Show Me The Funny

ITV's new stand-up comedy competition Show Me The Funny is quite an odd beast. The idea of having comedians compete X Factor style is fair enough - and has been done before - but this Jason Manford-fronted show also involves the contestants doing tasks...

Manford: "I'm going to split you into pairs, and send you off with a list of things to find and people to see." What?! "And whoever wins will get to determine the running order for this big gig." Oh, I see! No, still what?! Bizarre. The notion is that helping out at a hair salon or setting up a blind date will help the comics get to know the people of the town they're gigging in, and in turn help them write some new material. We'll skip over the fact that lots of decent comedians actively avoid doing "town-specific" stuff as it's kinda cliche...

The tasks take up half of the programme, meaning Show Me The Funny is, in fact, what you find yourself shouting at the screen. There are certainly talented comedians involved - I've seen a couple of them live, and Stuart Goldsmith in particular is brilliant - but you don't get to see enough of their acts to make up your own mind.

A more cynical tv-based e-mail that likes to use glaringly topical references might say an ITV1 show about stand-up comedy that is hosted by Jason Manford and features Alan Davies as a judge is something akin to Fox News asking Rebekah Brooks to host a show about running a morally superior newspaper business, with Rupert Murdoch as judge.

But we're not that e-mail. We like Manford, though he's never really been funny-funny, and Davies redeemed himself a touch by being good in Whites... so we're going to let it slide. In this reality show, 10 wildly different stand-ups have to perform to tough rooms and then get voted out by Davies and the Mr Nasty of the affair, sidekick Kate Copstick. And it is pretty good - but not because anyone is particularly funny. It's actually interesting and unusual to watch comics dying on stage.

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Pretty soon, it seems, the only primetime programmes on ITV1 will be talent shows, celebrity challenges and soaps, with occasional dramas and news bulletins grudgingly thrown in to keep the regulators happy. This latest X Factor wannabe focuses on comedy, with host Jason Manford - no mean comedian himself - going out on the road with a gaggle (or should that be a giggle?) of ambitious stand-ups who feel certain they could be the next big thing in British comedy. From fresh-faced newbies to never-quite-made-it pros, the top 10 contestants have their ability to get audiences rolling in the aisles put to the test over six weeks, in which they tour the country to perform for a variety of tough crowds (hospital patients, squaddies, secondary school pupils and rugby players, among others). They'll also take on a range of other mirth-inducing challenges, each episode culminating with the judges - regulars Alan Davies and comedy critic Kate Copstick, plus guests including such well-known comics as Jo Brand, Johnny Vegas and Ross Noble - deciding who's made the cut. The final is a live show at the Hammersmith Apollo for a prize that's certainly not to be laughed at: £100,000 cash, a nationwide tour and a DVD.

Tonight, the contestants are in Liverpool, where they'll perform a gig in front of an all-female audience; the guest judge is Liverpudlian Jimmy Tarbuck.

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