Preview of the comdian's new Radio 4 show

Pierre Novellie would be a valuable member of any pub quiz team. His span of knowledge, as demonstrated in every minute of Why In The Name Of Pierre Novellie, is quite something. At one point in this opening episode, for example, he proposes: ’Our modern-day St Dunstan was Jamie Oliver,’ before adding: ‘Sorry to repeat a cliché.’

He says, tongue only partly in cheek, that he was inspired by the way Melvyn Bragg would launch into episodes of In Our Time with a dense bundle of information about some arcane topic with no time for pleasantries. 

On the strength of this show, the comic’s learning is broader rather than deep, skimming over a dizzying range of topics as he addresses the question of overeating in Western society – from fasting monks to George Orwell, from the positive consequences of the Black Death to EasyJet boarding.

Myriad little facts form into an insightful and well-argued essay into why we are drawn to bad food, how industrial food production exploits that, and what we might do to counter them. 

Primarily, though, his commentary is  very funny, Novellie has a fantastic way with words – the world really ought to adopt ‘nugget vaccines’ over the more prosaic ‘fat jabs’ – and the imagery he allows the listener to conjure up is inherently witty, as we picture him grappling with an eight-egg omelette or facing a pile of leftover meats on Boxing Day. Audio really is the medium for this.

Novellie - best known for those not au fait with the comedy circuit as Frank Skinner’s radio sidekick – may have knowledge, but he doesn’t always have wisdom. The honest and detailed descriptions of his gluttony and shame when it comes to food are hilarious and relatable, even if it is in a ‘there but for the grace of God…’ type way. The fact that this well-spoken, authoritative fount of knowledge is just as prone to dumb behaviour as the rest of us brings him down a peg or two, while offering reassurance that we’re all just as susceptible to our baser instincts.

But we’re not all the same when it comes to writing witty gags, based on both the everyday and the erudite – and the comic’s blend  of humour, history and sociology is just what the BBC was created for.

• Why In The Name Of Pierre Novellie? is on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds from 6.30pm tonight.

Review date: 7 Jan 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett