'Ed Gamble becomes a different person in the escape room'

Mel Giedroyc on her new U&Dave’s show The Way Out

Mel Giedroyc hosts U&Dave’s new show The Way Out, which pitches two teams of comedians led by Nish Kumar and Ed Gamble against each other in an escape-room challenge. Here she explains the show…

What is The Way Out?

The Way Out involves two teams of three comedians in escape rooms, competing against each other and battling it out to be the fastest to get out of the room.

What is your role?

I would love to be doing the escape room obviously – I’ve actually never done one before. But I need to be there refereeing, I act as the pundit who is timekeeping and being the figure of ‘authority’.

My role means I get to sit on a very comfortable stool and watch. Occasionally, I’ll throw in the odd comment or clue.

Could you tell us about the four escape rooms?

OK, the first one is an actual boat, it moves on ‘almost’ real sea - there’s a lot of fog and seagulls, there’s also fish being thrown out of the sea and onto the boat.

Then, they go into a fish processing plant – when you see it, you’ll be absolutely hooked, excuse the pun. And then into a fish shop… that’s the first room, Fishy Business.

The second room is all about an art heist. We’re in the Louvre gallery where the teams have to steal the Mona Lisa. They’ve also got to navigate the ways of Jerome, the security guard…They go in a lift, they go in a duct, it’s very, very exciting – and they end up in lasers.

The third one is all about making the comedians go teeny tiny, like in that film Honey, I Shrunk The Kids but Honey, I Shrunk The Comedians.

In the fourth one there’s firefighters, poles, helmets, that’s all you need to know…

How powerful do you feel watching from the control room?

I feel powerful on two counts: 1) I’m in the control room 2) I’m in pleather!

Do you feel that you need to stay impartial?

It’s essential that I remain impartial. I’ll say to one team ‘that was crap’ and then I’ll say to the others ‘that was crap’.

However, I’ll also say to them ‘you’ve got this’, to which I also tell the other team ‘you’ve got this’. You understand how impartiality works but I’ve just explained it for you.

What would you say are the teams’ strengths and weaknesses?

Their strengths are all comedic, they’re all very, very fine comedians. I love them all dearly. Escape room-wise, I’d say there might be a couple of… I’m not going to say weaknesses - I’m going to say randomness and chaos, which can sometimes work in their favour.

I’m not going to give too much away, but the bringers of the chaos/randomness are three of them – Nish Kumar, David O’Doherty and Lou Sanders. But they’re not weak, never weak.

How would you say Nish and Ed Gamble are different as team captains?

Ed becomes a different person in the escape room, I’ve witnessed this on many occasions. He gets, I’m not going to say serious, but quite focused… and watch out for his nostrils! They do a kind of flary thing. It’s like he’s breathing in the adrenaline and somehow it goes straight to the nostril. It’s a beautiful thing to watch, he’s a lovely guy, love him.

Nish, he’s more caring and sharing – not that Ed isn’t. Ed is more of a ‘mind captain’ – Nish is a little bit more, "let’s don some leggings and a black roll neck and workshop this through"… and possibly a jazz shoe.

Ed and Nish curated their own teams…were you glad to see who they chose?

They’ve both picked absolutely brilliant teams. They’re all pals – it’s just adorable. They all know each other, comedy is quite a small world, so everyone knows each other but these are proper buds and it’s just beautiful. The vibe is great, the gags are platinum!

Despite being impartial, do you have any words of advice, or special treatment for Lou Sanders who was your sidekick on Unforgivable?

We made four series, will there be a fifth? It’s been two years, who knows… I would say Lou, just keep doing Lou!

Has anyone surprised you with how competitive they’ve been?

Look, they’re comedians, I think all six of them underneath the whimsy, the flimflammery, the gags, you know, the working of the audience, all of that stuff – they’re all a bit competitive, and that’s what makes this show so good.

How do you feel that you would have done if you had taken part?

I would combine a terrible competitiveness with a complete lack of skill, which would be utterly toxic. It’s just as well I’m not going in there, it would be awful.

Why do you think that escape rooms are so popular?

We all need a bit of an escape, don’t we? I think we like to feel like we’ve got control over something – I say control over something, I’ve just remembered what actually happens in the escape rooms with this gang of comics. There’s a lot of heavy stuff going on in the world at the moment, so it’s nice to have something that’s just pure escapism.

» Team captains Nish Kumar & Ed Gamble talk about the show here.

• The Way Out will be on U and U&Dave from May 12