Lee Mack Articles/Reviews

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from the chortle website

Goodnight Seattle, hello London
Grammer hits UK for Sketch Show remake

Frasier star Kelsey Grammer is flying to London this weekend to record an American edition of ITV1's The Sketch Show.He is an executive producer on the show, which is being piloted for the Fox network, and he will be making a guest appearance in the first show.An American cast has been recruited for the transatlantic version: Malcolm Barrett, Kaitlin Olson, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Paul F. Tompkins.But in what could be a major career boost, British cast member Lee Mack, right, remains in the new team.He is also flying into London for Sunday's recording at Teddington Studios, following a run at the Melbourne Comedy Festival.Grammer said: "I'm thrilled to be in the UK to film the Sketch Show. I think Lee Mack is a terrific performer and I'm looking forward to the American audience's response to Lee and the show"The original Sketch Show, which won a Bafta for best new comedy, has already been sold to 11 countries, including Australia, Finland, Russia, and Singapore.Avalon Television is producing the show for the American market, in what is a major coup for the comedy agent's production arm.Grammer is now seeking new projects for his production company Grammnet after recording the last ever episode of Frasier last month, which will air in the States on May 13.

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http://www.chortle.co.uk/standup/sufeatures/mack.php



Big Mack

Lee Mack on his US break, the return of variety and the fashions in comedy

The next month could be the biggest in Lee Mack’s career, as he makes his network TV debut in the States, courtesy of Frasier star Kelsey Grammer.

The stand-up was the only one of the original British cast to be signed when Fox snapped up ITV’s The Sketch Show for its own schedules, leaving Tim Vine, Jim Tavare, Karen Taylor, Ronni Ancona and Kitty Flanagan behind.

So, will Mack be feeling any guilt about his erstwhile colleagues when Grammer introduces the first show in a coveted 7pm, pre-Simpsons, slot later this month? ‘No. Fuck ‘em,’ he says.

We both know he’s joking. But there is an explanation. “I did sketch shows in Edinburgh that developed into the TV series,” he says. “And they started with Dan Antopolski and Catherine Tate. So in terms of loyalty, I’ve got loyalty to them.

“I wanted them in the TV show, but instead I was just put together with the others, although obviously I knew Tim and Jim from working together on the circuit.

“If we’d all got together and created the show ourselves, it would have been different…” he hesitates. “Actually, it wouldn’t have stopped any of them doing on their own - so no, fuck ’em.

“But we are doing the same sketches everyone thought were great in the British version. If they loved it so much, why don’t they just show the original footage? If it was down to me, they would.”

Key to getting the show in the States made was Kelsey Grammer’s patronage, guaranteeing at least some interest from TV executives hardly known for having imaginative minds of their own.

Mack said: “Kelsey Grammer tops and tails it, like how Roald Dahl used to set up a story. He’s a great bloke, you know he’s been there, done that. It seems the more famous you are, the nicer you are as you’ve nothing left to prove.”

Another thing in its favour is novelty. America doesn’t produce sketch shows, so the best Fox’s marketing people can do to sell it is to call it a modern-day Laugh In – which ended 32 years ago. It means sketches are a style that’s old enough to feel new again – unlike in Britain.

“In Britain, sketches were common until the early Eighties, so it’s considered very old school,’ says Mack. “But America hasn’t seen this sort of show since the Sixties.”

It is undoubtedly, a mainstream show, as is the feel of Mack’s live act. Not only is he unapologetic about the fact, he’s positively proud.

“The Office is brilliant, but to write something for the masses like My Family is also a skill.” And one that’s underrated?

“TV tends to value style more than content. If you’re not ‘of the time’, you’ll fail. But if you’re of a certain style, you will get praised more. There’s a slight class thing going on, too

“But comedy is coming round to being more about sketches. There’s more and more clowning around, too.”

Although the show could open countless doors for him, he’s won’t be partying with Hollywood’s A-list when the six episodes go out. More likely he’ll be chewing on a Gingster’s pasty at some godforsaken motorway service station, driving back from one of the gigs in his live tour, which kicks off next week.

“Touring will be great fun after The Sketch Show, where I had to sit around with 50 people. The broadcaster gets involved in everything down to the casting and they were flying people in from the States just to tinker.

