Hoff The Record

Final spin of Hasselhoff's record in the current series, and a move upmarket for the star as a European arthouse flick beckons. What price credibility? Well, it does mean slumming it in remote Romania at the behest of a brutally eccentric director from the Herzog school (played by Kevin Eldon). Not only that, but there's an anti-flounce clause in the contract that would fine the Hoff the equivalent of the film's entire production budget if he tries to make a hasty exit.

Series two of the workmanlike self-satire continues to walk through all the tropes that made mockumentaries cool 10 years ago. David Hasselhoff plays himself as a daringly plausible caricature, with his disastrous career marshalled by Thick of It spinners, who give Office-style interviews commentating on the action. Tonight, low earnings cause the Hoff to fake his own death. It's efficient, but every line is the most agonising thing comedy can be: nearly funny.

Preview: Hoff the Record Series 2

The same fundamental problem with the series remains. Funny as it may be, by not being sure if it is a sitcom or a mockumentary, Hoff The Record occasionally wobbles from side to side, never quite nailing either format.

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David Hasselhoff was probably always going to join the unending stream of daggy and/or washed-up celebs playing goofy versions of themselves in their own little sitcoms. So is this one any good? Well, it's better than Rob Schneider's execrable Real Rob (Netflix), but it doesn't have the morbid curiosity value of Andrew Dice Clay's (Stan) and it's not a patch on The Chris Isaak Show (which must be due for a rerun somewhere). It follows the bankrupt Hasselhoff as he moves to London, where he thinks his British manager, Max (Fergus Craig) has arranged for him to star in a biopic about himself. Turns out, though, that the movie is an arty kind of thing in which Hasselhoff is to be played by a bunch of different actors - and the man himself might not be among them. The characters surrounding Hasselhoff seem like one-note jokes, but it's still worth a look.

This inessential amalgam of Life's Too Short and The Thick Of It is a vanity mockumentary in which David Hasselhoff, who sends himself up constantly anyway, sends himself up. Tonight, David "The Hoff" Hasselhoff (David Hasselhoff) is off to a public school for a mock UN debate, the real UN having literally laughed down the phone at his desire to be an ambassador. Can the sheer force of his dumbness defeat the school's top oik? Lots of good lines, but they're all recycled fragments of other, better shows.

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Hoff the Record is one of Dave's new roster of shows that it will help define it as something more than just a place to catch repeats of ]c]Mock the Week] and Top Gear. Dave has certainly been heavily promoting Hoff the Record even going as far as to rename the channel David for one day in honour of Mr Hasselhoff. The first episode sees Hasselhoff travel to the UK as he's under the impression that he's been asked to star in a biopic of his own life. In fact the director (Craig Roberts) wants to audition Hasselhoff to play an older version of himself. Hoff the Record includes the types of characters you would expect to find in a show such as this including David's incompetent British agent (Fergus Craig) and a well-educated PA (Ella Smith) who has no idea who he is. I do feel that Hasselhoff signed up for the show believing that this could work for him in the same way that Episodes did for Matt Le Blanc. Unfortunately the comedy in Episodes comes from the fact that Matt Le Blanc isn't like the character he portrays on the show and it's the same with Warwick Davies in Life's Too Short. Having seen Hasselhoff as himself, both on chat shows and as a reality TV judge, I don't think the version he portrays on Hoff the Record is that far from his real personality. Whilst the situations themselves have been crafted for comic purposes I don't think Hasselhoff tried hard enough to portray a fictionalised version of himself. Meanwhile there isn't really anybody amongst the supporting cast who really stood out and instead the majority of the characters where quite irritating. This is particularly true of Asim Chaudry's Terry Patel; Hasselhoff's driver who tells his new client several inappropriate stories whilst ferrying him about. The only thing I liked about the first episode was the performance given by Craig Roberts as the pretentious film director but unfortunately it looks like he won't be sticking around. Although I do appreciate that Dave are trying out some original ideas Hoff the Record simply wasn't nearly as funny as it should've been. Most of the blame for this can be laid at the door of Hasselhoff as I don't believe he fully committed to the idea of playing a truly fictionalised version of himself.

With work drying up in the US, David Hasselhoff packs up his troubles in an old KITT bag and travels to the UK to star in his own movie biopic. At least, that's the premise of this new six-part mockumentary, where the former Baywatch big cheese is belittled and bullied by a parade of awful characters, including a dismissive director and a monstrous acting rival. The Hoff ends up seeming sympathetic, not least because he's willing to offer up both his career highs and well-documented lows as raw material.

Radio Times review

Whatever you think of the Knight Rider and Baywatch star, beacon of freedom and inspiration for the end of the Cold War David Hasselhoff, there's no doubting that he's a good sport.

Dave's excellent spoof documentary imagines "The Hoff" down on his luck and keen to kickstart his career in England. At Stansted airport he's greeted by superfan mini-cab driver (the excellent Asim Chaudhry) and an inept, inexperienced assistant, and taken to a rundown hotel. And the fun starts.

No subject or humiliation is off limits as he's forced to compete with a dwarf actor for the role of himself. He's then forced to watch a show-off LA luvvie getting praise for doing a better Michael Knight than the man who played him for 98 hours in the hit 80s drama. Exquisite.