Comedians James Acaster and Josh Widdicombe are set to head up a new panel show for UKTV’s Dave channel. The show is entitled Hypothetical, and it will centre on comedians battling it out in fictional situations. Sounds like it could be a real hoot.
Acaster and Widdicombe will host the show, of which eight episodes have been ordered by Dave. Comedians will earn points in the show based on how well they deal with the scenarios they’re given.
To give you an idea of what to expect, Dave’s press release featured these example scenarios:
- ‘You have to live in a motorway services for a year. How do you cope?’
- ‘You have to take a selfie with Nicolas Cage within 48 hours or die. How do you do it?’
- ‘You’ve been booked for the Royal Variety Performance with an hour to spare. You can’t do comedy. What do you do?’
Widdicombe said this about the series:
“I have spent the last decade of my life annoying other comics with these questions in cars and dressing rooms so I am delighted Dave have allowed me to claim that I was in fact researching a show and not just wasting everyone’s time.
“More to the point I cannot wait to work alongside the man who makes me laugh more than anyone else in comedy. I just hope this goes better than our 2009 Edinburgh show (one star, Three Weeks magazine).”
James Acaster added this:
“The only thing that isn’t hypothetical about Hypothetical is how awesome it’s going to be. It’s the show Josh was born to host and the show I was adopted into in order to help out with. The guests are top notch, the questions are first class and answers are guaranteed to be craaaazzzzzzyyyyy!”
Luke Hales, director of Dave, also aired his enthusiasm with a statement:
“We loved the format when it landed on our desks – in a world of semi-scripted panel shows it really stood out from the pack and felt fresh and different.
“The format forces improvisation and you get to see the comics thinking on their feet and making it up as they go along. It’s really fun, really funny and very smart.”
Hat Trick Productions, the company that makes Have I Got News For You, are handling behind-the-scenes duties on this one. A spokesperson for the company described Hypothetical as a “very silly, relentlessly funny new show hosted by two comedians at the top of their game.”
If you’d like to pop along to a filming of Hypothetical and see for yourself what all the fuss is about, you can apply for free tickets now. We’re very much looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
We’ll keep you posted as we hear more about the show.
Story and picture credit: Chortle