“It’s liberating to work on my own. I find comedy is never as pleasurable when there are more people involved. Maybe I’m a control freak.”

“But I am taking a support act. I’ve never been a fan of comedians doing two halves. An hour of anybody is enough. I get bored listening – in fact, I get bored doing it.”

As if live work and breaking into the States wasn’t enough, amid all his tour dates Mack will be recording a new variety show for Radio 2, featuring sketches, stand-up and musical guests.

“We’re doing six half-hour shows,” Mack says. “It’s a TV idea that’s been in my head for years and I’ve always pushed it at meetings, but people are very wary of showing stand-up on TV.

“Radio is fantastic, because you get total control and the people who work in it do seem to be more genuinely enthusiastic about comedy, but I’d rather get it on TV.”

But if the variety show doesn’t make it to the small screen, Mack has other ideas.

“I’ve been developing a sitcom for about a year with Mike Gunn and Jo Enright, which we’ve tried out at the Latchmere theatre in London. Stewart Lee helped out with the script, too.

“It’s a traditional sitcom and the BBC are interested in a pilot. It’s about me being a bit of a dreamer – and a pain in the arse.”

And, typically, it’s inspired by a type of comedy that’s fallen out of fashion – right down to the casting.

“I like the idea of old shows like Hancock, when John Le Mesurier would be a taxman one week and a bank manager the next and no one would be bothered.

“There is no regularity in the situation, just half-hour snapshots of a life. Sometimes, it could be really mundane, with me just talking about everything to the equivalent of Sid James.”

But there could be one major difference between Mack and his inspiration. Hancock famously couldn’t conquer America. Within the month we’ll know if Mack might.

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How Mack made it in the States

LIAM RUDDEN



OLD SCHOOL comedy at its best is the way one critic described Lee Mack on seeing him perform at last year’s Fringe.

On Saturday the funnyman brings that same mix of "kooky observation" and "whimsical banter" to the Brunton Theatre as he winds up a year-long tour that has taken him around the world and back.

"I’m excited about coming up to Scotland because I’ve done this show all over the world and this is the last four dates of a year’s worth of touring," he says.

"It’s finally coming to an end and I’ve got this sudden enthusiasm for it again going into the home straight.

"And it’s a big weekend because the last day of the tour is Sunday - on the Isle of Mull - and my team, Blackburn, are playing in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. If they win it will be the first time they have ever been to the semi-finals. I’m terrified that I’ll get to Mull and find that they’re showing a Scottish match instead of Match of the Day. I’ll be devastated."

And there is yet another reason why Sunday will be a big day in the life of the comic. Mack comes to Scotland fresh from starring alongside Frasier and Cheers legend Kelsey Grammer in a brand-new American version of the BAFTA-winning series The Sketch Show, which ran for two series on ITV.

"It actually goes out in the States on the last day of the tour. I think it’d be fair to say that it is probably going to be the biggest audience I’ve ever played to. I don’t know what the viewing figures are, but it’s primetime TV - and on the same day I’m doing Mull, which has the smallest theatre in Britain, apparently, just 44 seats."

Already a familiar face on television in Australia where he is a household name - he has twice been nominated for the prestigious Barry Humphries Award - Mack is careful not to get too carried away about the prospect of repeating that success in the States.

"It’s fair to say I’m definitely more recognised in Australia. It’s the kind of place where I get recognised going through customs," he says. "But I remember when we did the ITV version of The Sketch Show people were saying: ‘Ah, well, this is it’. But I’m under no illusions. It could run for years or it could be pulled after one episode. You never know with American TV."

Mack is the only member of the original Sketch Show line-up - which included Jim Tavare, Karen Taylor, Tim Vine, Ronni Ancona and Kitty Flanagan - to cross the Atlantic, although he didn’t have to travel too far.

"Because it was cheaper," he confides, "they actually brought Kelsey Grammer and the cast over here and filmed it in the UK. So it was an odd dynamic."

But while America beckons, Mack admits he can’t wait to get back on the road. "Having just spent four months working with Americans on a TV show, I am looking forward to getting on the road and once again meeting proper, normal people with dirty teeth," he is quoted as saying recently.

