In terms of new comedy shows that I’ve really liked, there hasn’t been too many. Apart from Psychoville, nothing leaps out and smacks me upside the head. That is, until I watched We Need Answers (BBC Four) last night.
We Need Answers stars Mark Watson (who you’ll recognise from various panel show slots or, as that gangly Welsh stand-up bloke) and Tim Key (the guy who does the oddball poems on various Charlie Brooker shows). It also stars a bloke called Alex Horne, but I don’t really know anything about him.
Mercifully, it matters not because this show is as silly as silly can be… and lawd knows I’ve needed some silliness in my life.
To try and pick the show to bits in order to convey what it actually is seems like a useless endeavour. All you need to know is that daft questions are asked of the celebrity guests… who occasionally have to do very silly things.
It’s all very silly and British, which gives the feeling of this being the brainchild of some sixties gang who cracked the funnies during the heyday of Cambridge Footlights. I guess it should come as no surprise that Watson and Key are both alumni of the fabled gag-factory (again, I don’t know about that other bloke).
This show feels like a radio programme that someone accidentally filmed, despite the fact it was actually a live show from Edinburgh Fringe Thingy. Of course, this makes the show reek of Comedy Club, but in this instance, it doesn’t matter a jot.
I tend to get switched off by hooray-ha-ha these days, but there’s something pleasingly daft about this… something that has a toe in Shooting Stars as well as The Frost Report.
Last night, our scruffs-in-suits bowled about the set like the early nineties never happened and Martin Offiah (rugby league legend) was put up against Woman’s Hour presenter Jenni Murray in a contest to see who could shout the loudest.
Naturally, it’s all a bit flight of fancy, but there was something inordinately pleasing about it. Sure, it may be destined to be a cult hit until the end of time… which I sincerely hope it isn’t (because BBC Two is crying out for a show like it).
We Need Answers is a very funny show. Don’t take it too seriously and you’ll reap TV gold.