BBC Two have presented us with another reason to hate Sunday nights. Yes; they thought that the prospect of a looming Monday wasn’t quite horrific enough so broadcast It’s Kevin to magnify our miserable-ness. It’s Kevin is a new “comedy” sketch show featuring a comedian, Kevin Eldon, past his heyday of the 90s trying to reclaim the market and failing considerably. There was literally not a single laugh raised in my living room for the full 30 minutes of the broadcast (and I was watching it with my Mum, who even laughs at Mrs Browns’ Boys!). The opening sequence provided no promise of an entertaining show; it was almost like a bad take on a Morecambe and Wise sketch but with no real substance.
Much like the rest of the show, then. It seems that Eldon anticipated this though, as he filled his sketches with canned laughter. Which, coincidentally, is also past its heyday of the 90s.
Another subtle technique used by Eldon to avert his audience away from the fact that his show was not funny in the slightest was the frequent use of recognisable faces: Bill Bailey and James Fleet (of Vicar of Dibley fame). An hour and a half after watching the first episode, I’m still dumbstruck at their willingness to partake in such an abomination of comedy. Like Eldon, maybe they were trying to resurrect their heyday and youth. Sorry guys, but it didn’t work.
Bailey featured in the closing scene of It’s Kevin, a hybrid between Red Dwarf and Jedward’s performance in Eurovision. ‘Popsocks‘, an electropop act, sang a song about mobile phones which basically said ‘we all have mobile phones’. Yes, this pretty much epitomises the sense of humour in It’s Kevin. The only good thing about ‘Popsocks‘ is that they would probably win more than Great Britain’s average of ‘nil poi’ at this years Eurovision. Someone should tell Bonnie Tyler she’s been replaced.
Despite what you might think from my description of It’s Kevin thus far, I was actually looking forward to its broadcast; some of my favourite ‘tweeters’, including the infallible Charlie Brooker, had mentioned it on Twitter, urging their followers to watch it. From research into the show and Eldon’s past, I can now comfortably assume that Brooker was blackmailed into promoting It’s Kevin; the pair worked together on E4 dark comedy Dead Set a few years ago. I can only guess what antics occurred that Brooker didn’t want Konnie Huq to know about that much he was willing to put his reputation on the line by pretending to like this show.
I wish I could recommend a show that would be enjoyable, but not even a single sketch in It’s Kevin is worth your time. And to be honest, I couldn’t even tell you which sketches to be particularly avoid as they’ve all blurred into a cloud of grey, forgettable crap in my mind.
BBC, we definitely need to talk about Kevin. What were you thinking?!
Author Bio – Ellie is an 18 year old English Literature student, entertainment reviewer, and cheesy music/tv enthusiast. For all her work, go to http://pluggedbyme.blogspot.co.uk
