Alright, to start off everything, I am not a fan of Michael McIntyre. I don't find his stand-up shows funny, his voice is annoying and to make it all up - how can he translate his brand of humour to pre-watershed Saturday night television! Well, it's simple - Gen Z humour!
A production of Hungry Bear Media, Big Show was originally a one-off programme for BBC One (much like with Take Off with Bradley and Holly which I reviewed prior) before being commissioned by the BBC for a full series, and has been successful since then. The show seems like a great idea on paper - family fun with a stand-up comedian, but just falls flat on it's face.
There are three main segments featured in almost every episode - Unexpected Guest, Send to All, and Midnight Gameshow.
Send to All is personally the segment I dislike the most of the three. It has McIntyre gaining the phone of a chosen celebrity and he embarrasses them in front of the live audience by posting cheesy text messages, showcasing images and making fun of the apps they use, and near the end he showcases who's responded to the messages. The reason I dislike Send to All it is mainly for the fact it stereotypes celebrities as being people who do nothing but go on their phones all the time and passes it off as cheap comedy. It's heavily acted out because celebrities wouldn't even give out their personal details to a comedian, because - who knows what happens? Even the responses seem acted out.
Midnight Gameshow has McIntyre going to a celebrity's house (originally, an audience member's house), wakes them up in the middle of the night and he makes them play a bunch of games... or so we guess. In actuality, he brings in a bunch of people and surprises them all - mainly childhood crushes or role-models. Sometimes parents too! I am mixed on this segment, firstly I never laugh at it - and secondly it's always interesting seeing how the celebrities react when McIntyre comes in uninvited. Thirdly, it seems like the celebrities know McIntyre is there, but the surprises he brings in are thankfully genuine.
Lastly, Unexpected Guest is quite fun when it involves a member of the public, but the whole concept is the same. McIntyre surprises the person, but makes them think they're doing something else or going to a place (eg, a game arcade or a salon) but after a while reveals that it's the theatre where Big Show is held. If the guest sings songs, you may see them at the very end of the episode. As I stated, this is a nice segment
There are also music performances and sometimes stand-up performances from other comedians, although these all depend on the episode. They're not really worth it and just exist to fill out the hour-long timeslot.
Overall, Michael McIntyre's Big Show isn't that funny and is a pain to watch, but can be good when it needs to. There's reasons why I prefer watching shows that are made to be more timeless instead of catering to peeps who are obsessed with their phones and social media programs like TikTok. You might find it funny if you like McIntyre, but all I had on my face most of the time (I mean all the time) was a straight mouth.
Aside from that, McIntyre also has his game show format The Wheel, which he created when this show went on hiatus due to the pandemic. But that can wait for another time.
