Genre | Panel game |
---|---|
Running time | 30 minutes |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Language(s) | English |
Home station | BBC Radio 4 |
Starring | Simon Mayo Jon Richardson Lucy Porter Roy Walker (Series 1) Adrian Walsh (Series 2) |
Created by | Ashley Blaker Bill Matthews |
Produced by | Ashley Blaker Bill Matthews |
Recording studio | BBC Radio Theatre |
Original release | 27 November 2008 – 23 February 2010 |
No. of series | 3 |
No. of episodes | 18 |
Website | Official website |
Act Your Age is a panel game on BBC Radio 4 hosted by Simon Mayo. The series, created by Ashley Blaker (the original radio producer of Little Britain) and Bill Matthews (co-deviser of They Think It's All Over), was first broadcast on 27 November 2008. [1] The show features three teams of stand-up comedians from different generations: "The Up-And-Comers", featuring younger comedians, captained by Jon Richardson; "The Current Crop", featuring comedians popular at the moment, captained by Lucy Porter; and "The Old Guard", featuring older, veteran comics, captained by Roy Walker, (although in the second series, Adrian Walsh and Johnnie Casson took over for two shows each when Walker was unavailable). [2] Most critics disliked the show. The readers of the British Comedy Guide went as far as voting it the "Worst British Radio Panel Show / Satire 2008". [3]
Each episode begins with each of the contestants telling a joke as a warm-up before the first round. The rounds vary between each episode, but the main rounds consist of the panel on buzzers trying to give the best jokes, with Mayo giving points to whoever he feels gave the best material. Between each of the rounds are a selection of "Head-to-Head" rounds, with two members of different teams trying to tell as many jokes within the shortest time. The winner is the person who talks the least. The final round of the show consists of Mayo giving rapid-fire topics for the panel to make jokes on the spot. [4]
The first series of Act Your Age was disliked by most critics. Chris Campling in The Times wrote of the show that: "Mayo spent more time describing the categories than each comedian had in which to be funny. Luckily the studio audience was in the mood to laugh at everything so proceedings proceeded hastily enough, if confusingly. Away from the studio, though, and stone-cold sober, I can remember laughing only once, and even that was spitefully. It was when Stephen K. Amos said: "If we don't win I'm going to play the race card," and someone else said: "As usual." [5]
Nick Smurthwaite wrote in The Stage that: "It wouldn't have mattered that chairman Simon Mayo's scoring was fashionably arbitrary if he'd made a wittier contribution, or helped the contestants out when they were floundering. Any panel game that is reduced to knock-knock jokes in its first outing is going to struggle to find an audience." [6]
Readers of the British Comedy Guide voted Act Your Age the "Worst British Radio Panel Show / Satire 2008" in the Comedy.co.uk Awards (known at the times as the British Comedy Guide Awards). The BCG said: "Of those that voted in this category, almost 100% of people selected this as their least favourite 2008 radio panel show. It is perhaps not surprising as it was clear from very early on that Act Your Age was going to struggle - on the first show, one of the panellists delivered the Dr Who knock-knock joke in a desperate attempt to get a laugh!" [3]
UKGameshows.com did criticise the show saying: "Giving the host the vote for the scoring is never a particularly strong idea (how hard would it have been to have 9 members of the studio audience hold up voting panels or something?), as if you disagree with the host's verdict you end up hating him. The scoring is not accurate enough to be fair, nor silly enough to be entertaining. And like any joke show, many patches are not as funny as the comedians would like to think." However, they did express some positive thoughts saying, "some sections are genuinely impressive and hilarious, and how the regulars keep coming up with more and more material is awe-inspiring." [4]
Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical acts. These performances are typically composed of rehearsed scripts but often include varying degrees of live crowd interaction. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, observations, or shticks that can employ props, music, impressions, magic tricks, or ventriloquism.
Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd was an English comedian, singer and occasional actor. He was described as "the last great music hall entertainer" and was primarily known for his live stand-up performances.
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly, or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience directly is called a stand-up comedian.
Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first hosted by Mark Lamarr, then by Simon Amstell, and later by a number of guest presenters, with Rhod Gilbert hosting the final series. It first starred Phill Jupitus and Sean Hughes as team captains, with Hughes being replaced by Bill Bailey from the eleventh series, and Bailey replaced by Noel Fielding for some of series 21 and from series 23 onward. The show returned six years later, now hosted by Greg Davies, with Daisy May Cooper as the new captain and Fielding returning as a captain. The show is produced by Talkback. The title plays on the names of the Sex Pistols album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols and the band Buzzcocks.
