Funny / The Masked Singer (UK)

ALL SPOILERS ARE UNMARKED

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General

• You can expect an enormous amount of puns and wordplay from comedian Joel Dommett in any given episode.
• Joel's reactions to seeing the masked celebrities for the first time.
  Joel: If you've just tuned in... it's too late to explain.
• During head-to-head rounds (the first round and the sing-offs held after the second round), whilst one singer is performing, the other watches the performance on a TV screen. The reactions the contestants make whilst watching their rivals perform can often be quite funny — sometimes they make dismissive gestures, sometimes they are visibly flustered... and then sometimes they're just happily dancing along to their opponent's song (Tree against Octopus in Season 1, Dragon against Swan in Season 2, Traffic Cone against Rockhopper in Season 3.)
• There's something oddly funny about some of the eliminated contestants being told to "Take [their mask] off!", but their costumes are too physically limiting for them do it themselves, so they have to wait for the security team to come and take the mask off for them while everyone continues to chant. Some of them will at least try to reach the mask for dramatic effect, but others will just stand there doing nothing.

Series 1

• Episode 3 has Duck falling over as a reaction to the judges choosing to save her from being eliminated after ending up in the bottom two.
• Davina's absolutely hilarious slack-jawed expression after Octopus busts out an operatic note during her rendition of "One Last Time".
  • Made even better by the fact that she goes "Here we go!", right before Octopus busts out said note.
• In episode 5, Fox ended her performance of "On My Own" by hugging a picture of Joel... which was upside down. She only noticed when she turned the frame around to look at the picture.
• Unicorn mentions that Ozzy Osbourne saw him in his birthday suit... while his wife and daughter, Sharon and Kelly Osbourne, happen to be guest judges in that episode. Their reactions say it all.
• Speaking of the Osbournes, no one on the panel manages to guess who Duck is. It gets awkward when she's revealed to be Skin, lead singer of Skunk Anansie, who knew Davina, Rita, Sharon and Kelly, including touring with the latter. She admitted that she was worried that the Osbournes would guess who she was - and naturally, the first thing she does upon being unmasked is call the others out.
  Skin: Kelly, I toured with you!
  Kelly: Oh my god, I'm so...I can't believe I didn't guess that!
  Joel: Kelly, you've been on tour with Skin?
  Kelly: I have, I actually cannot believe I did not get that now. I'm like, my mind is blown.

Series 2

• In Episode 1, Dragon farts out smoke after performing "You've Got A Friend In Me".
  Dragon: Sorry, I had falafel!
  • This prompts Davina to conclude that Dragon is a comedian, giving the aforementioned fart as an example of their humour. Jonathan then complains about the fact that she thinks its funny when Dragon farts, but when he does the same thing, she thinks it's disgusting.
• Davina guesses that Alien is Joel Dommet's wife, Hannah Cooper. Joel then looks Alien up and down, before he hesitantly says that Davina might be right.
• In Episode 3, Rita guesses that Badger is Alan Partridge. Not Steve Coogan, who plays the character, she specifically names Alan Partridge. She was confusing him with Alan Titchmarsh, who the panel had guessed earlier that same episode.
• In Episode 5, when the judges are trying to guess Robin:
  • Jonathan starts by claiming that Robin is the aunt of the Kemp siblings, Flora Kemp. The split screen that follows shows Robin on the left, and a picture of a question mark on the right, all while Jonathan points out the production crew might find it difficult to get a picture of Flora Kemp.
  • Rita picks up on a clue stating that the celebrity is rather sedentary and starts to go on a bird-themed tangent about how ravens are sedentary...only to completely lose her train of thought. Cue the whole panel joking that it's simply a flock of ravens in Robin's costume. This is funny enough on its own, but the subsequent "Judges Guesses" screen features the three celebrities guessed by the other panelists, plus an actual raven.
• The fact that Viking (revealed to be Morten Harket) got away with singing his band's most popular song and no one on the panel figuring out it was him is bound to leave you with a chuckle.
• The Semi-Finals had Matt Lucas join, and he immediately makes an impression with his guess of Badger: Boober Fraggle, on the basis that his VT mentioned looking out for others, people in lighthouses looking out, and The Fraggles living in a lighthouse. Even better is that in the transition to commercial where they show their guesses, Boober is still among the more legitimate ones!
  • Later on, he goes on to guess that because of Harlequin's costume being big enough for two people, it could be Jedward, as in not one of them, but both. Not wanting to be outdone, Jonathan guesses BORIS JOHNSON, whose mug stays in the transition screen along with serious guesses of Gabrielle, Emeli Sande, and Des'Ree.
• Dragon gets unmasked in Episode 7. As she is preparing for her reprise, she takes a moment to relax — and farts out smoke again.
• In Episode 7, Robin turns his performance of "Thinking Out Loud" into a serendae towards Rita. In the following episode, when Robin gives Davina a shout-out during "For Once in My Life", Rita brings up his last performance and insists on having a word with Robin after the show is over.
• Early on in the competition, Jonathan suggests that Swan is Joss Stone. Jump forward to the final and it turns out, much to Jonathan's admitted frustration, that Joss Stone WAS competing, but as Sausage.

