Verry Terry

Review: Verry Terry, Channel 4

We've grown so accustomed to spoof chat shows that they rarely surprise or delight in the same way Knowing Me, Knowing You or The Mrs Merton Show did in the '90s, but Verry Terry was markedly better than The Angelos Epithemiou Show. This was only a back-door pilot, heralding Channel 4's "Funny Fortnight" season, but it felt deserving of a full series commitment.

Verry Terry review

Maybe it's because I haven't watched either of Novak's shows extensively before but I didn't really 'get' the humour of Verry Terry.

Not since Ali G has Channel 4 had a truly successful chat show helmed by a fictional character. After Angelos Epithemiou's patchy showing comes the turn of Kayvan Novak, who unleashes Facejackers wheeler-dealer Terry Tibbs on a not very unsuspecting studio audience. Novak's performance is superb, but the material is desperately one-note and the song-'n'-dance finale a damp squib. The guests don't help: Mickey Rourke is at his boorish worst as the audience lap up the Neanderthal banter about 'fat Welsh bitches', while a panic-stricken Anthea Turner joins in as best she can. As with so many of these shows, it's a bit of a mess containing too many ideas and not enough thought or structure. So it's probably odds on for a full series commission.

He's not your average chat show host, he's Verry Terry

We try to chat with the Facejacker star about his new programme, and he shares his fascinating thoughts on, well, just about anything he likes...

Channel 4's Funny Fortnight continues. Terry Tibbs, the cockney car salesman played by Kayvan Novak in character-led comedies Fonejacker and Facejacker, has already popped up on Come Dine with Me and Secret Millionaire. Now Tibbs gets his own chat show in which to harangue celebrities and stir up a studio audience. Tonight's rather contrasting guests include bad-boy actor Mickey Rourke and saccharine presenter Anthea Turner.