''Comic's Choice'' is a British comedy

chat show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (20 ...

hosted by the

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

Bill Bailey Mark Robert Bailey (born 13 January 1965), known professionally as Bill Bailey, is an English musician, comedian, actor and television presenter. He is known for his role as Manny in the sitcom '' Black Books'' (2000–2004), and for his regula ...

, and broadcast on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. The programme ran for a single series of five episodes, and was shown during January 2011. Each episode, Bailey would interview another British comedian, and invite them to discuss some of their favourite comedians or comedy television programmes. The series was produced by Unique Television Production.

History

''Comic's Choice'' was broadcast in anticipation of the

British Comedy Awards The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...

, which were being shown on Channel 4 for the first time on 22 January 2011, having been broadcast on ITV for 20 years – ''Comic's Choice'' was broadcast in the week leading up the event. The five guests on the show were

Alan Davies Alan Roger Davies (; ; born 6 March 1966) is an English stand-up comedian, writer, actor and TV presenter. He is known for his portrayal of the title role in the BBC mystery drama series ''Jonathan Creek'' (1997–2016) and as the only permanen ...

Lee Mack Lee Gordon McKillop (born 4 August 1968), known by his stage name Lee Mack, is an English comedian and actor, famed for his quick wit. Mack’s better known work includes creating, writing and starring in sitcom ''Not Going Out'', and featuring ...

Jo Brand Josephine Grace Brand (born 23 July 1957) is an English actress, comedian, presenter and writer. Starting her entertainment career with a move from psychiatric nursing to the alternative comedy stand-up scene and early performances on '' Satur ...

Jessica Hynes Jessica Hynes (''née'' Stevenson) is a British actress, director and writer. Best known as a comedy actress, she has played Cheryl in ''The Royle Family'' (1998–2010), Siobhan Sharpe in ''Twenty Twelve'' (2011–2012) and ''W1A'' (2014–2 ...

and

Sean Lock Sean Lock (22 April 1963 – 16 August 2021) was an English comedian and actor. He began his comedy career as a stand-up comedian and in 2000, he won the British Comedy Award, in the category of Best Live Comic, and was nominated fo ...

. Each guest picked three nominations for various British Comedy Award categories (such as Best Sitcom and Best Male Comic), and would then discuss them and select their winner during the episode. Discussing the show, its producers stated: "With other smaller, alternative categories and audience interaction thrown in, the show will be not just informative and entertaining – but fun, funny and memorable." Reviews of ''Comic's Choice'' were generally positive, with Steven Cookson of Suite 101 describing it as "a great deal of fun". Bailey's hosting was praised, with Tom Sutcliffe of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' calling him the programme's "saving grace", and stating: "

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got a manner that somehow makes the format work." A review of a more critical nature came from Henry Venning of ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...

'', who described the show's format as "flimsy" and "confusing".

Episodes

Winners are given in bold. The Guilty Pleasure category had only one nominee.

References

External links

* * *{{Thetvdb, id=222711, title=Comic's Choice
Production website
2010s British comedy television series 2011 British television series debuts 2011 British television series endings Channel 4 talk shows Channel 4 comedy British English-language television shows Television shows set in London 2010s British television talk shows