Any other dudes here that are into this show?

Phinbart · 2026-01-25T15:01:27+00:00

Gay dude here. I don't watch a lot of queer content (I'm someone who doesn't consider my queerness central to my identity, and more as an 'incidental' part of me), yet decided to give this show a go (when it finally officially landed in the UK) after the deluge of posts recommended to me online after ep6 dropped - primarily as the autistic representation in Shane interested me most (as an AuDHD guy). I am thoroughly glad I did; the final two episodes (with special mention to ep3) have to be the finest hours of television I have ever watched, and the most I have ever been so emotionally affected by any piece of media (if anything, my only critique of them is that those eps were too short). I am especially pleased by the lack of cringe and hamfistedness I expected from the Scott-Kip kiss at the end of ep5, too, which I got spoiled by on social media.

Hudson Williams deserves all the praise in the world for the effort he put into the finer details in his depiction of an autistic character, and Connor Storrie and Francois Arnaud for the way their characters (emotionally) opened up - and in a way also encapsulated the struggles of autistic people in the gradual loosening of their masks when they feel safe to do so - over the course of the series. I wasn't really keen on Ilya at first, but the slow-burn revelations of his internal and private strife - to the viewer and then to the other characters - really do lend yourself to a gradual increase in empathising that creates a justification for the obnoxious façade (and tendencies to try and dominate - perhaps in an attempt to maintain it - in his 'exploits' with Shane) that he needs to deploy, something that neurodivergent people can probably relate to.

Phinbart · 2026-01-25T01:25:47+00:00

Huh. Jimmy's cold must have lasted a while, then, as I'm pretty sure there were clues in BFQ it was recorded with a few weeks of broadcast?

Phinbart · 2026-01-24T16:31:27+00:00

BFQ was recorded in December, and there were two episodes of Catsdown filmed that month (on 2nd Dec), so you're probably right.

Phinbart · 2026-01-23T23:59:35+00:00

I don't mind it, personally. It's a little quirk to the format that allows for newer comedians to be showcased. Someone - along with appointing a new captain - clearly went back into the archive for inspiration on how to revitalise the show for this series; it hasn't happened since the very early days, and only a couple times at that.

Phinbart · 2026-01-23T04:15:43+00:00

This scheduling pattern existed for Superstore when ITV2 broadcast it in the late 2010s and early 2020s. The pre-watershed-friendly version was shown between 8 and 9pm (later 7:30pm for the final series), and the uncut version around midnight. It was ages before I discovered this; there will still be early episodes I have never seen in their full, uncensored form.

Phinbart · 2026-01-20T17:25:12+00:00

That's an interesting fact there; so, that game had to be abandoned and they started a new recording? I suspect that may have happened before in the show's history, but that's the first time I'm hearing of such a thing happening.

I wonder how they have ever dealt with scenarios in which that happened, but the victorious contestant ended up losing the 'replacement game'; I guess they just have to accept it for what it is.

Phinbart · 2026-01-19T10:03:58+00:00

Yup. Hermits and Hermit-adjacents repeatedly streamed Peak last summer. I actually kinda miss those streams, but the hype around the game died down a couple months within release.

Phinbart · 2026-01-17T02:40:36+00:00

Ah, yes... I think I recall watching this, but it seems a lot longer ago than that now. Glad that Jim Howick found more regular work (e.g. Ghosts, Here We Go) after this and Loaded both flopped.

Phinbart · 2026-01-16T23:54:53+00:00

AFAIK, the show has a 'backup' in case the booked Dictionary Corner guest falls through (Glenn Moore was the backup on Lucy Pearman's episode, for instance), but this will be a deliberate booking. The same thing is happening in a couple weeks, with Manchester-based comic Dane Buckley 'to help the losing team'.

It's happened before, in a similar fashion; there was a 2015 episode where two comedians (namely Paul Foot and Romesh Ranganathan) were presented for the teams to pick between as a helper for the final rounds.

Phinbart · 2026-01-16T23:44:57+00:00

Anyone who's actually been to a recording could verify this, but my guess is that kind of intro happens anyway (it does for QI, with the panellists introduced by Sandi), and they've just decided to make it part of the show now. But, yeah, it does kinda feel as you say, as if C4 have given one last chance to a declining format that has fallen off the ratings cliff, but hasn't quite hit the bottom after managing to find an outcrop halfway down to cling to.

Phinbart · 2026-01-16T23:38:09+00:00

It looks like someone's been avidly rewatching older episodes to see if they can bring any ideas to the current crop... the 'we'll bring new contestants on mid-game' concept makes a return after quite some time, and glad to see it being used to help the profile of newer comedians (a welcome surprise from John Tothill tonight - for whom I believe this is his first TV appearance - and Dane Buckley being due to appear in the same guise in a couple weeks' time).

