Comic Relief 2022: Live telethon gets off to a stuttering start as viewers criticise lack of jokes

The live telethon for Comic Relief 2022 got off to a stuttering start on Friday night as BBC viewers complained about the lack of jokes.

Lenny Henry kicked off the Red Nose Day telethon, filmed with Salford, by dancing on to the stage alongside his co-hosts David Tennant, Paddy McGuinness and Alesha Dixon.  

However viewers quickly took to social media to brand the show ‘the biggest embarrassment ever’ and to ask when the ‘entertainment happens’.

One Twitter user wrote: ‘This show is getting worse and worse by the minute. So embarrassing and cringe.’

Another said: ‘Are they saving all the comedy bits up for later?’

A third commented: ‘I remember when comic relief was well full of comedians.’

Hosts: Lenny Henry kicked off the Red Nose Day telethon, filmed with Salford, by dancing on to the stage alongside his co-hosts David Tennant, Paddy McGuinness and Alesha Dixon

But not all of those watching criticised this year’s Comic Relief as some viewers were reduced to tears.

One said: ‘Brilliant. We had a room of folk who hadn’t seen you before and there was so much laughter. Loved it!’

Another commented: ‘I was absolutely doubled up crying with laughter the whole time!!’

Criticism: However viewers quickly took to social media to brand the show ‘the biggest embarrassment ever’ and to ask when the ‘entertainment happens’

Elsewhere on the show, fans were left baffled when the Mind Mangler from Magic Goes Wrong arrived on stage for his Comic Relief sketch, only to be told that there was a technical fault. 

Twitter users were left confused about whether there was actually a technical fault, or whether it was all part of the show, as his short appearance on stage appeared to be quickly derailed.

Viewers couldn’t hear the Mind Mangler, with the voices of Jude Law and Eddie Redmayne still being heard from the Fantastic Beasts part of the show, where they surprised groups of school children to say thank you for their work raising money for Comic Relief.

But fans couldn’t work out whether it actually went wrong or not, while others quipped that it was ironic that it was the Magic Goes Wrong segment that was hit by errors. 

Not all bad: But not all of those watching criticised this year’s Comic Relief as some viewers were reduced to tears

One fan wrote: ‘Wtf I can’t believe they messed up the @mischiefcomedy bit on @comicrelief.’

Another penned: ‘Has it actually just gone wrong?!?!’

A third tweeted: ‘#ComicRelief The Goes Wrong Show Goes Wrong’

And a fourth said: ‘Is it wrong that I genuinely can’t tell if that Mind Mangler bit was genuinely supposed to happen, or if it was an actual technical fault? #comicrelief’

But the problem was cleared up when the Mind Mangler later returned to the stage, proving that the blunder had indeed been a technical error. Thankfully, the second attempt at the sketch went off without another hitch.

Oh no! Elsewhere, fans were left baffled when the Mind Mangler from Magic Goes Wrong arrived on stage for his Comic Relief sketch, only to be told that there was a technical fault

Errors: But the problem was cleared up when the Mind Mangler later returned to the stage, proving that the blunder had indeed been a technical error. Thankfully, the second attempt at the sketch went off without another hitch