Stop paying comedians to go on vacation! Why Travel Illustrated Shows Must End | television

‘PDo you know what we need to inject some life into our dying midst? says the TV commissioner. All of her colleagues are waiting for the moment of inspiration, the sparkle of insight that justifies the enormous salary. “We need a show where the comedian travels somewhere!”

Well, they all think, you mean the site that mentioned the comedian has a personal relationship with him?

“Or not.”

A place they have some special ideas about?

“Not exactly,” admits the commissioner. “But get this! I thought maybe they could go with their mother?”

Are you as tired of travel comedy shows as I am? While I was watching Alexander Armstrong in India on Channel 5 recently in a coma, I thought about the way this genre has spread throughout my lifetime. No sooner had Armstrong disappeared from the screen than she read a breaking news story about Lucy Beaumont who had led a traveling show with her mother. The experience became like trying to fend off a swarm of midges while walking.

I have no personal quarrel with Armstrong, who is clearly an eloquent and cheerful host, cheerfully guiding you through India like your father wandering into your accommodation in your first year at university. (At one point it got really wet!) And at least it wasn’t there for him dad. But he’s not Michael Palin. If we have Palin to thank for creating this subgenre, we should blame Palin as well. Python has been so influential that multiple, awesome versions of the format have been created in its image. Without Himalaya with Michael Palin, you won’t be burdened with Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father.

The past 10 years have given us shows like Travel Man (Richard Ayoade); Joe and Katherine’s Deal Holidays (Jo Wilkinson and Katherine Ryan); The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy; Russell Howard and my mother; Wonders of the World That I Can’t See (Chris McCausland); Griff’s Great Kiwi Road Trip (Griff Rhys Jones); Bradley Walsh and Son: Broken Father; And The Inner Circles of Hell with Jim Davidson (I made this movie but it’s the only one I want to see).

This isn’t the fault of comedians, who are self-employed and trying to pay the bills; The fault lies with the commissioners. You might imagine that The Trip, and Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s parody of the genre, would have given the commissioners a reason to calm down a bit. But, just as Squid Game began as an attempt to overcome the nightmare of late-stage capitalism and ended as a fun, play-your-own experience at Bluewater in Kent, the comedy travel show seems immune to ridicule.

What’s so frustrating about this situation is that there are so many writers and comedians out there with original ideas for shows that have been crafted with love and care; It shows that it cannot cost a lot of money to arrange travel and accommodation for a trip to India for dozens of crew members for several weeks. Am I continuing this rant in part because I’m one of those aspiring comedy writers? definitely. But when you look at polls of the year’s most-watched and most popular shows, it’s sitcoms that always sit proudly at the top. I wouldn’t trust anyone who has thought back on their year and concluded that the best thing they saw was John Richardson: Take My Mother-in-Law.

I shudder to think how many celebrities are, at this very moment, promoting travel shows that attract stars. When the bar is this low, why wouldn’t they? Why, I don’t know, did Jimmy Carr think that doing a railway tour of Taiwan with his mother’s uncle would be less valuable than any of the shows that have already been broadcast?

For television to survive in an unruly media environment, commissioners need to fund bold and exciting new ideas, not think of their favorite artist and then throw a dart at a world map. Comedians go on vacation all the time. They shouldn’t be paid to do this.