Onto another one. Tony Mortimer from East 17 is our only returnee.
Bill Oddie’s a, well, odd choice for the program. He hosts various bird-watching programs and was on The Goodies. Jason Pebworth is, well, ‘The One with the Hat from Orson’, an American pop-rock band who charted mainly in the UK during the mid-2000’s. Stewart Lee’s a comedian who borders more along the lines of offensive. I will say that he looks like a cross between Bob Mortimer and Craig Charles.
Simon cracks up introducing a round called “What have we pixelated’, just reading the auto-cue feed that details the incredibly simple instructions.
Bill, on the Shakira video: “In the second shot, she’s covered in oil, so presumably that’s what you get for swimming with gillimots.”
Bill Bailey: “Yes…SWIMMING WITH GILLIMOTS! That was the unsuccessful remake of Dances With Wolves.”
Simon, knowing Bill’s just gonna talk about birds, plays a couple bird calls for Bill to guess. The first one is, according to Bill, “a robin eating a Crunchy bar”
Simon: “…that’s not what I have on the card.”
The second one is a loud scream.
Bailey: “It’s someone being mugged.”
Oddie: “That is Shakira being cleaned up after the oil spill…”
Simon: “…that was a lapwing.”
Oddie: “Yes, I know!”
Simon: “Before you continue…Jason…tell us about your hat!”
Jason: “I have a very voluptuous head…so it’s like a bra. Keeps it nice and firm. What about your hat?”
Simon feels his jew-fro.
Simon, introing the Jessica Simpson clip: “If you can’t get Spears, you get Simpson. Sort of like if Winehouse pulls out of your show at the last minute, you get Mortimer.”
If this is true, this explains the sudden appearance of Tony Mortimer, but at least we’d be getting Amy next show.
After the clip of Jessica Simpson’s These Boots are Made for Walking
Stewart: “I think what’s been pixelated there is the spinning corpse of Nancy Sinatra who isn’t even dead.”
(Barely any audience response.)
Stewart: “Now, for that to work, you see, you would need to know that she recorded the second, and arguably most famous, version of that song. I take no responsibility for your ignorance.
Simon nods in agreement. My, this guy’s good.
Phill: “So, what do we really think is pixelated?”
Stewart: “Is it some pixels??”
Simon: “Well, let’s find out…”
Right before the intros round, Bill Oddie has some confusion over what exactly is going on in the envelopes, whether they’re the name of the song or not. Simon’s getting riled up now.
Stewart: “You’re in charge of this, you should do something-”
Simon: “I *AM* IN CHARGE OF THIS! SHOOSH ODDIE!”
Stewart, after the umpteenth Bill Oddie distraction: “The only way to edit tonight’s episode is not with sharp cuts, but with a series of long, slow fades.”
Phill and Simon absolutely lose it here.
Simon segues from a line Etta James said about how the new line of pop stars are either Divas or Beavers, to a new round called Diva or Beaver.
The first two shots after that are hysterical. Simon holding a fixed smile, and Bill Bailey looking so completely confused.
Simon: ‘What’s your final answer”
Tony, cracking from being on a team with Bill Oddie: “…medication…”
This is classic. Simon, harking back to Jason’s line about ‘where’s your hat?’, as they’re doing intros, puts on a different hat whenever they cut back to him. First a top hat. Then a sombrero. Jason looks back at Simon in the sombrero and cracks up.
Jason: “It’s the hat thing, right? We’re doing the hat thing.”
Simon: “What hat?”
They cut back after the actual intro playback, and Simon’s now wearing a fez.
Bill Oddie: ‘I think I played with Leapy Lee in football….IS THAT SO???”
Bailey: “What do you mean ‘is that so?’ are you answering your own questions now??”
Oddie: “I was hoping that one of them nods and says ‘ah, yes, I remember him smashing the shit out of me on the football field…’
Simon: “Did you really? What, was it a Charity Football match?”
Oddie: “Yes, charity football.”
Simon: “What was the charity?”
Jason, offscreen: “SAVE THE AUDIENCE…”
Simon, continuing his ridiculing the ID Parade guests, goes to Steve Perry: “with a new single out in January…really?”
The credits sequence is played over dramatically-scored clips of Bill Oddie’s descent into madness, which made me laugh.
Overall: Fell off toward the end, but was still pretty great in the middle. This was definitely the Bill Oddie show, as he took whatever he could and ran with it crazily, but Stewart’s humor fit well here, Jason was a great sport with the hat jokes, and Tony, while bringing up the rear, did pretty well for himself.
Best Regular: Simon
Best Guest: Stewart
Best Runner: The madness of Bill Oddie.
In which Jordan writes about stuff 
Stewart Lee absolutely hates appearing on panel shows, and admitted the only reason he agreed to appear on NMTB and HIGNFY around this time was to pay for his wedding to fellow comedian Bridget Christie.
I mean, it sort of showed, but he was literally the only thing that saved this episode from being an incredibly strange horror show of an episode. The Oddie stuff would be unwatchable without Stewart deadpanning with it (the ‘slow fades’ line still kills me).
I agree. The post-credits stinger sums up the episode.
Oddie: Stay friends with the editor. That’s my advice.
Simon: Stay friends with the doctor. That’s *my* advice!
“Nope, it’s TV property guru Naomi Cleaver!” Simon invoking the Rule of Three trope during “Beaver or Diva”.
From the start Oddie obviously knew he would be mocked for his ornithology, and for the Goodies novelty records, and was unwilling to grin and bear it for the umpteenth time. But it’s interesting that the show really started to unravel when he was likening the Etta James intro to [of all the blues-based songs he could have picked] W.O.M.A.N by Peggy Lee [that’s what the gabbling was about], and nobody in the studio seemed to get the reference..