Another evening of entertainment
IMichaelf you asked people to name McIntyre’s popular, long-running Saturday night entertainment show, you might be surprised by the answers – and not just because they get it confused with his other series, The Wheel.
It seems that while viewers may enjoy watching Michael McIntyre’s Big Show (Saturday, BBC1, 6.50pm), they often have a mental block when it comes to the title.
The comedian and host says: “There isn’t a day that goes by without someone telling me how much they love this show, although strangely nobody seems to know what it’s called. It’s either; ’The one where you take people’s phones,’ ’The one where you wake people up in the night,’ ’The one where the wall falls down’ or ’The Big Night in.’
Luckily, he’s not taking it personally – the ratings prove that the format has been a hit.
That doesn’t mean though that he hasn’t made a few tweaks since it first appeared on our screens in 2015 as a Christmas special.
For a start, there’s the Midnight Gameshow, which was introduced in series three and sees Michael wake someone up in the middle of the night to ask them questions.
It used to feature members of the public, but now that has switched to celebrities.
Meanwhile, changes in our communication habits have made Send to All, the feature in which Michael takes a celeb’s phone and uses it to send an embarrassing message, slightly easier.
The comedian says: “It’s now on WhatsApp as apparently people don’t text anymore, which is actually a lot easier because we can group everybody in whereas before we had to frantically text everyone!”
However, there’s still tension when it comes to seeing who responds. “If only you could see how frantic it is in the interval of the show, when we’re just desperately waiting for people to text back.
“Because you know what it’s like if somebody sends you an embarrassing text, sometimes you just sit on it.You take your time to get back to them.
“There’s nothing more annoying than funny replies coming in after the show – or later.”
So, hopefully all of Joe Lycett’s contacts will be quick to respond when he takes part in tonight’s Send to All.
Bradley Walsh is answering the questions in The Midnight Gameshow, Beverley Knight provides the music and a member of the public gets to be the Unexpected Star of the Show with a little help from a mystery guest.