mock the week

I love British humour, and comedy panel shows were one of the things that felt new to me when I moved to the UK. I’d been living here for nine years when I sat down with Mock the Week compilations, and I recognised plenty of the comedians even when I couldn’t remember their names.

I thought I was going to watch some British comedy and have a laugh. I did. Then a search for the show’s history turned into a rabbit hole involving an American adaptation and a different show called The Great American Joke Off. Those weren’t the same thing, even though my browsing initially led me from one to the other.

Familiar comedians, unfamiliar references

The “Scenes We’d Like to See” clips gave the comedians prompts such as adverts that never made it to air or things a sports commentator wouldn’t say. Their answers took familiar situations and pushed them somewhere ridiculous, dark or rude. That kind of humour suited me, and I was particularly happy whenever James Acaster appeared.

I’d seen him do a live show in Kent and had such a good time that I read one of his books afterwards. Watching him in the compilation, I kept getting distracted by how much I liked his humour. At one point it felt as though the whole reaction was about to become a James Acaster video.

Ed Gamble prompted another distraction because I love Off Menu, the podcast he does with Acaster. They bring somebody on to talk about food, and I think they’re hilarious together. Recognising comedians I’d enjoyed elsewhere was part of the fun of watching these clips.

I also like Frankie Boyle’s dark humour. That didn’t mean I understood every reference, even after years in England. An older clip mentioned John Prescott and being naked, and I didn’t get it. I recognised plenty of faces, but a familiar programme didn’t magically fill in every bit of British political history for me.

Panel shows were new to me

When I first moved here, I watched old reruns while I was applying for jobs. Comedy panel shows weren’t something I’d grown up with in the same way. The closest comparison from my childhood was Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which I’d watched with my family.

“Scenes We’d Like to See” reminded me of the kinds of segments on Whose Line, so I could understand that part straight away. But the number of British panel programmes, and the place they had in television here, were new to me. Would I Lie to You? became one of my favourite shows.

That was also why news of an American Mock the Week made me wary. I’d previously watched a little of the American Would I Lie to You? and found it painfully awkward. I wasn’t saying Americans couldn’t be funny. I thought the humour and the audience were different enough that copying a British format wasn’t automatically going to work.

I found a different American show

During the search in this filmed reaction, I came across The Great American Joke Off. At first it looked as though that might be what I was looking for, but I then found an explanation distinguishing it from the proposed American Mock the Week. The format I read described two teams of stand-up comedians competing over joke-based rounds.

I couldn’t easily find much to watch, and one episode link wouldn’t let me view it. Eventually I found a compilation and tried a little. My reaction was mixed. Some of it was funny, and some of it made me cringe. That’s less tidy than declaring an entire programme terrible from a few clips, but it’s what happened.

The bits I saw also included British comedians, including Ed Gamble, which interested me. By the end, I thought it was more like a mixture of Mock the Week and Whose Line than a straightforward American version of the programme I’d started with.

I’d still choose the British originals

What I love in the British panel shows is the combination of the people on them and the audience they’re playing to. The comedians are fast and funny, and it works for me. I could understand why somebody would want to take a successful format elsewhere, but my reaction to the clips didn’t make me desperate for a replacement.

My preference was still to watch the British programmes. I’d had fun with Mock the Week, stumbled into a show I’d never heard of and come away with a few laughs as well as some awkward moments. The rabbit hole hadn’t changed which version of that kind of television I wanted to put on.

Watch why Mock the Week sent me down an American comedy rabbit hole in the original video.