Vic & Bob’s Big Night Out: Still fun but stars of zany comedy can shoot higher (and don’t hit the Dove from Above)

Shooting Stars, the barmy game show conceived in 1993, was constant comedy gold.

Early series offered Mark Lamarr, sullen and straight-faced; Ulrika Jonsson, plagued with innuendo from the men but seemingly always in on the fun; and George Dawes, the drum-playing man-baby portrayed gamely by Matt Lucas.

There were nonsensical challenges. Indecipherable “guess the song” quizzes. And of course, the Dove from Above.

But at its centre there was comedy duo Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, delightfully irreverent, whose unerring energy and unquestionable chemistry brought the laughs again and again.

It is no wonder that they have been brought back together by the BBC, but in this new vehicle they do seem to have lost some of their steam. Or maybe their same-old humour needs a refresh.

As with the programme that made Reeves and Mortimer famous, Vic & Bob’s Big Night Out sees the pair sit at a news-anchor-style desk in front of a live studio audience. T

he quiz show format has, however, been expunged. Shooting Stars never really did take the whole concept of scoring points and winning particularly seriously — things always seemed to get too mixed up to work out the victors of each round anyway — but the presence of a panel is missed here.

As the two men joke, mug and gambol around for various skits, they could use a less loopy foil who can’t quite keep up.

That always seemed like the best thing about the earlier show: watching some guests take such joy in loosening up, or others (usually the Americans) almost squirm with discomfort at what their agents had signed them up for. Instead, for the most part, we just have Vic and Bob, and even though there are only four episodes in the series — this is the third — the schtick has already tired somewhat.

They definitely still have something special between them, though. Their comfort and familiarity with each other make them hugely watchable and there are some great moments of entertainment. A free running bit in which they play unpleasant toffs falls flat, but an offstage sketch where Mortimer is “possessed” by the ghost of Bruce Forsyth raises a smile, as does Reeves’s attempt to crush a row of cream crackers with a pair of doorknockers that dangle from his crotch.

It’s all silly, of course, but fun: somehow they can still get a laugh by the simple act of repeatedly slapping each other, and CGI elements add to the sense of zaniness. Also entertaining is George Ezra, who appears in the regular Novelty Island slot and clearly enjoys himself. His attempts at performing his song Shotgun are thwarted, resulting in vague mirth but little more.

It’s not that Vic and Bob have got old. It’s that we’ve got so used to their sort of comedy. Since Shooting Stars came to an end (after the pilot, it ran for eight series between 1995 and 2011) they have pursued other projects and I wonder if they could find greater success by showing their audiences how the duo functions offstage.

Earlier this year, Mortimer’s series with Paul Whitehouse, in which the pair toured the country fishing, eating and bonding, was an understated, and surprisingly moving, delight.

Perhaps Vic and Bob could take up birdwatching for a spell, then bring Ulrika, Mark and the Dove from Above back once more.