This Sketch Show Belongs to Lionel Richie

Worth a look if it is raining hard. And everything else is inexplicably cancelled

Review by Dominic Hinde | 05 Aug 2007

This sketch show belongs to Lionel Ritchie comprises two contradictory elements. The first is a brilliant tribute to the king of romance himself. Unfortunately this flash of genius is overshadowed by the second: a series of intermittently funny sketches about nothing in particular, which tail off without coming to fruition.

A promising opening featuring an old man emerging from a cardboard box to strains of Richard Strauss quickly leads to a series of less impressive sketches, unless you like fighting and jokes about male and female genitalia. The saving grace of the performance is a mounted stag’s head which utters classic lines such as “Lionel Ritchie wants you to kill Craig David. Kill Craig David, love Lionel Ritchie.” Unfortunately even the utterances spewing from the jaws of the felled beast cannot breathe life into a succession of overused gay-jokes or the tedious spectacle of an old man saying rude things. That said, the thought of pushing Labradors into taxis while their owners are in the Post Office does hold a certain fascination.

If you don’t know who Lionel Ritchie is then this show won't be funny: if you do it will be mildly entertaining. Worth a look if it is raining hard. And everything else is inexplicably cancelled.