10 o'Clock Live

Well okay, I'll admit it was a mistake to start a blog in the same week I got Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. I did manage to break away from the game long enough to watch Channel 4's new comedic politics show, 10 o'clock Live and that made me a little angry, so I'll write about that. Fortunately I didn't watch it live and had a chance to see my twitter feed's damning of it first, thus lowering my expectations enough to find it mildly amusing in places.

David Mitchell was good. I don't really have problem with anything David Mitchell did. If the whole show had been David Mitchell and C4 renamed it The David Mitchell Gets Annoyed At People While An Audience Cheers Him On Show I would have declared it a resounding success, but unfortunately Mr Mitchell was let down by his co-hosts.

Sarah Palin has been in the news this week defending her campaign rhetoric and use of the term 'blood libel' in the wake of the Tuscon shootings, so Charlie Brooker gave us pre-recorded segment on her which started with a brief reminder of who she is and then continued with... well, nothing. It stopped after that. I understand the need for filler segments in a live show but this felt quite empty, just an excuse for a few jokes about how she's right wing and female, as if anyone who sat down to watch 10 o'clock Live didn't already know that

My intelligence was insulted even more by Lauren Laverne's celebrity news look at the independance of southern Sudan. Maybe it was meant as a satire of gossip shows, but we all know celebrity gossip isn't real news. Even they would have some tact if they tried covering an event like this. Maybe it's a statement on the youth of today's apathy towards global news. Except, this is a news show aimed at today's youth, isn't it?

That was, incidently, the only time Lauren Laverne was allowed to give any news or attempt comedy. The rest of the time she - presumably as the only female presenter - was given the role of mother, keeping the others in line so the ad-breaks happened on time.

Jimmy Carr, wearing a very fine suit, was exactly how you would expect Jimmy Carr to be. My problem with Jimmy Carr on this show is the same as my problem with Jimmy Carr on any show, including his live ones: he is a lot wittier than he is funny. I say this as a fan. I like Jimmy Carr, I don't mean to attack him, but he's at his worst when he's working from a script. He has an incredibly sharp wit and this doesn't show at all in segments like the holiday guide to Tunisia (which, like Laverne's World News Now, assumed me to be a lethargic eighteen year old only watching the show because I'd lost the remote).

I don't mind that his interview with scientist Bjorn Lomberg favoured humour over science any more than I mind David Mitchell's populist approach to questioning David Willetts over student fees. A comedian's job is to be funny. Sure they should be raising issues on a show like this but no-one is expecting them to solve them. I just want to be treated with a little more respect. I'll tune in next week, don't worry about that, but I flatter myself thinking myself intelligent, Channel 4, it's only polite you think that of me too.