The Kevin Bishop Show

The Kevin Bishop Show is a sketch comedy written by and starring English comedian Kevin Bishop, part of the Star Stories team. The show was commissioned by Channel 4 for a six-part series starting on 25 July 2008 at 10pm. A pilot was broadcast on 23 November 2007 as part of Channel 4's Comedy Showcase and the programme soon earned interest for its incredibly fast pace; 42 sketches were shown in 23 minutes. The show was nominated for Best New Comedy at the 2008 British Comedy Awards.[1] The show started its second series on Friday 31 July 2009 at 10pm on Channel 4.

The Kevin Bishop Show
GenreComedy
Directed byElliot Hegarty (2008)
Dominic Brigstocke (2009)
StarringKevin Bishop
Jim Howick
Katie Males
Oliver Maltman
Karen Gillan
Theme music composerMark Thomas
Opening themeWiley - "Wearing My Rolex" (Series 2)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original language(s)English
No. of series2
No. of episodes12
Production
Executive producer(s)Phil Clarke
Andrew O'Connor
Producer(s)Lee Hupfield
Michael Livingstone (2008)
Samantha Martin (2009)
Editor(s)Mark Davies
Running time30mins (inc. adverts)
Production company(s)Objective Productions
DistributorAll3Media
Release
Original networkChannel 4
Picture format16:9
Audio formatStereo
Original release25 July 2008 (2008-07-25) –
4 September 2009 (2009-09-04)
Chronology
Related showsStar Stories
No Signal
External links
Website

Overview

The sketch show is fast-paced and based on channel flicking through channels on Sky Digital. On screen is a replica of the Sky Search and Scan banner and TV guide. Unlike the pilot, the search and scan banner displays the date which is the same as the date the episode is being broadcast, with roughly the same time as it is being broadcast. There are many other TV presentation references throughout the show, mostly related to the TV channels the "shows" are on.

The show received 194 complaints to Channel 4, making it the second most complained about programme on Channel 4 during August 2008, after Big Brother 9.[2] Several complaints were made regarding a musical parody of the Holocaust drama Sophie's Choice, as well as parodies of children's toys adverts on Channel 5, such as 'The 9/11 Playset', 'The Terrorist Concentration Camp Playset'. A second series of the show was broadcast in July 2009.

The show was written by Bishop, producer Lee Hupfield (creator of Banzai), Paul Hupfield, Lisa Fishwick, Martin Delaney and writer/performer Les Keen.[3]

Sketches

There are many sketches on the show, parodying current TV adverts and shows. These include:

  • Video game adverts for the Fony Playbox/slab (Wintendoh Piii in series 2), advertising Wii-style games that are based on useless or unusual activities, like anal sex and attracting a bartender's attention
  • American remakes of British shows with stereotypical American twists. Such shows have included Last of the Summer Wine, Countdown, 'Allo 'Allo (set in the Vietnam War and called 'Harrow Harrow' and then in a later episode, in the Afghan War as 'aloo aloo') and Grange Hill
  • Movie trailers such as Dangerously High School Musical
  • Imitating Hugh Laurie's Black Adder-style mannerisms in a parody of the TV Show "House, M. D."
  • R'n'B music videos which sees Bishop dress up as a stereotypical rapper (blacked up)
  • News 25, a news channel based on BBC News 24, renamed just News in series 2
  • Nursery Crime Squad, an apparent ITV drama about police arresting fairytale characters for crimes such as blowing down the houses of three little pigs, and eating Red Riding Hood.
  • The Charmer - a spoof of so-called 'sexy' ITV dramas. Bishop plays a ladies man whom, while seducing an attractive young woman, finds himself inept at completing a simple task (i.e. putting a condom on), so he shouts 'MUM!' very loudly as a way of calling for the unseen character's help
  • Free DVDs with The Daily Mail, such as 'Classic Movie Twists Ruined', 'Classic Times You've Sat On The Remote And Can't Find It' and 'Classic Films Remastered So The Nazis Win'.
  • Adverts for perfumes by celebrities, like 'Bully' by Simon Cowell, 'Desperation' by Jodie Marsh, 'Publicity' by Sienna Miller, 'Mutton' by Madonna, 'Cheat' by Ashley Cole 'Recession' by Gordon Brown, 'Bollocks' by Gordon Ramsay, 'Hypocrite' by Cristiano Ronaldo, 'Nepotism' by Peaches Geldof, 'Greedy' by Kerry Katona, 'Botox' by Dannii Minogue, 'Bigot' by Nick Griffin, 'Typecast' by Daniel Radcliffe, 'Scum' by Jeremy Kyle, and 'Cuckold' by Peter Andre
  • The Mind cop which sees Bishop as a detective investigating crime scenes and acting out the incident. This always leads to him injuring and supposedly raping his colleague, ignoring the insistence that there were no sexual crimes and physical abuse involved. He often comments just before he is about to rape his colleague, "Then what happened? Oh, God no. Then you raped him, didn't you? You dirty fucking bastard".
  • The Pun Detective who works out the series of events related to the victim. For example, when an ice cream man is murdered and his body is covered in various toppings, he says "He's topped himself!"
  • Gary, a man who constantly imitates a radio announcer, even inviting 'listeners' to text or email in, which greatly annoys his girlfriend. During these sketches, "Eple" by the Norwegian electronic music group Röyksopp plays as background music. In August 2008, his girlfriend left him as a result of his actions, despite already telling him a few seconds ago she'll leave him if he continues with the charade
  • On set with Colin Farrell, who always turns up naked, despite starring in children's films or merely providing a voice over
  • A parody of Walkers Crisps under the name of Christopher Walken as 'Walkens Crisps', typically parodying one of the films he stars in such as The Deer Hunter
  • A show called "Little Hitler" about Hitler as a boy in a Nazi uniform
  • "The Trustafarians", a pair of upper middle-class gentlemen in their early twenties, expressing their perpetual and facetious annoyance at the various minor inconveniences in their lives usually related to monetary loss. Their catch-phrase is "...it's a bit annoying..."
  • "Jesus Christ The Series" which usually involves something bad happening to somebody and they say Jesus Christ! only to see Jesus Christ next to them and usually says sorry, for example in one episode, a football team scored a goal. Their player shouted Jesus Christ! And Jesus was seen hanging from the goal in a crucifix position
  • A "Die Hard" movie starring Bruce Forsyth instead of Bruce Willis, featuring the line "Yippee-ki-yay to see you, to see you, yippee-ki-yay".

Awards and nominations
YearAwardCategoryNomineeResult
2008 British Comedy Awards Best New Comedy The Kevin Bishop Show Nominated[1]
2009 British Comedy Awards Best Sketch Show The Kevin Bishop Show Nominated[1]

DVD releases

A DVD containing all six episodes of the first series was released on 7 September 2009.[4] It also contains the pilot episode of the show.

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References
  1. "British Comedy Awards announced". ITV. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2009.
  2. "C4's Kevin Bishop sparks user criticism". Broadcast. Retrieved 8 November 2008.
  3. "The Kevin Bishop Show - Production Details & Cast and Crew". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 11 August 2009.
  4. "The Kevin Bishop Show - DVDs and Other Merchandise". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 11 August 2009.
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