Man Stroke Woman

Brutally tragicomic and pretty good. Parts are hilarious and the performances are great but it's also uneven and falls flat well more than once. That said, I wish I was that funny. Also, the one thing I requested NOT to see prior to viewing this, namely Nick Frost's hairy moobies, were on display no less than three times in the first episode. I wouldn't mind SO much if the women were allowed to meet (meat?) the same standard. Since the standards of the IMDb review are not, shall we say, Hemingwayesque, (min 10 lines of text required) I'll mention in passing to interested parties that there is girl kissing in one of the sketches.

This is just the latest in a long line of programmes that have started off life on BBC3 and then been promoted to BBC2. The idea is that non-digital viewers will be so entranced by what they see that they'll go out and upgrade to digital so that they can get all these wee gems as soon as they come out. It's a good tactic, undermined by a small flaw: most of the programmes are rubbish. This one is no exception. It's all over the place. No cohesion, no central binding attitude that stands it out: it's hard to avoid the feeling that every idea put forward during the initial production meeting was included in the final script, however risible it might have been. It's not as bad as Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (which is actually so bad it has made the reverse jump back to BBC3), but only in the sense that Mussolini was not as bad as Hitler. If this is the standard fare, I'm going to stop watching television as soon as the analogue signal is switched off. Getting more crap for your licence fee is not a reason for upgrading.

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.

Just caught the repeat today and I can't believe this was ever broadcast, let alone enjoying a repeat showing. There was not one laugh in the entire show, and the whole thing felt like the writers were trying too hard to guess what "wacky" situations the "kids" would find hilarious, while all the time trying to make up for the fact that they have no talent as comic writers.

Poor Nick Frost - he may reckon this is his personal Big Train, but it's not even as good as Simon Pegg's ultra-turkey Hippies. Hyperdrive was very poor too. The sooner he returns to his position as Simon Pegg's lapdog, the better for him.