It’s a fiendishly simple format. Get a bunch of motormouth, attention-craving comics round a table, light the blue touch paper and stand back. It is no surprise that this series, in which the title of each episode is chosen from the stories, is back for a third run.
I’m sure that under the calm exterior Alan Davies is paddling furiously but it really looks as if he doesn’t need to do much heavy lifting. Maybe if a fight breaks out he would have to step in but in the first episode he simply lets his guests talk and all he needs to do is move things on to the next anecdote when the time is right and make sure everyone get a decent crack at the conversational whip.
The line-up in the first show is Lee Mack, Katherine Jakeways, Olivia Lee and Nick Helm. It may come as no surprise that Mack gets most of the laughs. He’s a quick wit and a masterful storyteller, although at times – particularly when he is recalling the true story of how he once saw a horse knock a wing mirror off a car with its cock – it does feel like he thinks he is in an episode of Would I Lie To You?
Nick Helm is also good value and not backwards in coming forwards. In fact his own story “I Have Been Fingered by Captain Kirk” becomes the winning title (no spoiler, it’s in the advance press material and they want previewers to use it to get people to watch). It’s not as smutty as it sounds, but it is as funny.
Just because I’ve picked out the men first does not mean the women don’t easily hold their own. Katherine Jakeways has a great anecdote about a job interview where the boss had a good reason for not looking her in the eye, while Olivia Lee maintains the smut quotient with the story of her gran giving her a pair of sexy knickers. I’m not revealing too much – it’s also the telling that makes this funny, not just what happened.
You can see why people always pick comics as their dream dinner guests. The conversation never sags here, or if it did those bits have been edited out. This opener feels unusually filthy, but bookmark the whole series to get a full range of comed yarns. Future guests include Matt Lucas, Russell Howard, Vic Reeves, Sarah Kendall, Stuart Goldsmith and John Thomson.
Alan Davies As Yet Untitled, Dave, Tuesdays from November 3, 10pm.
