of Adolfo Pirelli at London's Adelphi theatre in four weeks before the Olympics.
Matt Trueman, The Guardian, 6th March 2012Jimeoin (pronounced Jim-own) is an Irish-Australian comedian bigger Down Under than he is here. From the minute host Jason Manford hands over to him, he has the audience in the palm of his hand with splendid physical comedy involving impersonations of how different birds land. You think his impression of the way a swan flashes its wings about is good, but his wide-boy pigeon is even better. Then he tops both showing how chickens "walk like they're in a minefield." It's downhill from there but it's a cracking start.
David Butcher, Radio Times, 14th January 2012More stand-up comedy in front of the big lit-up logo at the Hammersmith theatre. Hosting proceedings is Mancunian wit and former One Show host Jason Manford, who tells anecdotes about parenting and pokes fun at boy band McFly, who foolishly sit in the front row. Manford also introduces sets by gruff Canadian Tom Stade and gentle Northern Irish observationist Jimeoin, who does an amusing line in avian impressions.
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph, 13th January 2012