We can’t all fit into the green room backstage at comedy gigs where stand-ups shoot the breeze and gossip about each other, but luckily there is always Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled. The latest series returns to Dave tonight to go out nightly after the evening Euro matches.
Joining Davies in the first outing is the starry formation of Stephen Fry, Sandi Toksvig, Sara Pascoe and Alex Edelman. It’s a nice mix of old and new, though there is not much mention of having a past and present QI host in the ranks.
Davies is an excellent facilitator, nudging the conversation along and chipping in himself if needed. The series hasn’t exactly gone hi-tech this time round but he does at least jot down potential programme titles on a piece of paper – the idea is that a different title for the show is plucked from the banter each night.
Fry is never less than excellent company even if he does drop names here as if they are going out of fashion. His anecdote about the Prince of Wales coming to tea on New Year’s Day has been told before but it is still fun to picture Rowan Atkinson frantically hoovering the carpet in preparation. Toksvig is also good value - who’d have thought she grew up with a Brooklyn accent? And she reveals a daring Linda Smith quip from The News Quiz about Princess Diana that was never aired at the time.
Young turks Pascoe and Edelman are no wallflowers either. In fact they’ve got a nice bit of overlap. Edelman’s girlfriend is Katherine Ryan, whose cat is called Sara Pascoe, so there is often some hilarious confusion when the human Sara Pascoe is visiting and the feline Sara Pascoe is being addressed.
As Yet Untitled has found a really nice niche for itself, somewhere between chat show and podcast. Of course the juiciest anecdotes are probably the private bitchy ones about the foibles of other comedians that could not possibly be broadcast. But this is the next best thing.
Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, Nightly at 10pm From Saturday until June 20, Dave.
Sunday's guests are Catherine Tate, Milton Jones, Bryony Kimmings, Ainsley Harriott.
