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Reviews
Gender Agenda (2024)
Decent comedy sampler
As with any showcase introducing a number of comedians that were largely unknown, there were hits and misses. Overall, though, I enjoyed it. As others have pointed out, there appeared to be some enhancement of the audience reaction, which seems a bit odd. Perhaps the audience was not advised that it was a recorded performance, or perhaps the venue was not a great fit - you'd expect that loyal local fans of the comics on display would make every effort to attend and be naturally enthusiastic. At any rate, that didn't really impact my reaction to the show. Since this special prompted a batch of hate-downvoting (which seems to be more and more common these days) I looked at a few of those reviewers and found that all or nearly all of their reviews were 1/10. They must be really poor at selecting what movies/specials they decide to invest their time in watching if they continually sit through performances they hate.
Do Not Disturb (2016)
Just ... not too good
Not sure what this one-off was supposed to be - much too short for a standalone film, but not set up to be a TV pilot. I guess it's just a very long drawn-out comedy sketch without a punchline. Sian Gibson and Steve Edge do their best, but the writing doesn't give them much to work with. Catherine Tate is miscast and delivers mostly a clunker of a performance. There's nothing clever in the presentation of an awkward series of events - similar has been done in hundreds of other comedies (and done better). It's not a completely horrible time filler, but it shouldn't be difficult to find something better.
Welcome to Wrexham: Shaun's Vacation (2023)
Are we trying to script a sitcom here?
I'm a fan of Ryan and Rob, and have enjoyed Welcome to Wrexham up until now, especially the mix of football clips and real life interaction with fans and players behind the scenes. But the show doesn't really need contrived gags to try to make it more lively.
As for Shaun Harvey, my one wish would have been for Ryan and Rob to talk to some longstanding Leeds United supporters when they were vetting Harvey, so they would have been aware of how he was regarded during his tenure at Leeds. Obviously, it is crucial for foreign owners to have local expertise when buying and running a sports enterprise, but certainly Harvey isn't the only football exec in England that would have fit the bill. The love-in with him is cringeworthy. This is an episode that many (if not most) Leeds United fans will likely skip.