Hypothetical is a British Panel Show which began airing on Dave in 2019. Hosts Josh Widdicombe and James Acaster present two teams of two comedians each with a series of hypothetical challenges, rewarding points to those who come up with the most creative and satisfying solutions.
The game's rounds include:
- What Would You Do: Contestants are presented with hypothetical challenges, and are able to earn between 1 and 5 points, depending on the quality of their proposed solution.
- Not For A Million Quid: All four guests are presented with the same challenge, and bid how much they'd have to be paid to endure it. The lowest bidder wins the points - provided they can act out a scene and prove they'd be able to cope.
- The Randomiser: Josh and James present a randomised challenge using a high-tech bit of equipment (three tombolas on a table), taking the form of "You must convince (random person) to/that (random action or belief) or else (you die/random terrible fate befalls you)." The Randomizer is retired in Series 4, during which one can see a mock tombstone on set that reads, "RIP Randomizer".
- The Great Wall of Celebrities: The teams are presented with a selection of celebrities, who have previously been recorded answering hypotheticals, and have to guess what answers they gave.
- James's Wishlist: Each team is challenged to fulfill one of James's dreams, and the team with the best plan wins the points.
- On the Spot: A rapid-fire round in which the contestants are given one-line hypotheticals to solve. The contestant who gives the best answers wins one point.
- Big Hat or Small Hat?: The final and most important question of the show, the stone cold original: if a given celebrity had to wear a hat for the rest of their life, would they wear a ridiculously big hat or a ridiculously small hat?
This show contains examples of:
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- In the first season, the final round only had one celebrity per episode, rather than a whole wall to choose from.
- Not For A Million Quid would be introduced with some location footage of James trying out something relating to the challenge.
- James' rage was aimed fairly equally between Cliff and Glen. Later episodes had him exclusively furious at Cliff.
- Golden Snitch: "Big Hat or Small Hat?" will always be asked to the team with the least points, and will always be worth enough points to put them in the lead.
- Running Gag: On the Spot always ends with Josh starting to read out a hypothetical beginning "You must circumnavigate the globe using only-", only to be cut off by the buzzer.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: James absolutely loathes two of the props crew, Cliff and Glen, and screams insults at them while they set up whatever's required for the next round. In Season two this was intensified with Cliff who now had an intro package with still photos and a song. Plus, this was inverted in the same episodes when Acaster would be overly nice to Jake, another stagehand whom he praised.