Series 3

• The panel's reaction to Robobunny's first performance when the rabbit itself starts singing, with all four of them being either wide-eyed, slack-jawed or both.
  • After Joel talks about how the Face Off voting works, Robobunny responds with a Jaw Drop. When he is announced as the winner, his mouth opens again.
• After Chandelier is unmasked as Heather Small, Mo tries to argue that he got her identity because he said her name during the show. Heather is quick to point out that he made that guess for Lionfish.
• In a Funny Background Event, Joel stands a bit too close to Lionfish as they are walking off the stage, and he has to duck out the way of the large spines on the back of their costume that flapped around every time they moved. He doesn’t learn from his mistake and has to do it again on the next episode Lionfish appears on, this time when Lionfish is walking onto the stage. When they are unmasked, they then deliberately wave them into Joel’s face when he is trying to say the next link.
• After Snow Leopard's performance, Joel jokes about how everyone will make sensible guesses before Mo throws in an improbable name like Nicki Minaj. Later on, when the panel are asked to make their final guess as to Snow Leopard's identity, Mo still claims that she is Nicki Minaj, despite the fact that the person underneath the costume was clearly 30 - 40 years older.
• In Episode 2, Rita makes a guess that involved linking tap dancing to tap water that prompts a Flat "What" from an audience member. Even fellow judges Davina and Jonathan were having trouble working out where she was going with her train of thought, judging from the fact their faces were giving the same reaction.
• Traffic Cone shows that his outfit is wide enough for him to crouch down until his legs are fully covered. He then needs Joel to help him stand up straight again.
• Doughnuts entertaining, and off key, version of "Spice Up Your Life", which had Mo in stitches, probably has to be seen (and heard) to be believed.
• Robobunny starts his rendition of Shallow with a comically squeaky voice. His odd voice seems to genuinely confuse the panel, except for Rita.
  • He does it again during his performance of "Music Of The Night."
• Traffic Cone accidentally elbowing Joel in the face when they lifted up their arm.
• Jonathan was so convinced that Bagpipes was John McEnroe that he stated that he would eat the costume’s drone pipes if it wasn’t. When they were revealed to be Pat Cash, Jonathan was seen at the end pretending to eat them.
• Mo's suggestion that Robobunny is Joe Jonas is met by a deathly silence from the audience, to the point where Joel pointed out that they had never been that quiet before.
• Traffic Cone throwing up his arms in despair and then walking off the stage after a particularly daft guess from the judges as to their identity.
• Joel decided to join Rockhopper for the judges assessment on the top of the platform they were was performing on after they had finished singing. This somewhat easy task (It had two wide but steep steps surrounding it) turned out to be anything but when Joel realised that his trousers were a bit on the tight side, and that he would rip them if he took the big step up, resulting in him having to half scrabble, half crawl up them.
• When the judges locked in their final guess for Firework's identity, Mo suggested that she was Dani Dyer, clarifying that he meant "little Dyer". Jonathan then suggests that Firework is "big Dyer" and goes for Danny Dyer, even though Firework is clearly a woman. ^note  For those outside the UK getting confused by the very similar names - Danny Dyer (An actor, best known for playing Mick Carter in EastEnders) and Dani Dyer (Best known for being on reality show Love Island) are indeed related: They’re father and daughter.
• For the grand final, Panda and Hedgehog performed a duet together. Afterwards, Panda can be seen touching the spikes on Hedgehog's back — and then she sharply pulls her hand away and shakes it like she has just been pricked.
• Mo insists that Mushroom is Charlotte Church because her saw her wearing her costume's boots at another recording a few months earlier. After Mushroom reveals herself to be Charlotte Church, she points out that she was wearing a pair of similar looking, but different, pair of boots that day.
• After Panda is unmasked, Joel gets visibly flustered as he realises that he had been hugging his favourite female celebrity all throughout the series.

