Shooting Stars

Vic & Bob: 'Our nearest competition is Ant & Dec!'

As Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer are back for an eighth series of their off-the-wall panel show Shooting Stars. We caught up with the zany duo to chew the fat...

Shooting Stars snub for "dim" Louis Walsh

Wacky quiz show Shooting Stars will return for a new series - but hosts Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer have barred Louis Walsh from reappearing for being "dim".

And welcome, for example, to a special Christmas Shooting Stars (BBC2). No, I don't know what that "for example" is doing there either, but that's what Bob Mortimer says - and it's funny. Shooting Stars is about the baffling, the surreal, the unexpected and the unbelievably silly. This festive episode begins with a hanging (of a mouse) and ends with a race (between Ricky Tomlinson and Ronnie Wood, on mobility scooters). In between is half an hour of the usual lunacy.

Bob is impaled, up the arse, on the end of of Vic's electric guitar; Walter Hottle Bottle jumps in slow motion; Ulrikakaka downs a pint of Advocaat in one, then burps loudly; Jack Dee has a face like an abandoned winkle-picker, or a willy warmer with mouse droppings all over it; Joanna Page is Welsh and pronounces words funny; Thandie Newton is pestered by Bob; Angelous has been hiding in the trees outside Ulrikakaka's bedroom; the Christmas tree catches fire; a stuffed buzzard loses its confidence when a cocktail is thrown in its face; Ricky rides a rocking horse while eating chicken drumsticks.

And there are some fiendishly difficult questions. Like: true or false, muesli is a byproduct of coffin-making? (true). And will bacon stick to Bob's face? (Yes). And what's the latest Ron ever stayed up? (Very).

I'm still not convinced it was a good idea to bring back Shooting Stars. It was a show that fitted so perfectly into the 1990s, like Seinfeld and Britpop. But this Christmas special was a party.

The lovable, manic hosts of the revived 90s panel show are doing their bit to promote festive cheer. How? By presenting a special episode. They're on fire. And so is the studio Christmas tree, thanks to Bob's dodgy wiring job. In other hot stuff news, booked guests include Hollywood beauty Thandie Newton. She's likely to be the first choice recipient of Vic Reeves's lady fawning, but Gavin & Stacey star Joanna Page serves as a useful backup. And there are male guests, too: Ricky Tomlinson and pineapple-haired Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood. In the final challenge, Ronnie and Ricky race. That has to be worth a look. Also tonight, expect sketches from the folk duo Mulligan and O'Hare, and a visit from the people's scorekeeper, Angelos Epithemiou.

Vic and Bob are as winning, and deranged, as they've always been, their unique humour a mixture of the obscure (references to Dutch prog-rock group Focus; a suicidal mouse) and the general ("Ulrika Jonsson: 50 Christmases spent in bed!"). Guests include Ronnie Wood, Ricky Tomlinson and Thandie Newton, a trio of festively good sports among the madness. "So Ron," says Vic, "what's the latest you've stayed up?"

"Jack Dee, with your face like a neglected radish, like a cowboy's crack, like a forgotten tunnel..." Shooting Stars continues to be far funnier than a 17-year-old comedy on its seventh series should be, by way of sticking to what it does best. Tonight, that involves getting Tulisa from N'Dubz and John Simpson into the same room and throwing edam on to Brendan Cole's face. Angelos Epithemiou does a fine job of keeping score - something that doesn't always come easy to football pundit Chris Kamara, who gamely takes all mockery on the chin.

Even at its height in the Nineties, Shooting Stars was an acquired taste: some found it gloriously surreal, others thought it annoyingly puerile. Nowadays, though, it feels dated and superfluous. Still there are some enjoyable moments, mainly involving the lugubrious scorekeeper Angelos Epithemiou. Tonight, hosts Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer and captains "Ulri-ka-ka-ka" Jonsson and Jack Dee are joined by Strictly dancer Brendan Cole, cultishly incompetent football pundit Chris Kamara, war reporter John Simpson and Tulisa from pop group N-Dubz.

Dynamic duo Vic and Bob may be less nimble these days but their absurd mess-around is never boring. Tonight there's bit of madness involving a clarinet, and a cracking running gag that centres on the polarity of professions between guests Brendan Cole (dancer) and John Simpson (war correspondent), while simpleton Angelos continues to be a fine replacement for George Dawes.

Vic and Bob interview

Around 20 years after first working together Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, aka Vic and Bob, are still going strong...