Perfect Tay-time viewing with Paul and Bob
PICK OF THE DAY MORTIMER & WHITEHOUSE: GONE FISHING BBC2, 8pm
PLENTY of comedians have appeared on ‘let’s have hilarious adventures together’type travelogue shows over the years. We’ve had Dara O’Briain and co in a boat, Ross Noble on his motorbike, a host of modern funnymen travelling with their respective mums or dads and Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon eating their way around Europe on The Trip.
So what is it that makes this particular series so different? As in hilarious, daft, moving and basically just the absolute best of the bunch? (Oh and yes, we’re breezily glossing over the fact that every single one of the
shows mentioned above only features men. Ahem...)
Well, a large part of it is down to the fact that it really doesn’t matter where they’re going or what they’re doing. Bob and Paul are properly funny and genuine friends, and they’re also not interested in competing to prove who’s funniest.
And even when things go wrong or they (OK, Paul) get a bit grumpy, it still doesn’t turn into a Trip-style petty argument or a Romesh Ranganathan rant. Mainly because at that point Bob usually falls over and has everyone in stitches (including the camera operators – you can see the giggle-induced wobbles in shot).
He does one of his best falls so far in tonight’s episode, which sees the pair travel to the beautiful River Tay in Scotland in the hopes of fulfilling Bob’s lifelong dream of catching a salmon, and ruin their light entertainment credentials by being embarrassingly bad at golf.