Series 4

• Otter's performance is set in a swimming pool, and she is surrounded by dancers all wearing swim rings. For some reason, one of the dancers at the front of the stage is also dressed in a hamster costume, and Otter ends up briefly Corpsing halfway through her song.
  • After the performance, Joel comes on wearing armbands and a swim ring, and he eagerly says that he wants to join Otter in the swimming pool as well. Even he is bamboozled by the hamster costume.
    • Not helping matters was the fact that the hamster costume made it look like it was very unwell indeed.
  • Whilst the panel make their guesses, both Mo and Jonathan make otter-themed puns, prompting Rita to try her own. It misses the punchline completely, being met with silence and confusion.
• You would think that Ghost would be able to unmask himself, since his outfit is a Bedsheet Ghost. Instead, he needs two people to help him take off the sheet — at which point, he reveals that he's wearing a skeleton costume and another mask underneath his outfit. The way the music abruptly stops when he turns around and reveals the second mask just completes it. He then does the Dramatic Unmask a second time.
• When Rubbish is announced for the first time, instead of walking down the tunnel, he remains motionless at the other end. Joel then wheels him onto the stage.
• Joel, after Rubbish's performance: "That was Rubbish!"
• When the bottom three performers — Jacket Potato, Rubbish, and Piece Of Cake — return to the stage, Joel compares the line-up to being at a food canteen.
  • In the following episode, when the other group of performers — Jellyfish, Otter, Phoenix, Knitting, and Cat and Mouse — return to the stage for voting, Joel compares it to being at the zoo, but also Knitting is there. In the episode after that — which goes back to Jacket Potato and Rubbish as well as Rhino, Fawn, and Pigeon — Joel compares the voting line-up to being at the zoo canteen.
• In Episode 3, Rita tries to make several puns throughout the episode. Emphasis on "tries".
• Also in Episode 3, Otter dramatically drops down onto the floor during her performance, but has trouble getting up after. Mo comes onto the stage to help Joel to get her standing, and it takes them a few tries.
  • When Otter is announced as the first contestant through to the next round, she celebrates by dropping onto the floor again. Like before, she struggles to get up, and remains kneeling until Phoenix helps her up.
• Speaking of Phoenix, when Mo guesses that it might be TV presenter Stephen Mulhern underneath the mask, they were clearly unimpressed, as they shake their head and walk off the stage, with Mo having to call them back.
  • This becomes funnier in hindsight when Stephen Mulhern joins the panel as a guest judge a few episodes later.
• When Cat and Mouse are unmasked and revealed to be Martin and Shirlie Kemp, they get asked if their son Roman Kemp knows. They say he doesn't know, and admit that they went on the show to embarrass him.
• In episode 4, when Joel heads over to the judges' panel for the first time, his attempt is thwarted by a ramp covered in confetti. It takes him three attempts before he is able to clear the ramp.
• Mo implies that Pigeon is not a singer. Pigeon's response is to gesture at Mo like she's ready to fight him.
• Joel and Mo dancing to Rubbish’s rendition of “My Old Man's a Dustman.”
  • Just the fact that Rubbish is the only one on the show so far to sing their entrance song.
• When Rubbish is unmasked as Stephen Hendry, Joel points out that the costume makes it look as though Stephen was thrown into a rubbish bin.
• The hamster from Otter’s first performance returned for her third performance in episode 5, this time dressed up in Speedo’s and dancing in the background, and had Mo laughing his head off at the absurdity of it all.
• The deathly silence from the audience when Rita suggests that Fawn might be long distance runner and former Women’s marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe.
• When Davina tries to announce which character is going through to next week's show, she bursts out laughing at Pigeon gesturing at her to hurry up. Joel tells Davina to be more serious as she's choosing between a pigeon and a jacket potato.
• Otter's fourth performance, which is cheerleader-themed, features the hamster costume yet again, but this time wearing a cheerleader's skirt and carrying pom-poms. Guest judge Stephen Mulhern is visibly very confused.
  • When she reprises this performance after being unmasked, she can barely contain her laughter, or remember the lyrics.
• When the judges are locking in their final guesses over Knitting's real identity, Davina, Stephen, and Rita all suggest that she could be either Claire or Faye from Steps. Jonathan then says that he also thinks Knitting is from Steps — specifically, H from Steps.
• The revelation that Jacket Potato is Bon Jovi lead guitarist Richie Sambora becomes hilarious when Jellyfish - whose first performance that episode was a Bon Jovi song - is later unmasked as Amber Riley. Her jaw practically hits the ground when Joel reveals she'd sung the song of one of her competitors.
• One of the props in Rhino's performance of "Try" is a toy pony. Guest judge Lee Mack suggests that Ant and Dec are the celebrities inside the pony.
• After Phoenix is revealed to be Ricky Wilson, Rita is shocked that she didn't recognise him. Ricky gently ribs her for the rest of his interview.
• Jonathan keeps guessing that Rhino is James Arthur. When Rhino turns out to be Charlie Simpson, and Joel reveals that he had written down Charlie's name on his piece of paper from episode two (which has Rhino's first performance), Jonathan jokes that Joel has another piece of paper with James Arthur's name on it.

