Never Mind the Buzzcocks (TV Series 1996–2023) Poster

(1996–2023)

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9/10
Hilarious Show
screenman17 May 2009
Warning: Spoilers
It's another of those 'panel-shows from hell' where famous people get to wish they weren't so famous.

Originally panelled by slick, witty and sarcastic Mark Lamarr; two teams hosted by Phil Jupitus and Bill Bailey answer pop-music related questions around a loosely-based format. It is not a flattering programme. Few but their fans have much sympathy with the smug, shallow dim-witted, spoilt popsters, and Mark Lamarr ground away at their reputation and success with sphincter-puckering ruthlessness. Quite often it was just an excuse for a hatchet-job, and usually well deserved.

There are questions and answers. And there's lot's to be learnt. An amazing amount of background information about the music industry in general is conveyed at tremendous speed, with gags a plenty.

Informative and rather touching is a line-up of popsters past. Yesterday's forgotten heartthrobs stand geriatrically incarnate amongst a line of nameless equivalents, and panelists must identify the original. There is a contemporary film-clip of their youth to jog memories. Nobody in the line-up has their feelings spared.

Throughout the programme, there are asides and sometimes lengthy digressions in which guests are made to suffer and squirm. It's definitely one of the best panel shows ever produced, the musical equivalent of 'Have I Got News For You'.

When Mark Lamarr left the show I thought that would be its death knell. But no; a rather juvenile Simon Amstell took over and brought his own brand of humour to the show. If anything; it got funnier. Amstell has proved to be just as witty and sarcastic as Lamarr but less overbearing somehow; a strangely vulnerable personality makes his insinuating remarks all the more barbed.

The show has gone from strength to strength. Long may the pretentious pop-icons be demolished.
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8/10
Continues to deliver
k_mobius118 June 2008
2 teams of celebrities make their way through various musical games & questions, though the real challenge of the gameshow nowadays is, quite clearly, withstanding the inevitable onslaught from host Simon Amstell! I only began watching this programme in 2000, but knew instantly it was a winner. With memorably funny rounds such as the Intros round, and of course the line-up, it never failed to disappoint.

Mark Lamarr was a great host for the show, interacting well with the teams, and sometimes having a snipe at one or two! Unbelievably Amstell has managed to keep this momentum going with his own wacky twist on proceedings. Likewise, team captains Phill Jupitus and Bill Bailey are always game for a laugh, and not forgetting the down-to-earth style humour of former captain Sean Hughes. They can tend to stray a long way off topic, though, deeming certain sections of the programme pointless. Simon serves as a great successor to Mark for his bitchiness and incredible wit. Very entertaining.
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7/10
Original was excellent, new version is funny in places.
sjo-1530 January 2023
The original run, whether fronted by Lamarr or Amstell, or later guest hosts, was excellent. It was consistently funny. Had excellent guests, who were big at the time. The music scene was alive, and the show thrived on it.

Now, its hosted by Greg Davis, and still with Noel Fielding. Davis is hilarious in general, excellent in Task Master and can be very funny in this.

Its morphed into a largely different type of show, similar rounds as the original, but seems to rely more on the shock factor. Theres much more swearing, innuendo and low brow humour. Not necessarily a terrible thing, but different.

Example, originally the "celebrity lineup" had a playful edge. Now the panelists, while cushioned by Greg's apparent embarrassment and covering of face, openly insult the lineup to their faces. Insulting, rather than humour.

From S2 onwards they have edited out Cooper's full volume constant laughing, a good thing.

Its more hit and miss. Sometimes theres modern music types on, but more often older stars.

