YMMV / Never Mind the Buzzcocks

• Broken Base: By series 25, the fandom couldn't decide whether there was new life in the show with the latest reboot or if it was time to let it die. Some fans started thinking this when Mark Lamarr or Bill Bailey left.
  • A small minority of older fans would even go as far as to say that the show hadn't been worth watching since all the way back when Sean Hughes left.
  • When Amstell departed, the series was hosted by various guest presenters. While some didn't mind, others thought it was funnier with a permanent host, with some hoping for the return of Lamarr or Amstell. For what would be the final series, they went with Rhod Gilbert.
• Crosses the Line Twice: A lot of the jokes from the series can fall under this. Series 14, Episode 3 had Mark, the team captains and some of the guests doing some "Nazi japery". It goes several steps past potentially-offensive to downright hilarious.
  Mark Lamarr: "This is the greatest punchline of all time!"
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Athelston Williams aka "Number Three", a catatonic-looking black man who achieved Memetic Mutation after memorably appearing in the Identity Parade, and then became a recurring figure. Seriously, he was busy one week and they got a stand-in.
  • A tie-in book turned him into Been There, Shaped History by photoshopping him into iconic music history pictures such as The Beatles crossing Abbey Road and Live Aid.
  • Quite a few celebrity guests, like Donny Tourette, Dappy and Preston, are remembered more for their appearances on this show than anything else they've done in their careers.
    • Ed, the audience member Bill pulled onstage to replace Preston after he walked out, quickly won over the panellists and audience members, just by being a good sport and playing along.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • In series 10 episode 6 there is this autocue joke about Gary Glitter's backing band, which was immediately followed by a shot of a smiling Ian Watkins of Lostprophets...
  Mark Lamarr: "The platinum-selling rockers The Glitter Band were best known at the time for the gimmick of having two drummers, although they're best known nowadays for being fronted by a twatty-wigged paedophile."
  • Following Amy Winehouse's death at 27, her appearance in series 19 episode 4 has become this.
  • In the same vein, Mark Ronson's appearance wasn't much better, given how about a third of the jokes were about Amy dying in a ditch.
  • In the '99 Christmas Episode, one of the lineups was a bunch of cardboard cut-outs of rappers, with the question being who hadn't been shot. The team (Phill's) was given a toy gun to shoot at who they thought the answer was ("so he feels like a success"). To make things even worse, among the line-up was The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur. Again, this was in 1999.
  • In series thirteen, episode one, panelist Huey Morgan at one point said "This is such a great show." He doesn't think so, ten years later.
  • In series 3 episode 7, Sean's team was made to pick out a member of Brotherhood Of Man, and Sean commented that one of the lineup was "showbiz, in a Butlins kind of way". Mark then joked that his comment would be funny "in 20 years time when you're playing at Butlins". This episode was made in 1998, Sean would pass away 19 years later in 2017.
  • Simon once joked that Lee Ryan would probably leave the mother of his (as yet unborn) child since all the other Blue members left the mothers of their children. About three years later, they did split up after Lee was accused of physically abusing her.
  • In a 1999 episode, it was brought up that Sean had a cameo in Terrorvision's "Tequila" video when the lead singer was a guest. A lot of the video's YouTube comments now lament the cruel irony that Sean appeared in a music video celebrating an alcoholic drink considering that he was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver when he died.
  • In the second episode of series eight, the panel were shown part of the music video for Them Bones by the grunge band Alice in Chains. East 17 member Brian Harvey joked about how vocalist Layne Staley looked completely wasted, which even at the time was rather harsh, considering Staley's ongoing and well-documented heroin addiction and complete withdrawal from performing (although, to be fair, it seems like Harvey genuinely didn't know much about the band or Staley, considering he didn't know Staley's name, simply referring to him as 'this fella with the shit on his chin'). However, it got much, much harsher when, exactly a year and one month after the episode first aired, Staley died from a speedball (a mix of heroin and cocaine).
  • There was a prophetic joke from series 19 episode 5 about Bruce Forsyth.
    Simon: So that was "Come As You Are" by Nirvana. Kurt Cobain is now the top-earning dead celebrity. So, not Bruce Forsyth.
    [audience laughter]
    Simon: If you're watching that on a repeat, and he is dead, [more laughter] that is inaccurate.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Simon's first appearance as a guest has Mark jokingly accuse him of "stealing his act" and Simon, at one point, refers to Mark as "daddy".
