UPDATE: Reviews section refreshed, redesigned, searchable: Go take a look
Live at the Apollo has been cancelled after 22 years.
https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2026/07/29/61093/live_at_the_apollo_is_dead
Used to watch it and find it entertaining - - of late, very much less so. Maybe the expectations around the nature of the content has moved on and I haven't - or maybe the decision to close it down is because the appeal has gone for the majority of the potential viewers? I doubt it's a decision based on emotion - more likely to be based on stats ?
Your aspiring comic can get in front of a lot of eyeballs on social media these days.
I can see how it can cause the death of the traditional routes.
in theory, better for everyone. Near real time feedback via the algorithm. But probably hurts those who have a more nuanced build up or character to their act.
e.g. I can see Milton jones or Tim vine doing well on the modern system. But maybe al Murray not so much.
Your aspiring comic can get in front of a lot of eyeballs on social media these days.
I can see how it can cause the death of the traditional routes.in theory, better for everyone. Near real time feedback via the algorithm. But probably hurts those who have a more nuanced build up or character to their act.
e.g. I can see Milton jones or Tim vine doing well on the modern system. But maybe al Murray not so much.
Al Murray would be massively successful just on moron reformers thinking he's genuine.
the decision to close it down is because the appeal has gone for the majority of the potential viewers?
The appeal hasn't gone, but it has been a long time since it was remotely funny. So often these days I put it on, then give up on it shortly after as the comedians just aren't up to it.
I was a big fan, and have gone on to follow and see several comedians who I first saw on there.
Have to be honest, I can't remember when I last felt that way about a fresh act on there. It's not the format that isn't up to it, it's been the fact that I don't get the humour.
This might be an age thing of course.
If you don't find any of the comedians funny that says more about you than the comedy. Plenty of great new acts on the circuit... However, the fear of being cancelled, or the ABSOLUTE OUTRAGE caused by the "wrong" joke to people with no sense of humour, or more likely, people just trying for that precious internet attention, can be ridiculous these days. I think that's taken the edge off a lot of comedians' acts... Especially on TV.
Isn't Taskmaster where up & coming comedians go these days?
Your aspiring comic can get in front of a lot of eyeballs on social media these days.
There are at least three who I can think of that regularly pop up in my Instagram feed. Started in small clubs and now playing decent venues.
The new series of Mock the Week shows what can be done when you remove the BBC straight jacket.
Isn't Taskmaster where up & coming comedians go these days?
Taskmaster is a route for comedians to move from stage or social media to television audiences. Live at the Apollo was a sort of two way deal as it introduced stage comedians to tv viewers but also maybe helped grow the audience for live comedy on stage.
That kind of panel show comedy (Taskmaster is a sort of expanded full contact version of a panel show) has always been valuable for comedians as it was a way of having a wider audience and being funny without using up your live material. So 'sit down comedy' complimented their standup without 'spending' their jokes which need to remain as surprises to live audiences. Thats also why Live at the Apollo was typically made up of quite short segments of standup because once it had been on tv those bits of material are pretty much burnt.
Without knowing what the numbers are it seems a surprising show to cut - in that it must be one of the cheaper ones to produce for the milage you can get out of it - a backdrop and a microphone and a few camera positions. Once set up you could film back to back episodes day and night for a week or two so even the location fees should be pretty manageable. And it seems like the material produced has a pretty long shelf life - very repeatable and re-packagable and generally not very topical so you wouldn't really know if an episode you were watching was a month old or ten years old. But with that said - its also something you can cut production of and still keep screening from the existing catalogue for years to come
Comedians aren't being cancelled, far from it, they're all on Netflix.
Comedians aren't being cancelled, far from it, they're all on Netflix.
that may be another factor - the BBC is maybe just being priced out
The viewing figures have dropped off..
And Live at the Apollo has dropped from around 1.3m viewers in 2018 to around 660,000 on its most recent series. These figures include catch-up platforms such as iPlayer.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyx8j33k7zo
Still no word if Mrs Brown's Boys will be axed, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.
I must admit I didn't realise it was still being filmed, when I see it in the listings I just thought it was a repeat. It's heyday has certainly gone, viewing figures down and it's not the route to stardom that it once was.
There are still load of brilliant comics out there.
Same here, I didn't realise it was still a thing for new episodes. The whole way we digest TV is different to how it was 15-20 years ago when it was probably at it's peak and had a lot of big name comedians in the headline position.
Blankety Blank is where the formally new comedians end up 20 years later.
It introduced the world to Michael McIntyre, for that alone it deserves to die.
But maybe al Murray not so much.
That's a good thing, surely..... I know it's an act, but I see is as sad and appealing to the lowest common denominator.....
See also the fat bloke who always has a pint of Guinness next to him.
Task master? Julian Clary, Frankie Boyle, Nish Kumar, Josh Widecombe, Russel Howard (ok this is a random subset but immediate thoughts I had when you said new comedians)! I did enjoy the series with Stevie Martin, we ignored TM for years so are now working our way through some of the back catalogue.
See also the fat bloke who always has a pint of Guinness next to him.
I'm doing very nicely thank you!
