Back in December, Michael McIntyre celebrated his 25th anniversary in stand-up comedy with a special show from his Macnificent tour on BBC One. So because I enjoyed that, I thought I’d rewatch his DVDs and his Netflix special to mark his big milestone, as well as celebrate the welcome return of his Big Show series on TV.
His routines regularly have me laughing out loud, due to the great humour he spins out from his observations and experiences, often about things that we take for granted in everyday life and can readily relate to. And he’s always chirpy and full of energy, occasionally even skipping around the stage, which has become a bit of a trademark of his unique style.
He’s ruder in his stand-up specials than on his family-friendly TV shows of course, with occasional strong language and sexual references, but he never gets really crude either, and doesn’t insult or offend anyone. It’s all light-hearted and fun, he’s a great storyteller, and he’s very good at doing callbacks to earlier jokes to tie everything together. Similarly on his Big Show, while he does play a lot of amusing pranks, it’s all done in good spirits and nobody comes to any harm, as he’s keen for everyone to enjoy themselves, and he does a lot of very nice things for well-deserving people too.
Ultimately, therefore, he always packs in plenty of material for his stand-up specials and his Big Show, he always ensures that everyone is having a good time, and he’s always very funny. So I hope you enjoy this little rundown of it all.
Contents
Stand-Up Specials
Live & Laughing (DVD)
This show, lasting just over 80 minutes, was recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo, and includes talk about traffic jams, men-only zones in the house, the Olympics, meeting voiceover legend Alan Dedicoat, doing accents (his Geordie and Westcountry routines are great), staying in hotels, boarding flights, shopping in Argos, the cinema, uncontrollable bodily functions, going on holiday, getting a passport photo, peeing in the sea, greeting and interacting with strangers, swapping phone numbers, and an extensive final section about the impact of having his second child.
The DVD also includes his first appearance on the BBC’s Live At The Apollo from 2007, where he talks about things like using the Tube (which I can very much relate to), saying hello and goodbye, Scottish people and their currency, his wedding anniversary, types of laughter, more bodily malfunctions, why women are better than men, the alphabet, walking and skipping, rugby and winter weather. He later hosted an episode of the show in 2008 and was a guest once more in 2009.
Hello Wembley! (DVD)
No surprises as to where this was filmed given the title, and this show also lasts just over 80 minutes. His most memorable routines here are the ones about herbs and spices, shopping for clothing and electrical goods, ordering wine in restaurants, his extensive finale about sleeping and mornings, and his encore about getting a massage in a hotel. Other subjects include swine flu, his children, playing on the Nintendo Wii, Dragon’s Den, sign language on TV, haircuts, skincare, hoovering, buying petrol, going to the gym, regional accents, mobile phones, using the wrong toilet in Ireland, Ryanair, sunny weather, holidays and moving house.
The DVD also includes around 45 minutes of highlights from Series 1 of his Comedy Roadshow in 2009. And because I got this DVD as part of a box set with Live & Laughing, I have the bonus disc exclusive to that set containing nearly 50 minutes of highlights from Series 2 in 2010 as well.
The show was basically Live At The Apollo on tour, with a very similar lighting backdrop on the stage. So each episode was filmed in a different location, beginning with Michael’s amusing observations about the area and jokes on other subjects, before he introduced some guest comedians. These extras are therefore compilations of Michael’s monologues from every episode of the series. His routine from the Christmas special is included on the Showtime DVD, as noted below.
Showtime (DVD)
This show, which is also available on Netflix and lasts about 85 minutes, is from the O2 Arena in London. It begins with a very elaborate opening sequence involving CGI, where Michael is transformed from someone bald and ugly into the smart-suited, floppy-haired comedian we all know and love.
Some of my favourite routines in this gig include names that have more than one spelling, women getting ready to go out, online booking, trying to keep his children entertained in various ways, the finale about a trip to the dentist that ended up with him going to hospital (his impression of himself under anaesthetic is hysterical) and an encore about staying in hotels while on tour (which is different material to his hotel routines in earlier shows). Meanwhile other topics that get plenty of laughs include the London 2012 Olympics that had taken place earlier that year, the Queen, having his photo taken, catwalk models, his wife getting a spray tan, her complaints about his irritating habits, sex and romance in a long-term relationship, reading books electronically and mobile phones.
