This is an obvious play on the fantastic work Jon Stewart does on the daily show. But the gags are forced (and generally need explaining to the audience), The interviews are awkward and the "political satire" is nowhere near as biting. Perhaps it is the BBC that keeps this show from pushing the envelope as much as Comedy Central allow the daily show would, I don't know, All i know is that watching it at times makes me physically squirm for the people telling the jokes and showing us their "wry" view on policies.
It's a fun way of passing about 20 minutes, but there is that 10 minutes of uncomfortable viewing that makes you reach for the remote control during the hushed silence whilst the joke is explained.
Channel 4 have tried this format on plenty occasions (the last being "tonight" with Jason manford.... which was pure evil compared with this show) And it just does not seem to work for UK audiences, It might just be that the daily show has such a following that anything that is so much as whispered makes the audience scream and holler, although its contrived it really brings pace and a good feeling towards the show and the host. The hushed silence that falls in this studio on at least 2 times per episode kills the mood and therefore kills your enjoyment of the show....
If they are going to do another series of this Don't do it live, or at least have some canned laughter or get the audience drunk before hand, anything to stop the hushed silence on near the knuckle and unfunny jokes...... Even Faulty towers used canned laughter for some scenes knowing the studio audience missed some of the gags the home viewers would get, It's not a crime but fill in the silences, please!