With a laugh he adds: "It’s fantastic to be doing this thing for America, but it’s like a little bonus, it’s not my main reason for doing comedy. I just want to do comedy on telly so that more people come to my live shows."

Not that appearing on American TV will help him fill the Brunton Theatre on Saturday, but then the show is selling well with more than two thirds of tickets already snapped up for the stand-up’s first appearance in the Honest Toun.

And while he is new to Musselburgh, as a Fringe regular Mack is no stranger to the Capital.

His first solo Fringe appearance came in 1997 with Return of the Mack. Lee Mack’s Bits and Lee Mack’s New Bits, which received a Perrier Award nomination in 2000, followed. But comedy was something the father of one came to late in life.

"I started when I was about 26. I actually left school at 15, but up until then had done an array of crappy jobs," he says.

However, before leaving school there had been one or two hints of what lay ahead. One report card from Stanley High, where the teenage Lee entertained classmates with impressions of comic Bobby Ball, declared: "Sooner or later, Lee will realise that joking around will get him nowhere."

He laughs as he recalls: "I’d always wanted to be a stand-up but never had the courage. Then after about ten years I finally thought I’ll give it a bash.

"I went along to my local comedy club. They had an open spot with a bloke called the Gong Master - he dressed up as the gimp from Pulp Fiction. You did your act and if he didn’t like you he’d gong you off. Which is what happened to me after about 30 seconds. The problem was I just told a load of old pub jokes that my dad had told me. I had written a few bits and bobs and had the odd observation but it was generally utter rubbish.

"I remember I had this old gag about some fish and some sharks in the sea. So I thought I’d milk it. I bought loads of fish and put them in a suitcase and acted out the joke. I took out the shark, well I didn’t have a shark so I had to use a trout with a cardboard fin stuck onto it . . . the audience were all going, ‘get off’ and I got gonged before I even got to the fish bit. But being a tight northern bloke I thought: ‘I’m not throwing away all these fish, I’ll have another go’.

"Funnily enough, I found out after I started that my great-grandad was Billy Mack the variety hall comedian."

Mack’s repertoire of silly puns and visual gags have led to comparisons with his hero Eric Morecambe, but his other influences have been more contemporary.

"Eric Morecambe is my favourite comic, so I love the comparison, but I wasn’t really massively into comedy as I grew up. It wasn’t until I was about 13 that I really got into it.

"The TV series The Young Ones was the first thing that made me go ‘bloody hell . . .’ Then there was the whole Ben Elton and Friday Night Live thing. I used to love that."

These days, the people who make Mack laugh are the likes of Johnny Vegas, Ross Noble and Danny Bhoy, a star of the Diamond Royal Variety Performance at the Festival Theatre back in 2003. And Mack, too, has appeared by Royal Command in 2002, an occasion he describes as one of the most surreal moments of his life.

"It was a bit nerve-wracking. I remember I thought they were going to edit out my opening line and was very pleased when they didn’t."

Looking up at the royal box where Prince Charles was sitting, Mack had quipped: "I believe there is a real etiquette to meeting you after the show. Apparently it’s a bow of the head and ‘It’s an honour to meet you sir’. But to be honest a simple: ‘It was nice of you to come here Lee’ will be sufficient."

Smiling as he recalls the incident he adds: "It was an amazing experience and meeting Prince Charles in the line-up at the end was just surreal."

Though probably not as surreal as trying to find a TV showing an English cup match on the Isle of Mull on a Sunday.

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http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/aug05/mack120801.php

Lee Mack is to host the next series of They Think It’s All Over

The star of The Sketch Show will replace Nick Hancock, who is being dropped after a decade in the chair.

BBC executives are said to have thought the comedy sports quiz had become ‘too laddish’ and ordered a revamp.

Regulars Jonathan Ross and Ian Wright are expected to remain in the line-up, but Rory McGrath and Phil Tuffnell are ‘still in talks,’ according to reports today.

The shake-up for the new series, which starts in the autumn, is also thought to include new games and features.

But the official line is that nothing has yet been confirmed.

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http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0900e...name_page.html


Comic's stand-up days not over Jan 2 2006




Karen Price, Western Mail

THE comedian Lee Mack has never been one for military-style strategy when it comes to mapping out his future.

