Battle of the banter

Sky picks up Jack Dee panel show

Sky Atlantic has picked up the Jack Dee panel show Don’t Sit In The Front Row – in which stand-ups have to improvise routines based around audience members’ lives.

Each show will feature five comics and five members of the public, with those that generate – and inspire – the least amount of material eliminated in each round. The last contestant left in is the winner.

Sky has commissioned 16 episodes to air in the autumn.

Sky’s Antonia Hurford-Jones said: ‘The spontaneity of the audience interaction is what makes the show so exciting.

‘The comics are shooting from the hip - and you can tell they are. There's a certain joy about genuine spontaneity which can't be faked.’

The commission follows a successful non-broadcast pilot earlier this year, but the idea – Created by former Have I Got News for You producers Giles Pilbrow and Mark Barrett – has been in development since at least 2010.

Dee previously made a pilot of a topical panel show called Us Vs Them for Sky1 last year, but the idea was not picked up.

Published: 5 Apr 2012

Live comedy picks

We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.