Cheers Dave!
Dave may have branded itself as a bit of a lads’ channel, a mix of Loaded and Top Gear, but the funny thing is that it is actually building up its own new programme canon. And they’re quite good.
With Red Dwarf’s latest offerings being pioneered and lauded by the self styled ‘home of witty banter’ channel, as well as Dave’s One Night Stand being recently re-commissioned and Argumental going from strength to strength, Dave has stealthily become quite a champion for new comedy on the sly. No longer the Bravo replacement many worried it could become with its ‘blokey’ attitude, it’s carving out a niche of its own, mixing up comedy, gadgets and a few adventuring spirits. It’s what your mate Dave would really watch as opposed to what TV execs might expect him to be titillated/morbidly fascinated by for five minutes after a night in the pub now sat on the sofa with a kebab in his hand.
The latest addition to the quietly developing stable of new programmes is Improvisation My Dear Mark Watson. With the pilot out this week, we’ll see what kind of response it gets and whether that response will warrant a full series. But with the amount of fun and laugh out loud moments, it delivers pretty much from the first minute. If there’s any justice in the TV world this should be another Argumental gem in Dave’s crown, unassumingly gathering profile and running for years to come.
“Thought bubbles materialise as Rufus Hound is challenged to play mind-reader”
It’s based around the talented teams of improvising comics, but also introduces a massive green screen element adding extra layers as Mark Watson from his chair position and various production bods visually heckle and add to the quality content coming up. Thought bubbles materialise as Rufus Hound is challenged to play mind-reader to a member of the audience. Backgrounds are added to transport Colin Hoult and Stephen K Amos to a gay singles bar, and Isy Suttie joined by Charlie Baker to a school’s parents evening. Costumes manifest over our players transforming our players into muscle-bound gym bods and then into chickens. It would be over-reaching to say that it’s the Terry Gilliam component in the Monty Python sketches here, but you get the gist. Fluid, fun and contributing rather than hindering (as it could so easily if done with a heavy hand), this is an exploration further than the green screen has gone before, and all the better for it.
Also joining Mark for this opening gambit of a show was if.comedy winner (formerly the Perrier prize) Josie Long, throwing herself into the proceedings with a rap that’s not to be missed.
This is a great first episode, a jumping off point with a fantastically hand-picked cast and contributing others (check the credits for a couple of members of award-winning sketch group Pappy’s). Hopefully that will mean more in the pipeline.
The Dave channel launched its name by saying that everyone has a friend called Dave. I’m beginning to think we’ve got a friend in Dave too.
Improvisation My Dear Mark Watson, Dave, Tuesday 5 July, 10pm
