Alan Carr: Chatty Man

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Quizzed by his close mate Alan Carr, 50-year-old chat show king Jonathan Ross takes a swipe at his former employers the BBC.

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Tubby Jonathan Ross put on so much weight over the festive period that he can no longer get into his shiny suits.

Alan Carr wants to reunite with Justin Lee Collins

Alan Carr wants to work with Justin Lee Collins again.

Another Monday; another hour of Alan Carr squawking at celebrities in the name of light entertainment. This week, the guests included Cheryl Cole, Michael McIntyre and the unfathomable loudness of Stacey Solomon, all of whom were surrounded by tinsel and general festive tat, just in case we'd forgotten that Christmas was almost upon us.

Jungle queen Stacey and jungle profanity-provider Shaun Ryder appeared first on the show, covering such topics as Gillian McKeith and Solomon's disastrous appearance on the X Factor final.

The questions were rightly light-hearted and as the always-watchable McIntyre came on to talk about his impending Britain's Got Talent gig, the show became even more festively cheery.

All that energy seemed to rub off on our host, as his pre-chat stand-up was on much better form than last week and he generally seemed less nervous, bouncing off his sprightly guests.

But what would happen when the omnipresent Ms. Cole came on stage? Could she maintain the energy of the programme? It seemed unlikely, given her propensity to talk at a speed suggestive of strong sedative consumption.

Sure enough, once an ill-advised acoustic performance of one of Cheryl's songs was out of the way, the show got bogged down in conversation about X Factor controversies. As Cole (very slowly) defended herself, it all became a bit bleak, but she soon perked up and though she did discuss her brush with malaria, not a single tear was shed.

This show is only ever going to be as good as its guests and tonight it was very good indeed.

Alan Carr dresses up as Lady GaGa

Alan Carr has gone GaGa, taking on one of the pop star's most bizarre costumes.

Alan Carr returned tonight with a new series of Chatty Man and a plethora of half-decent guests, including David Hasselhoff, Colin Farrell and Cee Lo Green.

It would be all to easy to compare his talk show to Graham Norton's Friday-night programme and indeed, it would also be unfair to do so, because Alan Carr's efforts amount to nothing more than a pale imitation of Norton's show.

Without the celebratory atmosphere of a primetime weekend slot, Chatty Man felt listless and tired, which is never a good sign for a series-opener. As Carr limped through a weak preamble full of forgettable gags, he appeared to be lagging before the show had even started.

His first guest was David Hasselhoff, whose main purpose seemed to be providing a variety of Hoff-based puns (most notably, 'f*** hoff' and 'six-and-a-hoff') but who struggled to command the full attention of both the audience and Carr himself.

In fact, the host appeared slightly distracted throughout the programme and as the endless stream of guests flowed on, his focus waned and he seemed to be listening to them less and less.

Carr is an amiable little chap, but given that he's suppose to be a comedian, his jokes were far too thin on the ground. When the cast of The Inbetweeners discussed their show's success, they outshone him to a considerable extent.

The boys were witty and charming, but they pretty much led their own interview, a large portion of which centred on the burgeoning career of Joe Thomas' left testicle.

Unless Chatty Man can pull in more guests like them, this series is going to be a disappointing one.

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The camp comedian may be an acquired taste for many, but his chat show has now reached its fifth series. Joining him for an all-male natter this evening are David Hasselhoff (plugging his panto Peter Pan), the cast of The Inbetweeners and actors Colin Farrell and Jim Sturgess (plugging their new film The Way Back). Expect plenty of leering from Carr. Cee Lo Green also performs his new single.

Alan Carr interview

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