The DVD has a couple of extra features too. One is a nice 6-minute look at the making of the title sequence, showing how Michael’s transformation was achieved. And the other is a fun 17-minute extract of his monologue from the Christmas special of his Comedy Roadshow, which proved to be the last episode of that particular programme. Unlike Series 1 & 2, many of the jokes here were naturally to do with Christmas rather than the location, including the plans women make in advance, and the difficulties of sellotape and scissors. But the big centrepiece is actually his brilliant extended rant about how difficult even the simplest things in life become when you have children, which I imagine every parent can identify with, and even those of us without kids still find hilarious to hear about, plus he talks about putting the clocks back and people who wear reading glasses. So I’m glad it completes the set in terms of having all of his Roadshow routines on his DVDs.
Incidentally, all of the guests he had on that Christmas special were great as well, such as David Mitchell giving his take on the festive season, along with Jack Dee, Rhod Gilbert, Rob Brydon, James Corden, Miranda Hart and the late great Sean Lock. But the one part that sticks in my mind above all others is his interpretation of Fairytale Of New York, which starts with him taking the mickey out of the slurred lyrics before Pixie Lott joins him on stage. It’s one of my favourite Christmas songs and it’s a really fun tribute to it. Obviously it’s not on the DVD for rights reasons, but it’s easy to see online. Kylie Minogue was good as the other big musical performer as well.
Happy & Glorious (DVD)
In what seems to be a unique move for a major DVD release, Michael was offering this show with a personalised sleeve that had your name printed a few times on the front and once on the spine, so I bought that edition. I know it was a relatively simple mail merge on a computer that was replicated for lots of customers, especially as variable data printing used to be my line of work. But it’s a nice unique thing to have in my collection, and apparently members of Tottenham Hotspur were among others who liked it too. The luckiest person of all, however, was a competition winner who had the honour of Michael delivering the DVD in person and watching it with them!
Some of his fans also got to have a brief moment of fame in the show as well, as Michael invited people to send in videos of themselves acting out their favourite jokes of his, and a wide selection of them form the opening to the show, which is a nice touch.
Just like the previous DVD, this show was also filmed at the O2 Arena, and as usual it’s just over 80 minutes long. My favourite routines here are the ones about his wife moving around and making noises in her sleep (the night farts section in particular is hilarious), having his walking corrected after getting swollen calves (which are so enlarged that a lady in the front row has to help him with his trousers!), racing to reclaim luggage after a flight, using public toilet cubicles, and moving to the country.
He also talks in humorous fashion about keeping his children entertained with iPads and pacified with Calpol, using FaceTime, being short-sighted, losing weight, getting injured without doing much, queuing systems, Waitrose, Starbucks, motorway service stations, going out for dinner, people wearing velvet, performing gigs abroad and British people on holiday. Then finally there’s a closing montage of photos illustrating some of the jokes he made.
The DVD also has a short 7-minute bonus feature about the staging and filming of the show at the O2 Arena, talking to various members of his production team and also hearing from a few of the audience members. There’s very little footage of Michael himself, other than a few brief clips of him backstage. So it’s not an essential feature, unless you were there and want to see if you can spot yourself in the footage of fans arriving, but it is a nice little nod to everyone who worked so hard behind the scenes.
Showman (Netflix)
This special was filmed at the London Palladium, and has audio description available. It’s only an hour long, but still has a lot of laughs crammed in, with my favourite sections being about his need to get up to use the toilet in the middle of the night, things he’s noticed and experienced when touring abroad (in New Zealand, Australia, America and Asia), how the internet, passwords and cars have changed over the years, and what his wife finds sexy. Plus he talks about putting on weight, hot water, the Northern Irish accent, getting his child off video games and getting a dog.
25th Year Special (BBC)
Michael’s latest special, marking 25 years since his first stand-up gig, was also filmed at the London Palladium, and was broadcast on BBC One during December. It’s only 50 minutes long, sadly, but it has brilliant routines about drinking wine too quickly with his wife, the pointless use of silent letters in the English language, his worst attempt to start a diet in America, having a kidney stone removed, a misunderstanding in a public toilet, problems with a new mattress, pitch darkness and noisy stomachs. It’s hilarious throughout, and just goes to show that he’s still on fantastic form.
TV
Early Appearances
I’m not going to mention every show that Michael’s been in of course, suffice to say that he’s appeared in loads of TV programmes over the years, beyond Live At The Apollo and his Comedy Roadshow that I’ve already discussed above. For me, those two programmes served as a great introduction to his style of comedy, alongside his panel show appearances on Mock The Week, Have I Got News For You, Would I Lie To You?, 8 Out Of 10 Cats and The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year. He doesn’t tend to do that kind of thing nowadays though, as he doesn’t need to. He’s busy enough as it is and is quite rightly sticking to what he does best.
