Well what a disappointment this turned out to be. Perhaps the name was supposed to be ironic (sadly I don’t think so) but there was very little ‘funny’ to be had here.

It was only a matter of time before a talent show style competition based on comedy appeared on our screens, singing, dancing, variety and magic all having been ticked off the list already.

And so here came ITV’s  Show me the Funny to fill the void. Hosted by the very amusing Jason Manford the show pits 10 wannabe comedians against each other to win £100,000, a DVD deal and a tour through a series of stand-up and non-stand-up challenges.

The stand-up challenges are fine. The others are not.

Last episode saw the group unaccountably joining the Scots Guards, being forced to join in with their army drills and training exercises, lugging logs uphill and standing in line getting yelled at for not pressing their shirts properly. After a few days of this, the comedians would each perform a 5 minute routine for their new comrades and then be judged by an expert panel, including comedian Alan Davies.

Apparently the reasoning behind all these extra challenges (because it wasn’t just filler, obviously) was that the comedians would be able to use their experiences in their stand-up material and this would make it relevant to each audience.

Well, ok, but the simple fact is that the 30 minutes the comedians spent playing soldiers was not funny. There was no attempt at humour, save for one smug contestant’s ‘wheeze’ of cutting a hole in his trousers to reveal his bare bum which went down like a lead balloon. It was plain boring.

When the comics finally took to the stage to perform we were in for yet another disappointment, as so much time had been taken up with pointless filler that there was not enough time to see the routines in their entirety.

Instead we were shown a couple of minutes of the best and worst performances and even less of the others. A helpful voiceover told us how each contestant went down with the audience instead of letting us see for ourselves.

It was enough to identify the good from the bad, however. A geeky looking Welshman named Dan was witty and wordy and talked very humorously about his experience of falling over whilst log-carrying, although he lost the army lads at the use of the word ‘perambulation’.

Conversely, we watched another man crash and burn, relating an incomprehensible story about someone arriving on his doorstep looking for a woman named Maria. I’ve still no idea what he was on about.

Unsurprisingly this contestant got given the boot but by this point did I care? Not really.

As a comedy addict this should have been right up my street, but it wasn’t. What it was was a completely wasted opportunity and an hour of my life that I won’t get back. And that isn’t funny at all…