Michael McIntyre's Big Show

The big Saturday nights in are back, with the return of Michael McIntyre's Big Show to the BBC. Considered one of Britain's best stand-up comedians, McIntyre certainly knows how to get a crowd.

Maybe I've got a bit of a cold coming on. Maybe I'm under the weather. Maybe I'm just miserable, but I had to grab the remote control when this show started and put the volume down - and down and down again. Am I just a grumpy killjoy, or is tonight's show especially loud, flashy and hysterical? I could hardly cope. From the opening moment when McIntyre runs out on stage with his top hat, through the "mind magic" of Colin Cloud, the high jinks of footballer Robbie Savage, and the melodious warblings of Katherine Jenkins as she sings Heroes, the whole show seemed like a sparkly assault on the senses. I put the volume down low, took some paracetamol, and then managed to cope better.

This show is so full of puppyish energy and fizzy enthusiasm that it suits Saturday night TV perfectly, and those who like to get merry with a few vodkas before heading out on the town might find this a perfect substitute for the booze because it certainly makes you giddy and fantastically keen to get out the door.

More live wittering to look forward to as McIntyre continues to flog his variety show, this week roping in Peter Jones from Dragons' Den to play his Send To All game, in which the comedian sends a text to Jones's entire contacts book to reap hilarious results. Elsewhere, there's "extreme flamenco" from fusion dance troupe Los Vivancos, music from Rod Stewart and James Morrison, pranks on members of the public and standup from Romesh Ranganathan.

Michael McIntyre interview

Michael McIntyre on his wealth, his waistline and life after hitting the big 4-0.

Michael McIntyre's Big Show sees the popular comedian oversee just under an hours' worth of entertainment which is all watched live by a packed audience in a theatre. I does seem as if this is the vehicle that McIntyre has been given instead of a second series of his forgotten chat show but he is definitely in his element presenting stand-up comedy in front of an audience. But one segment of McIntyre's chat show that has been retained is 'Send to All' in which the comic sends an amusing text to the entire address book one unsuspecting audience member. On this new show that audience member is a celebrity with Geri Horner assuming the role of the person who had a text sent on her phone to everyone she knew asking them if it would be OK to massage them. Definitely the funniest moment of the episode came from McIntyre's revelation of some of the responses Geri had received especially those from her mother and her agent. The other big draw of the show was 'The Secret Star' portion in which McIntyre tricked a Welsh hairdresser to think she was working on the show only to surprise her with the fact that she'd be on the show herself. The surprising the audience member stunt has been done on almost every Saturday night show before but what made this different was that the Secret Star then got to duet with Michael Ball in what I must say was a very impressive performance. Although these two segments and McIntyre's links were entertaining stuff not everything about The Big Show worked that well. A performance from Tinie Tempah just felt out of place whilst I personally didn't think the introduction of an acrobatics troupe worked particularly well either. But my main complaint about the show is its theatre setting as it made everything feel a little bit static and stuffy. I think that if the Big Show had been in a TV studio, and taped live, then it would have a bit more excitement to it and would've even be able to rival Ant and Dec. I don't want to knock BBC One as Michael McIntyre's Big Show is definitely a step in the right direction as far as Saturday night entertainment is concerned. I just think these shows need to get out of the theatre and into the studio where everything feels a little bit more chaotic and let's be a honest a little bit more fun.

Review: Michael McIntyre's Big Show, BBC1, episode 2

I think I preferred him as a chat show host where there was more scope to be a comedian, less scope to be an all-round family entertainer.

Review: Michael McIntyre tried to copy Ant and Dec

Trouble is, Ant and Dec do all this so much better -- and quicker and slicker. In the time it took Michael to thank the acrobats, with endless appeals for applause, the Geordie boys could have crammed in two extra sketches.

Michael McIntyre makes solid BBC1 ratings debut

The debut of Michael McIntyre's Big Show on BBC One on Saturday pulled in 4.8 million viewers for the BBC, comfortably beating ITV's new family gameshow Bang on the Money.

Michael McIntyre's Big Show review

I laughed several times. Truth be told, in terms of entertainment per minute it put an average episode of Britain's Got Talent to shame.