Television series

Shooting Stars

Name: Shooting Stars
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1995
Cast: Bob Mortimer, Vic Reeves, Ulrika Jonsson, Matt Lucas, Mark Lamarr

Absurdist comedy
Light-hearted
Strange
Dip in and out

A gleefully anarchic panel show where Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer preside over teams answering impossible questions with surreal logic. The humour is deliberately stupid, wonderfully strange, and utterly confident in its own weirdness. For anyone who finds traditional comedy exhausting and wants something that feels like watching friends lose their minds together.

TVMaze rating

3.9

If you liked this

Never Mind the Buzzcocks1996

Music-themed panel show with the same spirit of controlled chaos and sharp banter. Mark Lamarr's hosting brings that same cutting edge, and the format lets comedians riff brilliantly on obscure knowledge and pure nonsense.

But If you don't know the songs or artists being referenced, entire rounds become impenetrable. The early series can feel dated now.

Taskmaster2015

Alex Horne and Greg Davies create impossible challenges that reward lateral thinking and idiocy in equal measure. The same philosophy: there are no right answers, only funny ones. Wonderfully British and endlessly inventive.

But Runs long now and relies heavily on established comedians you might not care about. The format is more structured than Shooting Stars' beautiful chaos.

The League of Gentlemen1999

Three British comedians creating absurdist sketches with the same surreal confidence and dark edges. It has Shooting Stars' refusal to explain the joke or make it comfortable. Genuinely unsettling and hilarious.

But Deliberately creepy and bleak in places. If you want pure lightness, this gets weird and nasty.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Shooting Stars

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Brass Eye1997

Both are nineties British comedy shows that reject conventional joke structures in favour of pure conceptual weirdness. Both trust their audience to be uncomfortable.

Charlie Brooker's mockumentary series has the same surreal confidence and willingness to confuse, offend, and never explain the joke. It's panel-show anarchism weaponized into satire: the same spirit deployed against targets instead of trivia.

But Deliberately offensive, often nasty, and occasionally cruel. Not comfort viewing. Some jokes go nowhere and seem designed purely to wrong-foot the audience.

QI2003

Stephen Fry hosts teams of comedians answering trivia questions where the real point is the conversation, not correctness. Similar energy: brilliant people thinking sideways, with tangents and absurdity constantly derailing the format.

But Can feel smug and over-pleased with itself. Fry's enthusiasm doesn't always match the actual funniness of what's being said.

You Have Been Watching2009

Comedians and TV personalities answer questions about telly, but the questions themselves are often nonsensical. That same panel-show anarchy applied to pop culture trivia, with genuine affection underneath the silliness.

But Heavy on TV references from the 2000s specifically. Hasn't aged brilliantly and feels occasionally very dated now.

Limmy's Show2009

Both trust the audience to sit with comedy that doesn't resolve cleanly. Both value the texture of failure as much as success.

Scottish comedian Limmy's sketch series has that same refusal to explain the joke or make it comfortable. Brilliant absurdism with a nastier edge. Sketches that don't land are left sitting there awkwardly, same as Shooting Stars' failed games.

But Very dark, often quite bleak. Scottish dialect and references. Can feel pointlessly cruel when a sketch doesn't work. Not trying to be likeable.