Kevin Bishop (I)

There is obviously a market for Kevin Bishop's distinctive brand of comedy, but it is difficult to know what it is. Using the broadest of broad-brush impressions, it purports to tell the story of how Elton John became the patron saint of celebrities. The characters pilloried include Diana, Princess of Wales, Freddie Mercury, Robert Downey Jr, Liz Hurley and so forth accompanied by a crass commentary that mocks Elton John's baldness and bad temper.

At best, it could be argued that Star Stories attacks celebrity culture with a Punch and Judy exuberance, but many viewers will find it crude and aggressively unfunny.

The excellent Star Stories is back, with a hilariously un-life-like Sir Elton John (played by Kevin Bishop) as the first celebrity target of this third series.

The show gives us a hugely funny and almost entirely inaccurate account of Elton's early years in the spotlight, ultimately bringing us bang up-to-date with his role as the Patron Saint of Celebrities.

Having already shown us how singer Gary Barlow was taken under the wing of Nigel Martin-Smith and how Tom Cruise was introduced to Scientology after being hit over the head with a shovel by John Travolta.

It's now the turn of Sir Elton John and partner David Furnish to be given the Star Stories treatment by Kevin Bishop and Steve Edge in the third series of the very funny comedy parodying the lives and loves of big-time celebrities and Hollywood heavyweights.

There are plenty of funny wigs and silly voices to keep us suitably entertained as Elton's life and times are revealed, beginning in the Seventies, which he spent mostly in a blizzard of cocaine, to why it's bad to be bald and the reason it took so long for him to climb out of the closet.

The so-so comedy series starring Kevin Bishop returns for a third outing, lampooning the lives of Heather Mills and Peter and Jordan (the phrase 'shooting fish in a barrel' does come to mind).

Kevin Bishop continues to impress with this scatter-gun collection of spoofs and impressions.

Sketch shows often claim proudly to be 'irreverent' or 'taboo-breaking': The Kevin Bishop Show is the real thing. The easily offended had better give a wide berth to Bishop's spoof of a BBC3-style Songs of Praise and should definitely avoid the filthy take on Waking the Dead that closes tonight's show. Both are wince-makingly funny, though, and that's the thing: Bishop occasionally crosses the line into the outright tasteless, but he's funny enough and sweet-faced enough the rest of the time that we can forgive him. Among other highlights this week are a good running joke on Ross Kemp's hard-nut documentaries, a gay R&B singer and an inspired impression of Harry Hill in his early days as a doctor.

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.

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.

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.

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.