He’s also performed at charity events, including the Royal Variety Performance that he hosted twice and was a guest on two other occasions, several appearances on Channel 4’s Comedy Gala, and he was a co-host on Comic Relief. He was also a judge on Britain’s Got Talent on ITV in 2011, but I’ve never watched that show, and I didn’t tune in just because he was on it. I have looked at some clips of the auditions while compiling this post though, and he is kind and humorous to help the contestants feel relaxed.
The BBC then managed to get hold of him for themselves, but for a while they couldn’t quite figure out what to do with their new signing. His attempt at a chat show in 2014 was ok – with his best guests being David Jason and James Corden – but it wasn’t anything special and only lasted for one series plus a Christmas special. It just didn’t showcase what he was best at.
But he then hosted a couple of seasonal variety shows in 2015 that were much better, beginning with an Easter extravaganza from the London Coliseum featuring Bill Bailey, Eddie Izzard and Catherine Tate, among others. That was then followed by a Big Christmas Show from the Theatre Royal that included the likes of Dara Ó Briain, Dame Edna Everage, Paul Zerdin and Ellie Goulding on the guest list. And it was the latter that really hit the mark…
Big Show
Following the festive pilot in 2015, a full series of Michael McIntyre’s Big Show launched the following year, and it’s just returned in 2025 for its 8th run, which proves how successful it is. During that time he’s also added a second Saturday night hit to his portfolio with The Wheel, which has just had its 5th series. But while that’s ok and there’s nothing wrong with it, I’ve never got into that quiz so I don’t watch it. The Big Show is more the kind of thing that grabs me.
The Big Show offers a great bit of variety for Saturday nights, with an enjoyable mixture of comedy, music, star guests, silly games, mischievous pranks and heartwarming surprises, with something for everyone to enjoy. Of course, the nature of a variety show means that there are sometimes guests I’m not particularly into, such as reality stars, modern music performers and comedians I’m not a fan of. But any segments I’m not bothered about are easy to skip over.
The common features of the show include…
Send To All
This originated on Michael’s short-lived chat show, where it involved members of the audience until James Corden turned the tables on him. It was then carried over to his Big Show with celebrities being the willing victims instead, great sports as they are. Michael basically takes the celebrity’s phone, has a little browse through it for anything amusing like photos and apps, and then sends an embarrassing message to everyone on their contacts list to see what funny responses come back.
The recipients aren’t told it’s from Michael, but inevitably a few know about the game and figure out that the unusual message is from him. It’s also possible that some of the more paranoid or cautious celebrities forewarn some people they know in advance without admitting to it, that wouldn’t surprise me even if it does go against the spirit of the game. But in any case, there’s always comedy gold to be found amongst the replies.
In the current series, for instance, the first guest to play the game was Michael Sheen, and that was really funny, including a great response from David Tennant. Comedian Judi Love, who I’m not a big fan of, and boxer Tony Bellew, who I’ve never heard of, will be playing later in the series as well, so I’m not expecting them to be quite as good but it should still be pretty amusing. And in last year’s series, the host was caught out when members of the audience took advantage of Joe Lycett’s game, much to the anarchic comic’s glee!
Unexpected Star
Here Michael gives talented members of the public the opportunity to close the show by performing one of their favourite songs, and these are always very special, well-deserving people who have been secretly nominated by family, partners and friends.
They’re tricked into appearing on stage via elaborate and funny scenarios involving fully furnished sets and a cast of actors, sometimes even including celebrities, and often making use of a building adjacent to the theatre. The person in question believes they’ve come out for the evening to do something else entirely, which Michael ensures is a bit unusual for comic effect without giving the game away. Then the nominee is led into a special room on false pretences, where either a wall falls down or something else happens to reveal that they’re in the theatre, to rapturous applause from the audience (unless it’s a child of course, in which case the setup is pre-recorded elsewhere with only Michael surprising them).
Michael then explains what’s going on, gets their consent to perform, and gives them time to calm down and rehearse, before they wow everyone at the end of the show. They’re always very good, and occasionally even get surprised by their musical idols.
In the current series, for example, we’ve had an 81-year-old man whose wife of many years was dying with dementia, and as he had been singing to her at her bedside every day, he was given the honour of performing on TV. He was a really nice guy who did his family proud, and a lovely tribute to his wife was included at the end of the credits, as she had passed away since the recording.