It seems to have lost focus a bit.
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Consistently hilarious
zu2015 October 2003
Regardless of how long this show has gone on for it is so consistently hilarious that it's one of the few things on T.V. that I actually look forward to watching. Mark Lamarr is king of mocking people and I love the games they play like "Guess the intro" and others which in all fairness are just prompts for some popular and more amusingly 80's music stars(the show which Pete Burns was on with his hideous - surely joke plastic lips that even Melanie Griffiths would wince at was hilarious!!) to make fools of themselves in an entirely good natured setting. I wasn't entirely convinced that when Sean Hughes left (who was very very funny) that the show would be able to continue but Bill Bailey gave it a new lease of life and the chemistry between him and Lamarr is often responsible for the funniest parts of the show. I hope it goes on for another few years because for as long as it does I will be watching.
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10/10
Excellent show, Simon Amstell is "a competent and witty host" and guests are milked for every dirty deed they ever committed.
dieyoung922 November 2007
OMG r u taking the mickey man this show is hilarious, Simon Amstell is such a witty guy! Also it is mainly a comedy and its 4 people who like good music and a good laugh. How can u say the people "think" they are funny, of course they r funny Noel Fielding is the biggest up and coming comedian in the whole of the UK and his show is quickly becoming a cult classic. I'm not even trying 2 be harsh but u have a screw loose what do u find funny then?! I strongly advise people to ignore the comment written before this, I must say I'm open to people's opinions and perhaps the show is not for him but the reasons for his dislike are terrible! Simon Amstell actually makes me laugh out loud, if you like wit and prefer to steer clear of slapstick comedy then watch this. Granted there are some guests who do continue to dwell at the slapstick end of the scale but in general it is good English comedy with the use of language and avoids broad comedy with which to appeal to the masses.
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10/10
Hilarious
Tess229 March 2008
The only show to literally make me fall on the floor with laughter. I see all these complaints about an OTT laughter track, but I would swear that really is the audience reaction - it's certainly what I'm doing at home. From the early days of Mark Lamarr, Sean Hughes and Phil Jupitus, right through to the current line-up, it has remained one of the sharpest and funniest shows ever.

Of course, Buzzcocks has had its share of problems. It lost its edge a little towards the end of Lamarr's reign; having done the show for 10 years he was getting bored and working on autopilot. Happily, after he left, the show got revitalised with the arrival of Simon Amstell, and bounced back with a very different but equally strong style of hosting.

It's now common knowledge that Buzzcocks is pre-rehearsed, and that Sean Hughes left for frustration with this 'fake' aspect. To me this barely detracts at all. Far better to have a few pre-prepared answers than everybody floundering around in silence. Who wants the intro round ruined by performers muttering "I don't know that one"? Yes, they practice first - let it go. Furthermore, though I love Sean (and his accent), his replacement Bill Bailey is an even better team captain.

Do they take things too far sometimes? It's certainly remarkable how much they get away with - countless celebrity death threats, the punishment of naive guests (amazing that only one has walked off), and of course the infamous Courtney Love joke among many other controversial moments, would be cut from most other programmes. Gentle types will wince at times, but those of us with a cruel streak truly revel in it. The trio say all the things we want to but either don't think of or don't dare to voice.

Best of all, the show is for music lovers and music dunces to enjoy alike. Whether you know exactly what they're talking about, or whether you're completely at sea, Buzzcocks is always hilarious.
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8/10
Never mind the reboot, Watch the original !
jfryleach27 December 2022
Another classic show gets a reboot and makeover and becomes a disaster!

The original was edgy and hilarious with Mark Lamarr's (and later Simon Amstall) cutting sarcasm knowing no bounds - Now it's just another annoying lame remake cashing in on what was once a great show.

It seems that UK tv exec's have lost the ability to produce original entertainment television and either try to "update" much loved shows to disastrous effect (see also Blankety Blank) or force on the viewing public train wrecks of bland excruciating drivel which have probably been created by a panel of talent free miserable university hacks with a degree in mediocrity....
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4/10
was 8 or 9/10 before latest installment on Sky
fLip2k15 December 2021
Daisy May absolutely ruins the reincarnation of the brilliant show.

I thought I liked her, after so many funy panel shows appearances, but here she just overwhelms every joke, however minor it can be with her laughter.

Greg is ok as the host, but once again, forcefully laughing at his own or writers' gags does him no favour, losing my respect/liking of him also, just feels very forced.

