Act Your Age (radio series)
Encyclopedia
Act Your Age is a panel game
on BBC Radio 4
hosted by Simon Mayo
. The series, created by Ashley Blaker (the original radio producer of Little Britain
) and Bill Matthews (co-deviser of They Think It's All Over
), was first broadcast on 27 November 2008. The show features three teams of stand-up comedians
from different generation
s: "The Up-And-Comers", featuring younger comedians, captained by Jon Richardson
; "The Current Crop", featuring comedians popular at the moment, captained by Lucy Porter
; and "The Old Guard", featuring older, veteran comics, captained by Roy Walker
, (although in the second series, Adrian Walsh and Johnnie Casson took over for two shows each when Walker was unavailable). Most critics disliked the show. The readers of the British Comedy Guide
went as far as voting it the "Worst British Radio Panel Show / Satire 2008".
wrote of the show that: "Mayo spent more time describing the categories than each comedian had in which to be funny. Luckily the studio audience was in the mood to laugh at everything so proceedings proceeded hastily enough, if confusingly. Away from the studio, though, and stone-cold sober, I can remember laughing only once, and even that was spitefully. It was when Stephen K. Amos
said: "If we don't win I'm going to play the race card
," and someone else said: "As usual."
Nick Smurthwaite wrote in The Stage
that: "It wouldn't have mattered that chairman Simon Mayo's scoring was fashionably arbitrary if he'd made a wittier contribution, or helped the contestants out when they were floundering. Any panel game that is reduced to knock-knock joke
s in its first outing is going to struggle to find an audience."
Readers of the British Comedy Guide voted Act Your Age the "Worst British Radio Panel Show / Satire 2008" in the Comedy.co.uk Awards (known at the times as the British Comedy Guide Awards). The BCG said: "Of those that voted in this category, almost 100% of people selected this as their least favourite 2008 radio panel show. It is perhaps not surprising as it was clear from very early on that Act Your Age was going to struggle - on the first show, one of the panellists delivered the Dr Who knock-knock joke in a desperate attempt to get a laugh!"
UKGameshows.com
did criticise the show saying: "Giving the host the vote for the scoring is never a particularly strong idea (how hard would it have been to have 9 members of the studio audience hold up voting panels or something?), as if you disagree with the host's verdict you end up hating him. The scoring is not accurate enough to be fair, nor silly enough to be entertaining. And like any joke show, many patches are not as funny as the comedians would like to think." However, they did express some positive thoughts saying, "some sections are genuinely impressive and hilarious, and how the regulars keep coming up with more and more material is awe-inspiring."
Panel game
A panel game or panel show is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Panelists may compete with each other, such as on The News Quiz; facilitate play by guest contestants, such as on Match Game/Blankety Blank; or do both, such as on Wait Wait.....
on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
hosted by Simon Mayo
Simon Mayo
Simon Mayo is an English radio presenter who has worked for BBC Radio since 1981. As of January 2010, Mayo is presenter of Simon Mayo Drivetime on BBC Radio 2 and, with Mark Kermode, presenter of Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews on BBC Radio 5 Live.In 2008, Mayo was recognised as the "radio...
. The series, created by Ashley Blaker (the original radio producer of Little Britain
Little Britain
Little Britain is a British character-based comedy sketch show which was first broadcast on BBC radio and then turned into a television show. It was written by comic duo David Walliams and Matt Lucas...
) and Bill Matthews (co-deviser of They Think It's All Over
They think it's all over
They think it's all over is a well known quotation and football chant popular in England. It is taken from Kenneth Wolstenholme's BBC TV commentary in the closing moments of the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final, where England beat West Germany 4–2 after extra time to win the FIFA World Cup.Soon after the...
), was first broadcast on 27 November 2008. The show features three teams of stand-up comedians
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
from different generation
Generation
Generation , also known as procreation in biological sciences, is the act of producing offspring....
s: "The Up-And-Comers", featuring younger comedians, captained by Jon Richardson
Jon Richardson (entertainer)
Jon Joel Richardson is a British comedian.Jon co-hosted a Sunday morning radio show on BBC 6 Music with fellow comedian and friend Russell Howard, and continued to present the show himself after Howard left, until 7 March 2010...