Alongside that, they’ve also introduced a celebrity twist on the feature called The Unexpected Star Star. Again using an elaborate setup, a famous singer is tricked into appearing on stage, but this time their band are waiting and immediately start performing, in the hope that the singer will pick up the microphone to belt out one of their biggest hits, which they always do of course. This is quite fun because they’ve had some great performers like Chesney Hawkes, Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet and Ricky Wilson from Kaiser Chiefs singing classic hits that everybody knows. And so far in the current series, the latest victim has been Marti Pellow from Wet Wet Wet, with Heather Small from M People and Justin Hawkins from the Darkness coming up soon.
Stand-Up & Music Performers
Sometimes there are also performances by stars who have been booked in the conventional, pre-planned way. For example, there used to be routines from stand-up comedians, including monologues by Michael himself as well as guests like Rob Beckett and Bill Bailey, which are no longer part of the show as they just don’t have room for them. But there are still occasional performances by music stars who are often promoting new singles or albums, such as Craig David in the current series, but I usually skip those as I’m not into most modern music. I did enjoy seeing Nile Rodgers & Chic performing disco classics in Series 6 though, you can never go wrong with them.
Midnight Gameshow
Here Michael is given the keys to somebody’s house so he can sneak in at the dead of night and surprise them in bed, in order to have them play some silly games and quizzes, often involving surprise guests. To begin with he did this to members of the public who had been nominated by people they knew, but he then switched to celebrities instead. Now and again his targets are people I’m not a fan of, like the Love Island pair in the current series (who I gather have since split up), so I just skip over them, but usually it’s very entertaining.
The best moment for me so far was when Bradley Walsh came face to face with Fanny Chmelar, a German skier whose name had made him break down with laughter when asking a question about her on The Chase, in a clip that went viral. He was so shocked and apologetic and she was totally game for a laugh, while there were also surprise appearances from one of the Chasers, Anne Hegerty, and entertainer Brian Conley (whose own weekend entertainment show I loved as a kid). Bradley’s daytime quiz show rival, Alexander Armstrong from Pointless, was also a victim of Michael’s nocturnal wake-up call on another occasion, and that was also fun, while another favourite of mine was comedian Chris Ramsey.
Update (9 February) – In the current series I really enjoyed Josh Widdicombe’s Midnight Gameshow as well, which was filled with 90s nostalgia including Mr Blobby, the Fun House cheerleaders, Blur’s bass guitarist Alex James, and footballer Peter Shilton, as well as some of the new stars of Gladiators.
Other Pranks & Surprises
Michael has surprised audience members in various other ways too. For example, an occasional feature has involved people being secretly filmed in bars when doing karaoke, with each person’s performance then played back in a duet with the actual singer of the song live on stage, such as Gary Barlow and Robbie Williams from Take That, Björn Ulvaeus from ABBA and Kylie Minogue.
Michael has also taken over a few people’s televisions, to show specially edited versions of their favourite programmes, including a guy who saw some of his possessions on the Antiques Roadshow, and a surprise for a devoted viewer of The One Show. And in the current series, a superfan of Olly Murs was shown a fake edition of Who Do You Think You Are? that suggested she was related to him.
On a couple of other occasions, ladies who have stored cooked meals in their freezer at home for later consumption have unknowingly had their dishes served back to them while at a fancy restaurant or on a cruise.
And there have also been moving and heartwarming surprises too, including a proposal for a short-sighted lady and a meeting between long-distance penpals, along with family reunions on stage in the theatre and on the set of The Wheel.
There are also other one-off items and experimental features that take place now and again of course, and I’m not going to mention all of them. But as the latest example, they’ve introduced a new game called Remember Me in the current series, where celebrities have to see if they can recognise people who have played some part in their life, either recently or in the past. Alan Carr was the first to play and it actually worked pretty well, while Miranda Hart and Holly Willoughby will also be giving it a go in later episodes. So I can see that becoming a regular thing if the first edition was anything to go by.
So on the whole the Big Show is always enjoyable, as every episode is different given the variety of games and guests he features. Nobody is humiliated or offended by the pranks he pulls either, as it’s all light-hearted fun, and everyone is rewarded for being good sports. It’s just about the variety and ensuring that everyone has a good time, ultimately. In that sense, it has a similar kind of vibe to Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV (which is now on a long-term hiatus anyway), and indeed this may have been the BBC’s response to the success of that show. But I think the Big Show is the better of the two.
Conclusion
So that’s it for my celebration of Michael McIntyre’s stand-up comedy and his Big Show, which I hope you’ve enjoyed. He’s a comedian for all, with a great talent for observational comedy and a clear passion for ensuring that everyone has fun in his company. And if you want to see more clips of him, I’ve put together an extensive playlist on my Youtube channel as well, just like I’ve done for some other comedians.
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