Telly Talk: Electric dreams

Last year Live At The Electric kicked off as BBC3’s flagship comedy programme for emerging sketch and character comedy, declaring itself the best place for any performance comedy that didn’t quite fit the bill of regular stand-up that could happily make its way to The Michael McIntyre Roadshow. Hosted by BBC3’s darling prancing emo/goth/creative comic Russell Kane, it had handpicked some of the best talent on the circuit that didn’t quite… fit. Hurrah! Nick Helm made a massive splash, and is now commissioned with his very own TV series in the works, and Humphrey Ker headed Stateside and is being paraded around La-La Land as someone to keep a beady eye out on, which isn’t hard to do with him measuring at 6’7” in his stockinged feet. So now it’s time for a second series, launching next week, and we should all be rubbing our hands together in anticipation of the new tasty comedic treats these clever talent scouts have ferreted out for our delectation.

First off, we’ve got some top quality acts returning. Totally Tom – two chaps called Tom – are still framing proceedings with backstage shenanigans. Laughing at themselves, rather than at anyone else’s expense, their patter sits well and is original. I like it.

“reach for the highest common denominator and find the funny in a totally new place”

Also returning is double act Two Episodes Of Mash, consisting of Joe Wilkinson and Diane Morgan – two very good and unique comics in their own right and having just completed a second series on BBC radio of their own. Sweeping in from leftfield with a random use of green screen and a Guess Who game, it’s plain to see that gimmicks aren’t really necessary when you can so easily reach for the highest common denominator and find the funny in a totally new place.

Newbies consisted of sketches from WitTank, character comedy from the ever politically incorrect French misanthropist Marcel Lucont, Russell Kane taking Shakespeare’s language to the bedrooms of Billericay, and a silent but rather lovely almost comic ballet between Paul Currie and his monkey. Not a euphemism.

Actually, that was really my only real issue with this second bite of the unorthodox comedy apple. Call it a pear if you like. Or a kumquat. It just, at times seemed a bit too laboured with double, single, and blatant innuendo and sexual tomfoolery that didn’t really contain as strong punchlines as the rest of the assembled collective. From Russell Kane referring to himself as a ‘comedy fluffer’ as the mildest part of his intro, to the sexual schoolyard jokes in a mock staff room, it was almost as if the strength of the writing wasn’t allowed to stand on its own for too long, and so was generously topped with rude words for ‘the BBC3 audience’. Who aren’t really all as obsessed with knob jokes as some people might think. It also meant that some of the actually well written smutty jokes did show up how just adding a swear word might shock your mum into laughing, but it wasn’t going to stand the test of time and talent anytime too soon.

The good and constant thing about Live At The Electric is its format. It’s a real mix of inputs meaning that each new sketch is a fresh adventure. And the chance for fresh talent to break the mould.
Live At The Electric, BBC3, Thursday 4 July