I bailed after ten minutes. I found the last series way too long,
and that has only been gone a few weeks! Bring back real
'Cats' and abandon this rubbish!

I think you're meant to loathe Joe Wilkinson, no? He raises the odd smile from me but I don't find him very funny, at all. I'd like to see VCM on Sean's team.

I don't really like Joe Wilkinson, but the problem with the episodes without his bit in the second half was that they started extending the boring mascot stuff at the start to take up half the programme.

Yesterday's had both, so an overlong first bit, a brief bit of Countdown, then Joe messing about with a tiny hint of Countdown in there somewhere. It's weird to persist with the Countdown format when they do everything they can to avoid playing the game.

Rachel: are you going to help?
Joe: Can't now, I'm on my break

:L


I typed "joe wilkinson" into Twitter search to see what people think of him, very mixed feelings. Some love him, some hate him. A few more positive then negative. Some feel like he's the best part of the show or just so happy to have him back, others hate having him back like you lot. So he is deffo a marmite comedian.

I do think Rachel should always have a comedic (is that even a word lol?) companion on the 2nd half, whether it's Joe or someone else. It brings out more fun Rachel out, which is someone I felt was missing from the previous series.

This is so slapstick and bad, but I want a Carol Vorderman impersonator on the show. Would also be funny if that fake Carol took an instant dislike to Rachel lol.

I do love the more "refined" parts too though, particularly Joe Lycett's parking fine sketch.

Canned Laughter......... WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!??

i know it wasnt but they were laughing every few seconds and i wondered what they were laughing at? Maybe the pre show warm up psyched them up or something cos i couldnt see anything funny. Those mascots etc were a waste of time.

Just because you can see a live audience doesn't mean there isn't canned laughter.

I'm always surprised when there's laughter when it returns from a break and Jimmy Carr reveals the word. What's funny about "labrador"?

No problem.


Don't use Twitter but his fans seem to be in a tiny minority on this thread.

I don't outright dislike him, thought he was quite good on the recent Taskmaster show on Dave. It's just that his solo bits on this show tend to be shit, in my opinion.


I've addressed a similar point on a thread about a different show here, being in a studio audience is not the same as sitting at home in your underpants.

The jumbled letters and the clue bring to mind something rude. The delay during the adverts create mounting tension. When the solution is revealed, the tension is released, and because the solution is not rude, there is perceived incongruity and relief. Hence laughter.

It doesn't get funnier for being explained, of course. However, laughter is a social thing. One is more likely to laugh when with other people. The producers of the show will have endeavoured to cultivate an atmosphere conducive to laughter. The audience are there to have a good time. At some level they want to play their part in making the show good. Mob psychology is involved.

I didn't used to like him but now I miss Joe Wilkinson when he's not on.

Having a rewatch of yesterday's episode, I think Tom Allen really is odious, really unpleasant on last night's episode.

Yeah Victoria was really good at the game. I hope Jon takes it more seriously later on and doesn't declare too many made up words, he is good at the game too.

im watching the original cats on channel 18 its superb still after all these years.

I think he's fab. We went to see him in Edinburgh last year and he gives out chocolate HobNobs

It may be that the short spots on Countdown don't show him off the best. (And the whole "smarmy" thing he does is a joke, you have to realise...)

How anyone can call this contrived drivel funny and entertaining is beyond me.

Crass foul humour played out by talentless 'celebtrities' is sadly the height of TV humour these days.

Thanks God for Radio 4

This thread is about 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown.

Is it just me or did Victoria look a bit bored?

Joe Wilkinson yukyuk

Throughout the entire thing Victoria looked like she was thinking to herself "What am I doing here?"

Something I too wondered to myself whilst watching this boring, un-funny mess of a show.

Yes, it was a shower of shit compared to even some of the other bad episodes. The only good that came out of it was seeing RR standing about bare-footed, which was nice.

I thought she was fine until Wilkinson turned up and you could tell she wasn't impressed.

Victoria's too snooty for my liking anyway. Her husband's fun though.

Rewatching it though, a word of advice to Henning: inexplicably yelling out random stuff throughout the duration of the episode (things like 'I'll get there!', 'What have we got to do!?' etc. etc.) is not comedy. That's just being an irritant. If that's what he's like when he finally settles into a panel show, then god in heaven never make him a regular.

'The tiger who went for a pint', is the funniest thing ive seen in living memory.....

Agreed. There was an episode of 'You saw them here first' a few years ago (when Robert Webb used to do it). There was footage of her on that and she was totally different, tone of voice, manner, and everything. I remember being very stunned, I hadn't given it much thought until I saw that. It's a persona, nothing more.

Yes, I might see if I can find a copy for my husband. Our anniversary is next month.

Isn't it lucky for you that "talentless celebrities" like Victoria Coren-Mitchell and Miles Jupp never appear on Radio 4?