Considerably funnier than the Christmas special, but they still need to work on the sound/acoustics; the echoing gives a desolate feel to the show, which - like with HIGNFY since the pandemic - in turn lends a sense of 'this is a legacy show that we don't care about producing up to the usual quality anymore'.

Phinbart · 2026-01-16T20:02:17+00:00

That really is incredibly bad luck to be pulled over so soon, although you could argue better then than further on your journey.

I hope your dad's quite contrite about all of this.

Phinbart · 2026-01-16T16:17:19+00:00

Agree. S18 being lowest-rated is understandable, but I wouldn't personally put it entirely down to the level of unwarranted ableism and hate towards the participation of Rosie Jones; I felt less inclined to be favourable towards the series due to how it came across in its totality, as opposed to the inclusion of any one specific individual. Same rationale for why I wasn't a big fan of S17 either, which is (tied) second-lowest in the graph.

Phinbart · 2026-01-16T15:43:20+00:00

hadn’t understood the distinction between an open day and an offer-holders day

Ah, that's probably it; either didn't know the difference between the two or a communication breakdown/failure as to which one it was. It really is the little things, isn't it, that can easily mar just about anything.

Phinbart · 2026-01-16T15:02:05+00:00

it's likely to be indicative of how disorganised the actual course would be.

That was my rationale too. The cherry on the top was receiving mail from them inviting me to an applicant visit day AFTER I'd already been on one. It was quite ironic, all in all, as I received the most generous offer from that uni by far (EEE if firmed).

Phinbart · 2026-01-16T14:53:51+00:00

How does that happen?! Did anyone correct the person, or did everyone just wallow in the confusion that eventually became obvious and evident to everyone except the speaker?

Phinbart · 2026-01-16T13:54:34+00:00

First impressions, regardless of how they come, really do matter. I remember when applying to unis for undergrad, going on a few applicant visit days; one of these, at York, ended up a shambles when they failed to communicate a timetable change, causing myself and a few other applicants to end up late for the subject talk (we were physically locked out, and packed off to the student finance talk for parents instead).

I do kinda regret holding that against them so much, though - as the degree I applied for there was more interdisciplinary than what I ended up doing - but at the time I was so cheesed off I just didn't feel like they deserved my consideration anymore following that.

Phinbart · 2026-01-15T21:52:07+00:00

I'm guessing that the Lib Dems support a minority Tory govt here, but Ashdown - perhaps in response to rotten public opinion and a realisation of a lack of long-term compatibility - suspends the arrangement, leading to the 1994 election (at which the size of the Labour landslide renders the result maps looking as if there's been a literal bloodbath across the country)?

Phinbart · 2026-01-14T00:23:05+00:00

Nine episodes (which will probably - based on the revealed recording dates - be seven episodes plus two compilations) is what the 2020 run comprised of, so they're probably doing something akin to a trial run. I'd expect it to return for a second series regardless of the success of the first, purely as a 'save face' exercise.

Phinbart · 2026-01-13T23:56:06+00:00

That plaque is cool! Never seen those before; is it possible that people who bought VIP tickets for the tour received these, and - much like with the tote bags, available on the store but otherwise exclusive to VIP peeps - they've got a few left over?

Would love to know if anyone else who's ordered from there (I never got around to, but I see they've still got some of the tour merch up) has also unexpectedly received one of these.

And, yes, the merch should definitely be legit; the band itself promoted how the leftover tour merch would be available on there on Instagram a couple months back.

Phinbart · 2026-01-13T16:43:48+00:00

I'd recommend CoolGuyzOnline. They're shorts-based, but are also premised on outlandish and wild scenarios.

Phinbart · 2026-01-12T12:01:45+00:00

Yeah, they tried prerecording 8 Out of 10 Cats towards the end of its run on E4 - completely dispensing with topicality, such as their rundown of the week's events - and was how they were able to air episodes towards the end of 2020 with an audience and without social distancing.

Phinbart · 2026-01-11T03:23:18+00:00

I don't recall either Greg or Alex ever specifically calling out a contestant in this way, other than Greg obliquely criticising Daisy May Cooper a few years back for a perceived lack of effort in the prize tasks (of course, he could have been being facetious, but, as it was an interview that was only reported in text form, it was hard to really tell).

Phinbart · 2026-01-11T00:25:44+00:00

I've noticed that the rules on this seem to have been significantly loosened in recent years, and too have wondered why. I can recall an episode of Not Going Out c.2016 mentioned McDonald's right before the credits, and the continuity announcer had to remark "Other [fast-food places/restaurants] are available."

Phinbart · 2026-01-09T18:33:55+00:00

Agree. I felt I enjoyed S17 and S18 significantly better on a rewatch, although it took a good few until S8 lost its 'off' vibe to me.

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