What's the Point?


Today, I watched the filming of two episodes of the BBC1 game show Pointless.

I was struck by how relaxed the shoot was. It was a world of difference from my previous game show experience, when I attended a recording of the Paul Daniels-fronted Nineties quiz Wipeout (I've never been starved for entertainment). That programme was filmed in a much larger studio at Television Centre (today’s was shot in Elstree) - and consequently felt like a much bigger deal.

Conversely, today's shoot was relatively low-key. I’m not saying that Armstrong and Osman were blasé about the job in hand (except for then, when I just said it). They were just completely in control of proceedings. It was like watching a well-oiled machine. A well-oiled machine that intersperses dry one-liners with trivia. 

(I'm not sure what would be the purpose of this appliance.)

The hardest thing was refraining from playing along out loud. This is perfectly acceptable at home; less so when you’re sitting front-centre in the audience, in the direct line of sight of both the presenters and contestants.

I didn’t do too badly in my mind, if I do say so myself. I managed to get three pointless answers: one in a round about Beatles songs, another in a round about Oasis, and one about 1984 (the year, not the novel). I also scored seven points with the British Grand Prix-winner Jackie Stewart. You'd almost be fooled for thinking that I know stuff.

I didn’t score so well when the cameras were turned on the audience for a few reaction shots. There was nothing natural about my performance.

(It's not as if I earn my living as an actor.)
 
I even briefly held a Pointless trophy. They’re tiny: about the size of two Crystal Maze crystals if they'd been melted into one. 

That was apparently the most universal scale I could come up with.

A David's-eye-view of the studio.

Popular posts from this blog

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Image
Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera
Read more

Stevenage: A (Tiny) River Runs Through it.

If ever a river was mis-sold, it’s the Roaring Meg in Stevenage. I just walked past it on my way to the retail park that has taken its name. They’re similarly uninspiring. The river is less of a roar and more of a dribble; cystitis sufferers produce greater flow. The retail park is soulless. What was once a thriving enterprise is nearly devoid of atmosphere, save an underlying essence of emptiness and despair. With a Toys R Us. When it was first built I was excited. Back then, the thought of a bowling alley, an ice rink, a Harvester and a Blockbuster Video within a small surface area was enticing. I celebrated many birthdays on site. There was an indoor cricket pitch there for a while where I once had a joint party with a friend. Why someone with an almost pathological fear of sport would agree to such a venture is beyond me, but I did it. Now, there’s very little at the Roaring Meg of note. The river would be a metaphor for the shopping ce
Read more

Hoo-ray and up She Rises.

So much has happened since my last post in March that this blog risks sounding like an itinerary. The main news is that Hitchin Mostly Comedy will return in the summer at a new venue, the Queen Mother Theatre . The road to this decision was convoluted, though enough fell into place en route to leave me optimistic about this new start. The catalyst was a survey I ran via our mailing list a few months back, in which I asked, "If the club returned in the current climate, with tickets still around £15 (and with similar line-ups), would you still attend?"; the response to which, in simple terms, was a resounding yes. Nearly 250 mailing list subscribers responded in a single week, with around a hundred also taking the option to leave some feedback. And only two people were abusive, which counts as a win when you consider they posted their comments online anonymously. Imagine how many more insults we would have received if the comedy club was a woman. Particularly if she was Diane
Read more