Man Stroke Woman

The great thing about this sketch show is that it does what a sketch show should do; focus on one aspect of life and develop it into comedy! The format of a sketch show has been done so many times in the past 30 years that it really doesn't mean anything anymore. But Man Stoke Woman is about adults in there 30s and the relationships between men and women. There is no catchphrases, no silly costumes (well perhaps one small one worn by Nick Frost) and together with a fresh cast and good scrips, the show is by far the best of the 'new comedy' to air on BBC3 in the past few years. I think the people who don't find this funny are the types who focus on repetition, although nothing really wrong with the 'Little Britain' formula, it does get tired easily and the writers get lazy. The great thing about this show, is that you don't know what to expect. Nick Frost is probably the best known out of them all, and he shines along with the rest of the cast. I really wish they'd do more together as they work off each other so well. Here's hoping that they'll be more. Although I doubt there will be. Shame. Can't wait for series 2 DVD release.

I watched this when it first came out, and to this day, 15 years later, I still re-watch it. It's incredibly funny and the cast is perfect! I love the way they play off of one another. Sadly, we don't see many comedies like this anymore.

I thought this programme was a breath of fresh air. Yes some of it is variable - what sketch show isn't but I think the four main actors are just great together. Some of the sketches are down right silly. Others excellent observation - taken just that little bit (well quite a lot sometimes)further. Many are ensemble pieces often with all four and there are some really good running jokes "you can't just say I look nice", the guy thats always crying, the "posh" cosmetics assistants and particularly this evening I thought the three on the sofa discussing their horrible "perfect" boyfriends excellent stuff.

Try not to compare it other shows and where the actors may have come from. Look at it for what it is - a bit of a laugh at men and women together.

If you get the chance watch it. I think it works. I don't think you will be disappointed.

The main problem with this is that it is up against some pretty stiff competition. By that I mean "Big Train" and "Smack the Pony". I don't include the Fast Show as that is a different beast. You could even include "Bruiser" in that list.

Firstly although there are 5 "names" here and one I hadn't come across before none of them have set the world on fire. When you look at the list of people who came out of those three shows you have Oscars and Baftas falling out out of the sack. Plus one of the funniest men to ever grace our screens, yes I am looking at you Mark Heap!

So here we have Nick Frost, the second luckiest man in Showbusiness (take a bow Paddy McGuiness) who owes virtually everything he has to one vastly more talented friend (take a bow Paddy McGuiness). Amanda Abingdon ditto the above but make that luckiest woman. Then there was the guy who was in Game of Thrones as a bit part and also in Strike as a bit part. Then there is Daisy Haggard who had a bit part in the wonderful Episodes. So, you get the point, none of them have the talent or more importantly "charisma" to hold your attention.

Then the writers are quite.... errrm..... average? I mean it's not that the ideas couldn't have worked. It just wasn't tightened up enough and the cast didn't have the quality to pull it off. Take Smack the Pony, some of the ideas were very similar to these ideas (but 6 years earlier), silly men vs. Sillier women, people vs. Life kind of thing. But the hit to miss ratio was 10 to 1 in Smack the pony where two sketches per show might have been a bit weak or Big Train where one or two sketches fell flat ....... across the whole series.

So.... The cast added to the writing just don't hit the mark at any point. There is not one solid guffaw, not one belly laugh in the whole thing. Yes there are a few chuckles and yes there are a few points where you think "That's a good idea" but there aren't enough and they aren't enough to make you really smile.

Repetition. Ok it can really work. The Fast Show showed what can be done. But they did it with an utterly stellar cast. Paul Whitehouse? C'mon. The comedian's comedian Mr. Versatile. Need a teenager? Call on Paul. Need an 80 year old alcoholic? Call on Paul. Bruiser showed what you can achieve with weaker writing but a talented cast who can hold their own. Colman, Freeman Mitchell and Webb made the absolute most of what they had to work with. I think if there had been a series 2 of Bruiser it would have rocked the world. Then Big Train. Brilliant writing / Brilliant cast.

Not one performance in MSW leaves you thinking, ooh they're good. The women are painfully unfunny. Fiona, Doon, Sally and Sarah are funny in Smack the Pony. Not only are they funny thay have the confidence to know they are funny and the ability to pull it off. Amanda, Daisy and the other one are just not funny.

Why have I written all this. To show that this isn't a dumb 3 out of 10 thrown out by a bored housewife in Montana who fell across this somehow. The same woman who would give Big Train a 3 out of 10 because she just doesn't get "humor". This show is a 3 out of 10 because it fails at just about everything you could ask of a sketch show. The only surprise here is that they got a second series.

Do yourself a "favour" and watch Big Train and see how it should be done. Be warned if you laughed, even once, at Man Stroke Woman you won't stand a chance of surviving.

The main blame is with the writer's. None of it is that funny. And when you have that to surmount you have to be more talented than this group to pull it off. I saw it to the end and no, it didn't get better.

This show relies on it's cast, with Nick Burns from Nathan Barley and Nick Frost from Spaced/Shaun of the Dead we anticipate a programme that's much funnier than it actually is. Undeniably there are some good sketches, e.g. the Where's Josh? sketch but others are just poor - the shag marry kill sketch is boring, the problem is that they have two or three of the same sketch per episode and when it's boring it stays boring. This comedy is average, i can't believe there weren't better scripts or ideas to create but once again we see typecasting and reputations which boost sales, or viewing figures. Not a complete waste of time, but definitely not laugh out loud in may places and a quite frank disappointment. I though that the title meant it had some male humour and female humour throughout but when i watched it with some females friends they only laughed at the bits I did meaning i've either got butch friends or they genuinely don't find the humour aimed at them funny. I'd give this 5/10, I'm not surprised Nick Frost jumped on the bandwagon since he started out as Simon Peggs flatmate and to get ahead he's clutching at straws. The money spent on producing this could have been put to better comedies incorporating new talent instead of this semi- funny waste of space.