ISIHAC: TNG

[nmg]

Until the babysitter turned up at 1830, we'd completely forgotten that we'd arranged to go out to a recording of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue at the Mayflower this evening. Now we're in the post-Humph era, the Beeb has decided to continue the programme with a rota of guest chairs (a la HIGNFY) - ours tonight was Jack Dee.

How did it go? Too early to tell, I think. Dee is good, but he isn't Humph (and his pacing and delivery in the first half - the first of the two episodes being recorded - made it clear that he was pretty nervous). We'd only been to one recording before (in Bath, probably around 2000), and the pace of this recording was noticeably slower; they'll have to edit this down to fit in the broadcast slot. All the old favourites were there, but they didn't always ring true. For example, the Mornington Crescent round fell a bit flat (partly because they reused a gag - the MC computer), and I suspect that it would have been shorter under Humph. Not quite paint-by-numbers (or the set list at a Steeleye Span concert), but relatively predictable.

That said, it was generally good, even if it wasn't as painfully funny as the previous recording I saw. I'm looking forward to the series being broadcast, mainly because I want to see what the other guest chairs make of it; post-Deayton HIGNFY didn't immediately gel, and my feeling is that ISIHAC will be much the same.