Series 5

• After Dippy Egg's performance, Joel naturally makes a pun, which is met negatively by the audience. Mo and Davina then spend the next twenty seconds making egg-related puns at Joel's expense, much to his annoyance and Dippy Egg's delight.
• After Eiffel Tower's first performance, Jonathan guesses Geri Horner. Immediately afterwards, Rita guesses Geri Halliwell... completely unaware they're the same person. Jonathan chews her out about this..
  Jonathan: That's who I said, her name's Geri Horner now! I just spent ten minutes building up!
  Rita: Oh! Is that who you were talking about?
  Jonathan: THAT'S HER NAME NOW!
  Rita: Can you just say Ginger Spice?
  Jonathan: (facepalms)
• There's something darkly funny about Chicken Caesar's costume and floor projection during his performance including hard boiled eggs. Just think about that for a moment.
  • Similarly, a closer look at Piranha's pyjamas reveal that they're patterned with severed hands and feet. Which is even funnier when you consider that Piranha is actually quite shy and scared of everything.
• Rita saying "What?" multiple times during Piranha's performance. It's clear that she wasn't expecting him to sing as well as he did.
• In episode 3, guest judge Olly Murs is confident about Cricket's identity, because Cricket was the guest singer at his friend's wedding. Jonathan then claims that he knows who Cricket is, because he too was at Olly's friend's wedding.
• Guest judge Jennifer Saunders failing to get that Bubble Tea was Julia Sawalha, who played her daughter Saffy in Absolutely Fabulous. Saunders is completely shocked when Sawalha is unmasked. Sawalha’s response of “Mummy!”, made it even funnier.
• Mo accidentally falling off his chair after Joel’s pun filled introductions of the panel in episode 5.
• Dippy Egg’s backing dancers during his performance of “(I’m Gonna Walk) 500 Miles,” which included a bizarre mix of some weird looking eggs in kilts, and Highland cows.
• When guessing Cricket's identity, Jonathan notes that Rita, Ellie Goulding, and Olly Murs all think that Cricket is Lemar; and since three professional singers are in agreement, only a fool would try to claim that Cricket is actually Mary Berry.
• For Maypole's first two performances, Mo guesses that she is Rita Ora each time, since Rita was absent from the panel during the recordings. Maypole's third performance takes place while Rita is on the panel, and Mo jokes that Maypole is an AI version of Rita.
  • The joke comes full circle in a hilarious manner in the following episode, when Maypole ends up performing "Let You Love Me" - one of Rita’s own songs.
• Mo was so confident in his guess that Owl was sports presenter Alex Scott that he declared if he was wrong, he would spend the next episode of the show in his boxers. Cue Owl being unmasked as Lorraine Kelly within the same episode.
  • Mo proceeds to start taking off his suit jacket, while the rest of the judge’s panel and the audience chant at him to “take it off”.
  • Followed-up on in the following episode, where the panel are quick to remind Mo about his bet. Mo obliges... by showing he's actually wearing his boxers over his regular clothes. Joel describes him as looking like "the world's worst superhero".
• Jonathan is so confident about Bigfoot's identity that he declares he will sell Mo's house if he is wrong.
• Davina failing to get that Dippy Egg was her co-presenter of Long Lost Family, Nicky Campbell.
• From the semi-finals, there is a Truth Juice segment where all the contestants drink from a goblet containing a truth potion, which forces them to reveal a truthful clue:
  • Bigfoot takes so long drinking the goblet that Joel jokes he has nearly drunk the whole potion.
  • The faceless Eiffel Tower somehow manages to drink the potion.
  • Both Piranha and Cricket tilt their heads away when Joel offers them the potion the first time around.
• Bigfoot is so excited to be in the final that he forgets his character has a broken leg and he runs off down the tunnel without his crutch.