Comedy World Cup

Notable low-points along the way for David Tennant include those dreadful Virgin Media adverts and a stint doing impressions on Chris Moyles' Quiz Night. And now he's reduced to hosting Channel 4's latest panel show by numbers, Comedy World Cup. Ever wish you had a real-life time machine, David?

Channel 4 has acreated a band new panel game, hosted by former Doctor Who star David Tennant.

The idea of Comedy World Cup is an interesting one, as the theme of the show is comedy itself. It's a team game, with different teams each episode, consisting of one current comedy star as captain, with a younger comic and a veteran. This week, Captain Jo Brand with Dave Spikey and Shappi Khorsandi, played against Jason Manford, who lead alongside Paul Chowdhry and Nicholas Parsons.

The episode lasted an hour, which some might seem as being excessive for a panel game - but I disagree. For starters, it still isn't the longest panel show in terms of episode length, as that title goes to The Big Fat Quiz of the Year (not counting David Walliams and his 24-hour long panel show marathon for Comic Relief). You also have the ad breaks too, so the show is broken down a bit. Put it this way; an extended repeat of HIGNFY or QI is between 40-45 minutes long. Comedy World Cup is 45 minutes long, plus 15 minutes of advertising during which you can make a cup of tea. So it's nothing new. Some might say it's an improvement to have a break in the middle.

The show consisted of seven rounds, many of them reminding me of other panel shows and game shows. For example there a "What happens next?" round (see A Question of Sport), and one where children act out stand-up routines (see The Big Fat Quiz where they get kids to act out news stories).

Now, I admit that this show wasnt 'the funniest panel show I've seen. But to me, this isn't the point. For someone like me who is really into their comedy, it's like a pub quiz themed especially for me - and if you're a comedy buff then this is the show for you. But it's best watched with other like-minded people to see who really is more knowledgeable on these matters...

Comedy World Cup, Channel 4

At an hour, the show felt overextended, and I hear the recording was a marathon.

With talent shows once again likely to dominate the schedules until Christmas, this could be a very canny commission for C4. Not that there's a shortage of comedy panel-shows around, but self-professed 'comedy geek' David Tennant is an intriguing choice for host and a proven magnet for viewers (not for nothing has this been scheduled immediately after Doctor Who). Two teams, each made up of a gnarled veteran, an established pro and an up-and-comer, demonstrate their stand-up skills and 'knowledge of comedy' in a knockout tournament, with the winners awarded the titular prize. But who will be the tournament's Suarez, Zidane or bloke from Zaire who ran out of the wall to kick the ball away? If it's anything like the football version, expect dirty tactics, controversy and lingering feelings of disappointment and melancholy at its close.