You’ll laugh yourself silly

AS YOU may have noticed, comedian Tom Allen is popping up on our televisions quite a lot at the moment. There may come a time when personally I’ll have had enough of that. There may even come a time when comedian Tom Allen will have had enough of that.

And, who knows, maybe the time when you’ve had enough of that yourself has already arrived. But I hope not.

First, because I think Tom Allen is very funny. Second, because I was lucky enough to have a Zoom chat with him a few weeks ago and he seemed genuinely lovely (and respectfully dressed in his trademark smart apparel, while I was dressed as though I’d come to fix the boiler).

And third, because he has a new show starting tonight on Channel 4, called TOM ALLEN’S QUIZNESS (8pm).

Now, if you’re not a fan of Tom and you’re not a fan of quizzes, then fair enough, I’m not going to convince you.You can switch to EastEnders instead and watch people shouting. But Quizness is a clever idea that’s at least worth dipping into.

There are various rounds along various lines but what links them is a common theme of silliness.

To stand any chance of winning the prize money (£25,000), contestants must be willing to make themselves look slightly daft.And I must stress the “slightly” bit.

Enforced wackiness is a crime which, once I come to power, will be a jailable offence at the very least, and the nation will of course be a better place for it, but this is daftness of a gentler, more low-key nature, mostly concerned with testing your mental dexterity.

It’s a little hard to explain on the printed page, but if I were to tell you that in one round, contestants would be expected to say “Lickle Spickle” if asked to name the political organisation led by Sir Keir Starmer (which apparently isn’t usually considered the correct answer), I’m sure you’ll get the general idea, right..?

Elsewhere, another chap who’s on our televisions a fair bit is also back for a new series.

In this case it’s MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace, not with yet another MasterChef (give it a few weeks) but with GREGG WALLACE’S BIG WEEKEND AWAY (8pm, C5).

For the first of his latest whistlestop trips, Gregg is in Athens.

And funnily enough, pretty much the first thing he does there is to eat something in grease, although tactfully this isn’t a joke he cracks himself.

Specifically, what he eats is a deep-fried dough ball filled with cream. Just the one, mind.

Wisely, to maintain a balanced diet, the next thing he eats is a deep-fried dough ball filled with chocolate.