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Peter Kay – he hasn’t got an original thought in his head, he repeats old jokes on new tours, and he craps on people he’s worked with from a great height by taking the credit for their work. Hence, he has so run out of ideas that all he can manage these days is a self-congratulatory clipshow: Peter Kay’s Comedy Shuffle.
It began in the lamest of ways with Kay’s “Top Bombing” John Smiths advert – slightly edited to remove any sight of the beer’s name other than his character in the clip being called John Smith (this is the BBC so they can’t be seen to be promoting a commercial brand, you see), then a clip from his appearance on the last Parkinson show, then Geraldine McQueen – the Michelle McManus Pop Idol/X-Factor spoof, Britain’s Got the Pop Factor… and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice, that was never funny to begin with, some Phoenix Nights, another Parkinson clip, more Phoenix Nights, a live show, the painfully unfunny Car Share where they discussed dogging and getting it confused with dog-walking (oh, my aching sides!), and then mix more of these together for the rest of the show.
I loved Phoenix Nights back in the day, and it still makes me laugh now, but you have to watch a whole episode. A random minute or so doesn’t do any of it justice.
With no links between the clips, no commentary as to why we were seeing what was onscreen, hence no continuity from one clip to the next, cutting back and forth between programmes at random without letting a sketch finish, it was a rare comedy programme that actually makes me ANGRY at its existence because this was terrible late night summer filler served up in the spring at primetime.
And to add insult to injury, this began with an attempt to spoof the Fawlty Towers opening credits as each episode began with an amusing anagram of the title, this did the same but was as funny as anal discharge as the title initially appeared as “Cheesy Old Muff”.
Eight weeks before this began, I broke my right arm (radial head fracture – the technical term) in a fall when tripping over the pavement. That was less painful than sitting through half-an-hour of this.
I know the BBC are short of money at the moment, but this was low-budget barrel-scraping at its most apparent, and the theme music must’ve taken less time to compose than it did to play.
Overall, Gny. Sgt. Hartman from Full Metal Jacket sums up my feelings at this programme’s concept.
sums up my feelings at this programme's concept
Peter Kay’s Comedy Shuffle: switch it off and have a five-knuckle shuffle, instead.
Peter Kay’s Comedy Shuffle won’t ever get a DVD release because all his old tat is already available to buy, and the series continues next Monday on BBC1 at 9pm. If you missed it, count yourself lucky… but if you want the pain, you can watch the first episode on BBC iPlayer, up until April 18th, and click on the top image for the full-size version.
Episode 1 Score: 0/10 (minus a million for actually bringing it to screen)
Producers: Camilla Wheeler, Ted Irons and Margaret Mubarek
Music: Jay Jayawardena
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.