Daisy is still the very worst, esp that she's on every damn episode!

Disappointed massively. I know they can't bring back Lamarr or Simon, who were by far the brilliant high rating signatures of the show (9/10 in those days), but even the mix of changing hosts, like Wogan and s few others were so, so much better than the current bunch!

Removed the show from "Record Series" on Sky+ after this xmas special.
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The panel format may not be original – but it's consistently very funny.
bob the moo16 January 2002
Following the success of Have I got News For You, this put the panel format to a music quiz. The focus not so much being on winning or even giving the right answer but making as many jokes during the quiz as possible. The show is hosted by Mark Lamarr with two teams captained by Sean Hughes and Phil Jupitus. The rounds include connections (finding the links between two artists), intros (2 members of the team try to do an intro and the third member must guess the song), the line-up (teams must pick a `famous' musician out of a line of 5 people) and last lines (teams complete song lyrics).

The show is consistently very funny - the teams obviously have some time to prepare and are given some notice of what's coming - but it does depend on the 4 guests. Sometimes a comedian will guest and will try too hard, or a musician will not deal with the quick wits around him. But for most of the time Lamarr, Hughes and Jupitus are sharp enough to carry the whole thing themselves. The humour is quite mad - cruel and sharp - so it may not be to everyone's taste.

Overall it may not be the most original format for a show but with a good team and good guests this manages to be consistently funny. Who wins doesn't matter one bit and you do feel that everyone just wants to have a laugh. A very enjoyable 30 minutes week in, week out.
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Good, funny and enjoyable game show.
Jonathan Horner15 July 2000
Never Mind the Buzzocks is a really good, funny and enjoyable game show.

Hosted by the cleverly spoken Mark Lamarr (who is also captin of "Team A" in the game show "Shooting Stars") who in my opinion is a brilliant game show host. Phil Jupitus and Sean Hughes are captains of the two teams, both of them are also very funny.

Games rounds in the show include "song impersonations" where two of the three contestents in a team have to act out a couple of popular songs without using the lyrics, they can only impersonate the instruments used in the song. This round can be hilarious.

Never Mind the Buzzcocks is one of my favirote game shows but I still think "Shooting Stars" hosted by the really funny Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer still edges it for me.

8/10.
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Superbly funny
hkuczala726 November 2002
Mark Lamarr, Bill Bailey and Phil Jupitus are just plain hilarious. Mark Lamarr's unrestrained jokes are at times quite disturbing, but Immensely funny with it. Bill Bailey's general appearance is enough to keep me laughing. And Phil Jupitus is an extremely funny man.

The four guests on the show each week, can only make the show more amusing- I do not think it is possible for a guest to slow down the fast-paced comedy or the host and his team captains.

Just Brilliant.
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Older is better
Dissector24 April 2004
I totally agree with everyone else, Mark Lamar is excellent as Presenter, Phill Jupitus is difficult to dislike, and SeanHughes/Bill Bailey have a great off the wall take on life .... but must add the comment, that it's usually better when "older" stars are the guests, and when they don't quite "get" what is going on, eg: Lemmy (Motorhead), who at first didn't understand what was happening, and when he did, took offence at the jokes being mostly at his expense and walked off in the last few seconds of the programme. ..... I'm not sure the title would work elsewhere in the world though, the Sex Pistols reference is obvious, but "Buzzcocks" less so. .... "Anyone got ideas for other titles for around the world ?"
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Very funny celebrity music quiz show
Greatwhitewhale214 May 2004
It's one of BBC 2's longest running serieses and no doubt as it's

funny and still is to this day.

Everyone's perfect for it. You can't imagine anyone else presenting

it than Mark Lamarr, Phill Jupitus is hilarous and Bill Bailey is

superb, outshining the former team captain before him, Sean

Hughes.

The rounds certainly create great games to play at home. Guess

the intro, opening lyrics.

One disapointment is when Mark Lamarr goes too far. Like giving

certain famous people death threats and making some quite

mean jokes.

Other than that, a verry funny show. May it continue.
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