"I haven't got a great plan," admits the man who recently became host of the BBC1 sports panel game, They Think It's All Over.

"I used to work for £25 a week mucking out stables. So when a producer asks me 'Do you want to host this show where you just chat to sportsmen every week?', it's no decision whatsoever."

A lack of a career plan has not done Lee any harm - in fact, quite the opposite.

He is now one of the hottest properties in British comedy.



As well as his new job fronting They Think It's All Over, he has also starred opposite Kelsey Grammer in the American version of The Sketch Show.



And he has headlined in a series of BBC Radio 2's The Lee Mack Show, which was recommissioned on the spot. In addition, he has a BBC sitcom in the pipeline, more of which later.



Not bad for someone who started his working life cleaning up after Red Rum.



At the same time as all this broadcasting work, Lee has succeeded in maintaining his position as one of the country's top live draws.



To underline the point, he has embarked on a national tour, which includes two dates in Wales.



He is delighted to be back on the live circuit after several months cooped up in a TV studio.



"Stand-up is still my favourite activity," he admits.



"I always really look forward to getting back to it. Telly's brilliant, but what I'm most looking forward to about this tour is the pure freedom it gives me. It's just me in my car travelling round the country. It's fantastic not to have to sit through loads of committees deciding what should be in the show.



"There are always committees in TV. What's lovely about stand-up is that I'm the ultimate arbiter. I'm a control freak.



"I've spent years trying not to be, but now I just accept that I am one. It's easier that way!"



What makes Lee's live act stand out is his warm, bantering relationship with his audience.



"I love just chatting," says the comic, who will be covering such topics as swearing and predictive texting on the tour. He reveals that he will be mingling old with new material in an enticing-sounding package.



"On day one, you go out on stage with an entirely new show, but if you're still saying the same words by day three, you're already slightly bored with them. I want to keep it loose because the loose bits are often the best. They keep you on your toes.



"I love going to the pub for a laugh with my mates.



"That's the atmosphere I aim for on stage.



"I never prepare a script when I go to the pub with my mates, so why should I prepare a script when I'm doing stand-up?"



Lee manages to retain his rapport with his audience, despite the fact that he is playing pretty large venues these days.



"More people know who I am every time I do a tour.



"When I first performed live, I'd walk on to polite middle-class clapping and whispers of 'Who's he?'.



"Every time I've played live since, people seem to know a little bit more about me.



"The last time I went on stage, someone shouted out the name of my missus.



"Of course, in an ideal world I'd play to a million people a night and never get recognised. But you can't have it both ways."



His profile has rocketed in recent times thanks to Lee's critically lauded role as the host of They Think It's All Over.



For this card-carrying sports fan, it's the dream job.



"As a child, I always wanted to be a professional footballer, but unfortunately I was rubbish! I wasn't even in the school team.



"Even today, if I was offered the choice of playing football for England and retiring at 30 or being a stand-up till the age of 80, in my heart of hearts I think football might win."



In the odd spare moment, the frantically busy comic has also found the time to write Not Going Out, a BBC sitcom vehicle for himself which goes into production this year.



"It's about me sharing a flat with a girl whose ex is my best friend.



"She and I are not going out, but there might be some sexual tension there. It's a classic love triangle.



"I can't lie - it's a very traditional format. Everyone always complains about old-style sitcoms and tries to do something new involving shaky cameras and no studio audience, but I'm bored with that now."



Although Lee's profile is now sky-high, his head has not been turned. He has never lost sight of the primary requirement of any stand-up comic: to be killingly funny.



"I used to think that famous people were somehow special," he says.



"But the more celebs I meet, the more I realise it's not down to being special but to luck. In the same way, I used to think that everyone in showbiz knew what they were doing and I was the only one who didn't.



"I still don't know what I'm doing, but I now know that no one else does, either. I'm sure a lot of famous people probably sit there thinking, 'I don't know what I'm doing'. Once you realise everyone is in the same boat, it makes everything easier."



So given all that, how does Lee view the national tour?



"Every night I'll go on stage thinking 'I don't know what I'm doing. I hope an hour and a half of me standing there not knowing what I'm doing will be entertaining'."



He can rest assured that it will be.