Shane Richie

Lee Mack's All-Star Cast is a total mess, albeit quite an enjoyable one. The show is an unwieldy composite of comedy, celebrity chat, sketches, stand-up, lookalikes and participation from the studio audience, elevated to the all-star status of the title.

That it works at all is largely down to the heroic efforts of Lee Mack, who grabs the somewhat feeble format by the throat and runs with it, firing off witticisms as he goes.

But there are times when sheer charm and bravado are not enough. As an interviewer Mack is absolutely terrible, suffering from a bad case of Jonathan Ross syndrome, in which a host is so busy thinking up a smart response that he doesn't actually listen to the guest's answer. No great loss when the guest is Shane Richie, going into tedious cod Cockney overdrive, but Henry Winkler may have had something interesting to say about playing The Fonz in cult TV show Happy Days.

Instead he was called upon to judge various competitions and provide a cameo in a shambolic sitcom-style sketch, acting beside the plank that is Ulrika Jonsson. Ulrika needn't prepare her BAFTA acceptance speech quite yet, but she threw herself enthusiastically into the part and proved fair game for several barbed gags at her expense.

Which is All Star Cast's other strength. It may never be accused of being slick and polished, but it does generate surprisingly large quantities of cosy goodwill.

The Stage, 28th June 2011