James Anthony Patrick Carr is a British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer and actor. He is known for his rapid-fire deadpan delivery of one-liners which have been known to offend some people. He began his comedy career in 1997, and he has regularly appeared on television as the host of Channel 4 panel shows such as 8 Out of 10 Cats, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and The Big Fat Quiz of the Year.
Timothy Mark Vine is an English comedian, actor, writer and presenter best known for his one-liners and his role on the sitcom Not Going Out. He has also released a number of stand-up comedy specials and has written several joke books.
Mock the Week is a topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. Presenter Dara Ó Briain and panellist Hugh Dennis appeared in every episode, with a variety of other stand-up comedians being regular, frequent, occasional or one-off guest panellists during the show's history.
Rhodri Paul Gilbert is a Welsh comedian and television and radio presenter who was nominated in 2005 for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award. In 2008 he was nominated for the main comedy award.
Jokers Wild is a British comedy panel game show that originally aired on ITV from 9 July 1969 to 20 November 1974. It was hosted by Barry Cryer. The show was based on two American panel game shows: Stop Me If You've Heard This One and Can You Top This?.
Stephen Kehinde Amos is a British comedian and television personality. A regular on the international comedy circuit, he is known for including his audience members during his shows. He began his career as a compere at the Big Fish comedy clubs in South London, and has been nominated for Chortle's Best Compere Award three times in 2004, 2007 and 2008.
Russell Kane is an English writer, comedian, and actor. He has four times been nominated at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, winning the Best Comedy Show award in 2010. Although known mainly for stand-up comedy, for television, he has presented Big Brother's Big Mouth (2007), I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here - Now (2009-2011), Freak Like Me (2010), Geordie Shore: The Reunion and Britain Unzipped (2012), Live at the Electric (2013), Stupid Man, Smart Phone (2016), and hosted the BBC Radio 4 series Evil Genius in 2018 as well as a television show by the same name on Sky History in 2023.
The Museum of Curiosity is a comedy talk show on BBC Radio 4 that was first broadcast on 20 February 2008. It is hosted by John Lloyd. He acts as the head of the (fictional) titular museum, while a panel of three guests – typically a comedian, an author and an academic – each donate to the museum an 'object' that fascinates them. The radio medium ensures that the suggested exhibits can be absolutely anything, limited only by the guests' imaginations.
Jon Joel Richardson is an English comedian and radio presenter. He is known for his appearances on 8 Out of 10 Cats and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and his work as co-host with Russell Howard on BBC Radio 6 Music. He presented Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier, and also features with his wife Lucy Beaumont in the TV show Meet the Richardsons.
Zoe Ann Lyons is a British comedian and TV presenter.
Jack Peter Benedict Whitehall is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is known for his roles as JP in the Channel 4 comedy-drama series Fresh Meat (2011–2016) and as Alfie Wickers in the BBC Three sitcom Bad Education also co-writing the latter and its film adaptation, The Bad Education Movie (2015).
Mark Steel's in Town is a stand-up comedy show on BBC Radio 4, co-written and performed by Mark Steel. The series, which was first broadcast on 18 March 2009, is recorded in various towns and cities in the United Kingdom and occasionally elsewhere. Each episode is tailored to the town in which it is recorded, and the show is performed in front of a local audience.
Show Me the Funny is a British reality show on ITV, in which a group of ten comedians of varying experience visit ten different cities around the UK, performing tasks that are somehow meant to equip them with local knowledge to work into five-minute-long new live routines, which they then showcase in front of a live audience.
Aisling Clíodhnadh O'Sullivan, known professionally as Aisling Bea, is an Irish comedian, actress and screenwriter. She created, wrote and starred in the comedy series This Way Up on Channel 4. As a stand-up comedian, she won the So You Think You're Funny award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2012, being only the second woman to win the award in its then-25-year history. She also appears regularly on light entertainment comedy panel shows such as QI and 8 Out of 10 Cats.
Kate Smurthwaite is a British comedian and political activist. She has appeared on British television and radio as a pundit, offering opinion and comment on subjects ranging from politics to religion.
Robert Anthony Beckett is an English comedian, actor, and presenter. He was a co-host on the ITV2 spin-off show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! NOW! from 2012 to 2014. Since 2016, Beckett has been a team captain on the E4 panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats and the narrator of the reality series Celebs Go Dating. He presented BBC One entertainment series Wedding Day Winners and All Together Now.