Gigglebox Weekly #6

This week Ian Wolf looks at Dave's One Night Stand and David Walliams' Awfully Good Ads

This week Ian Wolf looks at a stand-up show on Dave, and some terrible adverts.

Dave’s One Night Stand

Back for a second series, for those not aware of the show on the digital channel Dave, each episode of One Night Stand takes place in the hometown of the closing act.

These kinds of show only really use the town as a backdrop – a selling point for the show – and in this case stand-up and Direct Line advertiser Chris Addison performed in Manchester.

Also starring was Addison’s co-star in his failed sitcom Lab Rats Jo Enright, who impressed with her talent for impersonation (and pigeon noises); and Craig Campbell, who was arguably the best performer on the night.

Campbell’s a great storyteller, with tales of rude song lyrics, tripping on mushrooms and killing badgers. It’s really quite a shame Campbell isn’t British because he deserves to be the star of his own episode. Jason Cook also filmed for this episode, though his set – and an interview with Chris Addison – is only available online.

David Walliams’ Awfully Good

Awfully Good is one of those shows which, I presume, is only around to fill airtime with archive footage. In this case it’s with adverts which host David Walliams claims are so bad that they are good.

I have to admit that as far as archive shows go, this one is indeed awfully good. It’s a very simple set up. Just show a quick ad and you can get a laugh from something as simple as the name (examples include a diet pill called “Ayds” and a toy dog called “Gaylord”) or the product itself. It’s really quite amazing that products like golf clubs you can urinate into, the flatulence deodorizer and spray-on hair haven’t caught on. Incredibly amazing, in fact.

The most excruciating part of the show was actually the adverts which were either racist, sexist or in some other way inappropriate. It’s shocking to think that only a few decades ago advertisements could openly imply that poor time management is the fault of your wife not giving you enough Kellogg’s. Kellogg’s seem to be a prime offender, too, having also commissioned an advert featuring a black footballer suffering from a white eye.

The best part, for me, was seeing adverts which I myself could remember. Being a relatively young man most of the adverts were before my time, and many came from abroad, but just occasionally I could see something which made me go: “Yes! I remember that. God, that was rubbish.” I’m looking at you Selfstyle Windows, and We Buy Any Car for that matter.

But before I go, I’d like to point out that the worst ads in the show weren’t those in the programme. It was those during the ad breaks for Awfully Good. They were not so much awfully good, rather just plain awful.