Bruce Forsyth: A Comedy Roast, Wednesday 9pm, Channel 4

Posted by Stewart Turner

Bruce Forsyth © Channel 4

A couple of decades ago, TV royalty used to be rewarded for long service with a good-natured love-in on This Is Your Life – or if they were really lucky, an hour-long An Audience With… ego rub. Not any more. This being the 21st century, the celebration has to be tempered with a smattering of sneering sarcasm and Jimmy Carr one-liners.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of “roasting”, you’ll be surprised to hear it doesn’t consist of rubbing a national treasure in goose fat and sticking him in the oven with a couple of Premier League footballers. It’s actually an American term for a bout of friendly mickey-taking. Other stars in line for the honour courtesy of Channel 4 this week include, er, Sharon Osborne and Chris Tarrant. But first up was doddering game show legend Brucie.

Unsurprisingly, most of the jokes centred on either Brucie’s formidable chin or the mere fact that he hasn’t popped his clogs yet. Some were pretty good, such as the odd one-liner about Bruce being taken in for questioning when the dinosaurs died out. Others – like Jason Manford’s (no, us neither) weak game of Play Your Cards Right and impressionist John Culshaw’s Grand National routine – were lamer than Brucie’s foxtrot.

The great man himself sat through the whole thing on stage with other half Wilnelia – also the butt of a fair few jokes – looking at turns baffled and mildly amused by it all, unsure whether he should be pleased with the honour of receiving a good roasting or not. There was a truly toe-curling turn from Bruno Tonioli and Arlene Phillips which proved they should stick to the day jobs, and overall the effect was a little like sitting through 10 best man’s speeches in a row – and we all know how hit-and-miss they can be.

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