; "The Current Crop", featuring comedians popular at the moment, captained by Lucy Porter
Lucy Porter
Lucy Donna Porter is an English actress, writer and comedienne.She has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Brighton Festival and many clubs around Britain. She has also a regular voice on BBC Radio 4 in various panel shows, including Quote.....
; and "The Old Guard", featuring older, veteran comics, captained by Roy Walker
Roy Walker
Robert "Roy" Walker is a television personality and comedian from Northern Ireland, who worked for many years as both a television presenter and comedy actor...
, (although in the second series, Adrian Walsh and Johnnie Casson took over for two shows each when Walker was unavailable). Most critics disliked the show. The readers of the British Comedy Guide
British Comedy Guide
The British Comedy Guide or BCG is a British website covering all forms of British comedy, across all media. At the time of writing, the BCG has published guides to more than 1,200 individual British comedies - primarily TV and radio situation comedy, sketch shows, comedy dramas, satire, variety...
went as far as voting it the "Worst British Radio Panel Show / Satire 2008".
Format
Each episode begins with each of the contestants telling a joke as a warm-up before the first round. The rounds vary between each episode, but the main rounds consist of the panel on buzzers trying to give the best jokes, with Mayo giving points to whoever he feels gave the best material. Between each of the rounds are a selection of "Head-to-Head" rounds, with two members of different teams trying to tell as many jokes within the shortest time. The winner is the person who talks the least. The final round of the show consists of Mayo giving rapid-fire topics for the panel to make jokes on the spot.Reception
The first series of Act Your Age was disliked by most critics. Chris Campling in The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote of the show that: "Mayo spent more time describing the categories than each comedian had in which to be funny. Luckily the studio audience was in the mood to laugh at everything so proceedings proceeded hastily enough, if confusingly. Away from the studio, though, and stone-cold sober, I can remember laughing only once, and even that was spitefully. It was when Stephen K. Amos
Stephen K. Amos
Stephen Kehinde Amos is a British stand-up comedian of Nigerian origin. A regular on the international comedy circuit, he is known for including his audience members during his shows...
said: "If we don't win I'm going to play the race card
Race card
Playing the race card is an idiomatic phrase that refers to exploitation of either racist or anti-racist attitudes to gain a personal advantage, typically by falsely accusing others of racism against oneself.-Usage:...
," and someone else said: "As usual."
Nick Smurthwaite wrote in The Stage
The Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
that: "It wouldn't have mattered that chairman Simon Mayo's scoring was fashionably arbitrary if he'd made a wittier contribution, or helped the contestants out when they were floundering. Any panel game that is reduced to knock-knock joke
Knock-knock joke
The knock-knock joke is a type of joke, probably the best-known format of the pun, and is a time-honored "call and answer" exercise.It is a role-play exercise, with a punster and a recipient of wit.The standard format has five lines:...
s in its first outing is going to struggle to find an audience."
Readers of the British Comedy Guide voted Act Your Age the "Worst British Radio Panel Show / Satire 2008" in the Comedy.co.uk Awards (known at the times as the British Comedy Guide Awards). The BCG said: "Of those that voted in this category, almost 100% of people selected this as their least favourite 2008 radio panel show. It is perhaps not surprising as it was clear from very early on that Act Your Age was going to struggle - on the first show, one of the panellists delivered the Dr Who knock-knock joke in a desperate attempt to get a laugh!"
UKGameshows.com
UKGameshows.com
UKGameshows.com is a website dedicated to British game shows. The site currently provides information on more than 1,500 British game show formats from 1938 to the present day, over 500 mini-biographies of hosts, along with numerous other background articles....
did criticise the show saying: "Giving the host the vote for the scoring is never a particularly strong idea (how hard would it have been to have 9 members of the studio audience hold up voting panels or something?), as if you disagree with the host's verdict you end up hating him. The scoring is not accurate enough to be fair, nor silly enough to be entertaining. And like any joke show, many patches are not as funny as the comedians would like to think." However, they did express some positive thoughts saying, "some sections are genuinely impressive and hilarious, and how the regulars keep coming up with more and more material is awe-inspiring."