Happy holidays. Tucked away in a pre-watershed corner of the Monday night schedules comes a new series that is one of the best half hours on the box.
Richard Ayoade is the host on Channel 4’s Travel Man who each week recruits a new celeb companion to go on holiday with him and see how much they can fit into 48 hours.
As he says, it’s travel without mercy.
Basically, take one of the funniest and most entertaining people in showbiz, pair them with a nerdy, antisocial yet hilarious host, then pack them off to explore a glorious corner of the world for two days and film what happens.
This week it was Dawn French , who joined the Crystal Maze host for a weekend of history and culture in Athens – the Greek capital that’s “lousy with ruins” as he insightfully points out.
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Richard has a peculiar talent for being able to avoid getting excited about anything, to look down on virtually all forms of fun and to provide scorching disdain whenever his companion looks like they’re enjoying themselves a bit too much.
He makes an art form out of being ill at ease in any and all social situations.
And Dawn’s cheeriness only served to highlight Richard’s misery.
We saw this as she celebrated victory on their Olympic Games workout, forced him to down ouzo in an ancient distillery and tried to get him to enjoy a 14-course tasting menu at a Michelin-starred restaurant.
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Scenes were reminiscent of the Vicar of Dibley Christmas special when Geraldine had to force down multiple Christmas dinners and ended up crawling home on her hands and knees.
If you’re new to the joy that is Travel Man, I implore you – go and check out the whole back catalogue.
Richard really has mingled with the great and the good of the British comedy world, including Frank Skinner, Lee Mack, Kathy Burke, Noel Fielding, Jack Dee and Eddie Izzard.
He’s also been joined by a few bona fide Hollywood A-listers, in the varying shapes of Paul Rudd, Jon Hamm and Rebel Wilson.
How could you not want to delve into the delights of Richard zorbing in a pool with Sara Pascoe?
Or getting measured for a pink corduroy suit with Jon Hamm and swinging from the top of a skyscraper with Joe Lycett?
And not forgetting that time he flew down a hill in a basket with Robert Webb.
Tomorrow night you can tune in to watch him exploring Porto with Nish Kumar, and later in the series his travelling companion will be – a personal favourite – the always entertaining Bob Mortimer.
It’s like going on an amazing mini-break without having to queue at customs – or even leave your sofa.
