Epic Win

Joe Lycett interview: how to headbutt a One Show host

Joe Lycett is one of those stand-ups who seems less likely to have developed into a comedian, and more likely to have just been discovered under a bush with a microphone stand already in is hand. (He's a laconic natural and about eight, is what we're trying to say.) He chats with SSP about the prospect of doing an hour's show, trying not to impinge on Peter Dickson's livelihood, and his history of headbutting One Show hosts...

Review: Epic Win, BBC1

Alexander Armstrong takes a break from hosting daytime quiz Pointless to helm another game show which is completely, well, pointless.

Joe Lycett: Confessions of a hypochondriac

I have had this overactive imagination for most of my life and I am still not dead. BUT ONE DAY I WILL DIE AND THEN YOU'LL BE SORRY.

Epic Win (BBC1, Saturday) celebrates British eccentricity. So Sean blows up hot water bottles like balloons until they burst. Natasha, who once got a kiss from Gary Barlow (suddenly he's everywhere), can identify a Take That track in just one second. Brian - he could only be called Brian - identifies lawn mowers by the tracks they leave. And in between them, Alexander Armstrong does puns. So when Brian opened his lawn mower museum, was he proud? "Did you keep the cuttings?"

There are no tears, not many laughs really. It's mainly groans. Epic Win has got disappointing viewing figures and just one series written all over it. That's a no from me then.

Epic Win is a new pointless talent show hosted by Alexander Armstrong, the talents being pointless rather than the show, which is actually quite entertaining in a silly way. This week one contestant triumphantly demonstrated that he could identify historic lawnmowers based only on the strip of grass they'd cut in a lawn. Dolphins can't do that - though I think it may be to their credit as a species.

Epic Win review: Heroic talents

Overall it's fun stuff, and just what the doctor ordered for early Saturday night viewing.

Epic Win was the type of show where the owner of the world's only lawnmower museum showed he could identify five mowers from their grass cuttings. Phew. Another contestant, "Mr ­Remarkable Man" was an "extreme weight lifter" and once did squat thrusts for 24 hours. But he was still fat. Which really was remarkable.

It's the turn-up of the TV week: BBC1 has a Saturday show that's not just watchable but consistently funny. If they can tinker with it to crowbar in lottery results, this could run and run.

Essentially it's a You Bet! remake, as eccentrics perform obscure feats in front of what today's telly thinks is the ultimate arbiter of taste: a panel of comedians. If they do it, there's a contrived gambling bit where they guess how much the comedians thought the trick was worth. Get it right and it's an "epic win". Flunk out and it's a "fail".

Those terms are internet patois, don't you know, and Epic Win sends itself up with a sly, modern chortle. Alexander Armstrong quippily hosts it, visibly bemused that this lark constitutes paid employment; the secret comedy weapon is compere Joe Lycett, who mimics The X Factor announcer in voiceover and then appears on screen, still doing the voice.

On the same evening that ITV1 unleashes its ratings juggernaut The X Factor, the Beeb launches this new comedy game show aimed squarely at families. It's a talent show meets guessing game, hosted by the always charming Alexander Armstrong, with fast-rising stand-up Micky Flanagan as his foil. Eccentric members of the public demonstrate their unusual talents to a panel of comedians, headed by Flanagan, who put a secret cash value on the skill, based on originality, personality and performance. The contestant must then guess the total amount bid to win the cash or they leave with nothing. It's hardly ground-breaking, bearing a distinct resemblance to 1990s ITV show You Bet!, but is still frothy fun.

A quick chat with Alexander Armstrong

Where do people with less conventional gifts go to show off their party pieces? Step forward Alexander Armstrong, host of Epic Win, a new game show in which people with strange skills perform in front of a panel of judges in a bid to win a cash prize.