Don't Sit In The Front Row

When a comedian chats with someone in the front row of the audience, it's often the funniest part of the show. The performer spontaneously proving their smarts is a thrill.

Now imagine a panel game where comics grill punters who sit in designated seats and have been chosen because their lives or personalities are funny. Sounds great in theory, but you can't regiment banter. Even with Frank Skinner on the panel and Jack Dee hosting, every joke here is forced - until it emerges that one of the stooges used to be a porn actor, after which it's groansome easy wins all the way.

While it's brilliant to see Sky investing in British comedy again, Jack Dee's new entertainment show Don't Sit in the Front Row feels less 'great idea' than 'there's a good idea in there somewhere'. With four pre-selected members of the public plonked in the front row, it's up to a team of three comedy panellists to question them and probe their lives, with the person sparking the least comic inspiration eliminated by the comedians at the end of each round. The first round works quite well, with a simple Q&A format providing plenty of laughs, but the latter rounds feel muddled and slightly aimless, particularly the phase in which the comedians re-enact events from the panellists' lives. There's more than a hint of awkwardness from the comics themselves, as if they're not sure what to do. Funny at times, but a mixed bag.

Jack Dee hosts a new panel show in which three comics mine four pre-selected members of the audience for joke-worthy material. After round one, they ditch the punter with the least comic potential and keep going until one audience member is the "winner". Although it's not clear why. Heavy reliance on members of the public recounting anecdotes slows things, and even with editing, there's too much dead air between laughs. You want someone to release a caffeinated monkey into the studio just to liven things up a bit.

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