Peter Kay’s Britain’s Got The Pop Factor – What was so funny?

Did you watch the impossibly long-titled Peter Kay’s Britain’s Got The Pop Factor (and possibly a new Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly On Ice – phew!) last night?

Britain’s Got The Pop Factor is a spoof on all the reality TV talent shows we have in the UK. Kay himself stars as Geraldine, a transvestite who enters the competition, but has the tabloids reveal his secret. It even hauls in past Pop Idol judges Pete Waterman, Nikki Chapman and Neil “Doctor” Fox to act as judges (and heartless industry moguls).

We’re already getting comments over on Unreality Primetime from people who thought the show was complete crap.

I have to admit though, I laughed the whole way through the programme. Even had to cut off my dad on a phone call because I was laughing too hard to answer him. If you’re struggling to see exactly what was so funny about the show, here are my highlights:

• Scouse contestant R Wayne being booted off because he didn’t have a sad enough story “failing your GCSE’s isn’t enough”, his granny dying when he broke the news, and Pete Waterman tracking him down at the funeral and whisking him away to bootcamp.
• Cat Deeley screaming at the audience to “Shut your fucking mouths”
• The unbelievable crassness of having a pop group with two wheelchair-bound singers called 2 Up 2 Down.
• Pete Waterman stealing the show with his over-the-top banter – he out-Cowelled Simon Cowell. Just full of completely insincere one-liners!
• Hilarious cameos from Rick Astley and Paul McCartney, the latter who played the old Home And Away theme tune for Geraldine.
• R Wayne being directed off stage, but getting stuck because there were no steps to get off, and having to stand around like a plonker.

More than all those isolated moments, Kay’s eye for detail and merciless lampooning of the X Factor format was so funny. For one thing, he obviously believes these type of shows are completely fake, and has no problem mocking them for it.

Not being a long standing fan of Peter Kay, I wasn’t sure I;d like this, but Britain’s Got The Pop Factor was genuinely the funniest thing I’ve seen on TV in ages.