  • When Noel Fielding first went on the show as a guest, he commented that the intros round was his favourite bit of the show. Not too long later, when he's captaining, which round can he never bring himself to do properly?
  • In series 14 episode 7, Phil's team performed the intros of "Special Brew" by Bad Manners, and "I've Got A Combine Harvester..." by The Wurzels. Guess which bands performed the intros in the series 15 episode 7, for a Christmas special...
• Ho Yay: By the bucketload, especially on the episode with John Barrowman.
  • And Josh Groban.
  • And Russell Brand. But that's only to be expected.
  • Also, Phill and Simon. Also also, Simon and Stephen Fry, to the extent that Phill at one point called Stephen Simon's "boyfriend", and Simon asked Phill not to "mock [their] intellectual Greek love". All in jest, of course.
  • Simon introducing Matt Baker as, 'saucy ex-Blue Peter stunner.' A bit gratuitous, no?
    • Then again, Simon quite often introduces the guests in a complimentary fashion, like when he called Fyfe Dangerfield 'all round lovely man', or Midge Ure 'sexy eighties hottie'.
  • Boy George seemed to quite enjoy teasing original captain Sean Hughes when the former was playing for the latter's team.
  • In one episode with Roy Wood as a guest...
    Phill: "Roy Wood just mounted me! I didn't think that when I got up this morning — 'Today I think I'll impersonate the Smiths whilst being mounted by a glam legend!'"
  • Phill bending over and lets James Blunt mount and spank him.
  • Oh, let's not forget the episode in which Danny Dyer was a guest, and proceeded to call Simon 'babe' every time he directly addressed him, provoking much giggling and coquettishness on the part of Simon.
  • Averted in this exchange between Donny Tourette and Simon:
    Donny: The only reason I'm on the show is 'cause you told everyone you fancied me, dude!
    Simon: It's not, it's 'cause we have difficulty booking people!
  • There's a beautiful moment of this in Season 2 between Brian Molko and Bruce Dickinson, greatly helped by the fact that Brian could easily be passed off as a beautiful, young Iron Maiden groupie.
    Bruce: You're too young to remember this band. Go on, stick your thumb in your mouth.
    Brian: (Obliges) Anything else you'd like me to stick in my mouth, while we're at it?
  • And in that same episode, Brian cuddling up to Phil after the former made a jab at the latter's weight.
  • Simon towards Danny from McFly. He had previously stated that Danny was his favourite member of Mcfly and then, when he was on the show, introduced him as a 'hunk', kept showing a picture of him performing naked, and acted like a spurned lover because they lost contact after their interview on Popworld.
  • The episode wherein Simon and Phil mime 'No Air' in the absence of Bill Bailey kind of reeks of OT3 invoked
    • And in the same episode, Mark Ronson giving Tim Minchin a lap dance.
  • On his first ever appearance, Noel Fielding demonstrates spooning on Bill Bailey, who then commented how nice it was.
  • Oddly enough, between Simon and the Preston stand-in:
    Simon: Thank god for you! (Bear Hug)
  • Everything Richard Fairbrass says in his appearances on the show end up like this.
• Memetic Mutation: The BARROWMAN! (shakes fist) meme came from an episode where David Tennant was host, and read out a series of innuendo-laced jokes, blaming each on John Barrowman:
  David Tennant: McFly's song contained the lyrics "there's nothing on Earth that could save us since I fell in love with Uranus." Which as it happens was a line removed from the pilot episode of Torchwood. Barrowman!! (shakes fist at camera)
• Narrowed It Down To The Guy I Recognise: Meant to be the entire point of the Identity Parade, but they're usually such obscure celebrities that it doesn't work out that way. However, when it does, Phill will often explain his choice that way; e.g., "I think number 3 is Wee Willie Harris, because it's Wee Willie Harris!". Also occasionally inverted when the panel rule someone out because they recognise them as a Recurring Extra or a member of the crew.
• Questionable Casting: Some of the guest hosts post-Amstell attracted some questionable booking.
• Tear Jerker: Phill's tribute in the wake of Sean's sudden death in October 2017. For fans of the original series, it's quite heartbreaking.
  "I keep looking at this photo..."
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Frequently an accusation made by fans whenever one of the regulars left the show.

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