By FRANCES GRANT
The chat show with the faux gauche host whose real aim is to poke fun at his guests is hardly new. The Kumars at No 42 adds some spice to the mix with its added factor of race. Think Mrs Merton or Dame Edna, but in a sari and Nehru jacket.
The talkshow-cum-sitcom is a spin-off from sketch comedy Goodness Gracious Me, which mined the Asian immigrant in Britain experience for its hilarity - its most memorable scene: a group of Indians going out for a "British" and ordering the blandest food on the menu.
The Kumar "family" have built their chat show studio over their suburban garden and receive guests into their home before taking them on set. Cue, welcoming plates of samosas.
Host Sanjeev's struggle to get on with the show against the overwhelming odds of keeping dad, mum or granny from getting an oar in is all part of the well-scripted plan. As Sanjeev so eloquently describes his family's insistence on bringing the talk round to weddings, babies and money, "When you lot talk to the guests it does tend to be about crap".
While the family dynamics tend to wear thin, as does Sanjeev's insecurity about his hosting techniques, so far the show has elicited some good lines: Sanjeev introducing Britain's favourite telly talkshow host Michael Parkinson, "He more's than inspiration, he's an equal".
Getting Hollywood star Minnie Driver to say "Take me, take me Sanjeev" in a Bollywood accent was inspirational. And dad offering Fay Ripley (Cold Feet) a good deal on some Indian catering for her wedding was an interesting moment.
As this is Britain, rather than America, most of the guests are well aware they are there to have jokes made at their expense: Richard E. Grant - "one of Swaziland's best actors" - even mentioned Hudson Hawk and one or two other bombs he's been in before host Sanjeev could get a word in.
It's grandma (Meera Syal) who really gets the most mileage from the embrace of two cultures, winding Michael Parkinson with a full-force hug around the middle or improbably quoting from Withnail and I in her best Indian village intonations, "We want the best wines known to humanity".
The Kumars is preceded by another Brit comedy: Black Books, a real gem which ranges from the gently barking to pure anarchy.
It's set in the world of Bernard Black (Dylan Moran), a dipsomaniac bookshop owner and misanthropist, his long-suffering "employee" Manny (stand-up comedian Bill Bailey) and the madwoman, Fran (Tamsin Greig), who owns the shop next door.
The heat was on in last week's episode: the mad Manny was busy occupying himself with absurdities, such as making headgear featuring small fans and keeping the books in the fridge so customers could be offered "a cold one".
Meanwhile, Fran was engaged in an epic struggle against her landlord surreptitiously moving the walls of her flat to make room for another one, and Bernard, in between making strangely alcoholic-looking ice-blocks to lick, was pursuing a typically deluded fantasy about scoring a "summer girlfriend".
Black Books is a mix of the surreal, silly sight gags and downright daftness that makes an irresistible watch.
* Black Books; The Kumars at No 42, TV One, 9.30pm, 10pm
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