review - Man Stroke Woman

Man Stroke Woman is one of the many comedies to be promoted from BBC3 to BBC2 and what is has going for it is it has a well known comedy actor who people will have seen before (Nick Frost), it was created by “Ash Atalla” who produced The Office and is a sketch show which appeals to both Men and Woman. Man Stroke Woman is a couple based sketch show centred on every day life (in the office, down the pub, at home, dinner party etc) often with a couple, it takes these everyday situations and usually gives them an unexpected twist just to keep you on your toes.

The show lines up with a 3 man 3 woman formation and it is a mixture of one of sketches and some recurring characters. I believe the show is written through many different sources submitted sketches but instead of this being a benefit it seems to have created a show without direction and if I was being honest I would actually say the writing is not really that good. I found that I found maybe 1 in 5 sketches funny.

The strength of the show is quality of the actors, they really work get the most out of the average sketches. I did find it refreshing to watch a comedy without numerous catch phrases from one dimension characters. A criticism I have of the writing is it feels like they are trying to hard to add in a surreal/unexpected twist to the sketches but often ends up looking as if it is trying to hard and falls flat. It is refreshing to see a sketch show based on couples and there is a lot potential, which makes the show frustrating because when it is good it is very good and the good acting combined good writing delivers real laughs but these are too scarce for me to want to watch this show often.

Some of my favourite sketches are irresponsible uncle (Nick Frost) who is offers his 12 year old nephew a drink and when he says but uncle I’m only 12, says “come on yer poof, drink your beer”. I also liked the man who found his wife featured in a porn mag with 2 other men and all his mates say is, I like the tiling in the bath room. These are amusing sketches with a twist which were quickly delivered and well acted. The type of sketches I didn’t like was a man having a dinner party for his friends (2 couples) and his friends pointing out his wife never seems to be their and him innocently saying yes she is working late with Nick, she had to go on holiday with Nick, I won’t even bother typing the punch line as I imagine you can already see it. One confusing and unfunny sketch was a lazy woman ringing up her friend who was answering phones at the police station, she would then describe a popular fairy tale (Cinderella, Red Riding Hood) the woman would then say wait a minute it’s my house mate. There were quite a few lazy and obvious sketches which dragged the show down.

To summarise I found the show very hit and miss but it could be something you could watch with your girlfriend/boyfriend because you will probably both laugh at completely different bits, almost in a boyfriend versus Girlfriend way. The acting is great but the sketches are a bit weak.

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