Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

[Spearmint Rhino]

There's an outbreak of youngish, dark-haired blokes (mid-20s to early 30s) who've come along in the wake of Russell Brand, often but not always with a brief background in stand-up comedy, dressing a bit 'indie', and skulking around casually in front of the camera with their hands behind their backs, typically on yoof-oriented shows on Channel 4 or E4 (especially when it's Big Brother spin-off time), and are probably all shagging Fearne Cotton or something.

But who is the most annoying? OK, you've got the likes of...

Dave Berry. Mod bloke who goes out with one of the Sugababes or something.
Alex Zane. Actually quite likeable, but annoying for being too good-looking.
George Lamb. Cretinous son of Gavin & Stacey star Larry, does a Radio 6 show.
Russell Howard. Bucks the trend by having blond hair.
Russell Kane. OK, I swear they're cloning them now.

I mean, what about all the other ones: Alex Kane, Russell Zane, Alex Howard, Howard Kane, and so on? I'm sure I must have forgotten a few.

Then you've got those two hunky Welsh rugger bugger ones whose names escape me, but they're a slightly different K of F.

But the one who gets on my tits more than anyone else right now is...

*drum roll*

Matt Kirshen



A supernaturally annoying upper-class twit with a mouth like a deformed horse, who presents Channel 4's Rude Tube, making him nothing more than an internet-age Jeremy Beadle.

And your votes are...?

[Wyatt Earp]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

Matt Kirshen is a kind of credit crunch Simon Amstell.

[Jimmy Bignutz]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

You think Alex Zane is quite likeable?

They've got to you already, man. It's too late

[Gangster Octopus]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

He's a nice bloke. He co-started the Harrow comedy night back in '03 where, for some reason, I managed to get in free every time.

[Wyatt Earp]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

Alex Zane is part of the Whiley Tendency, I think: superficially all right seeming, but in reality incredibly dreary and lacking in any critical spark. I quite like Orange Unsigned Act, but when AZ comes on the lights in my front room seem actually to dim.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

Wyatt Earp wrote:

Matt Kirshen is a kind of credit crunch Simon Amstell.

Hah, spot on!

[Wyatt Earp]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

Russell Howard occasionally hits the mark comedically, and seems genuinely quote likeable. But he's heavily over-reliant on that "Wouldn't it be brilliant if insects drove buses, that would be amazing, wouldn't it, it'd be like 'Two tickets to the town centre', 'Bzzzzz, bzzzzz', I'd love that" brand of leaden surrealism.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

I blame Biddy Baxter.

I mean, if I could be bothered to get worked up into a Purves-on-Redmond lather about it, I'm sure I could come up with a theory that it was Blue Peter hiring 'cool' presenters from the late 80s onwards that led us down this path.

[Mitch]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

Cool? Is HE cool? Is he?

[Spearmint Rhino]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

Nah, but (the admittedly lovely) Caron Keating (RIP) was.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

Mind you, I suppose if anything these C4/E4 guys are the descendents of Blue Peter's ITV rivals. The breezy, informal Magpie and Tiswas lot.

[Mumpo]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

No, I don't think so. They may exude an air of perfunctory anarchy but deep down, they are every bit as quadrangular as Noel Edmonds ever was.

[Mumpo]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

Of all the ones mentioned in SR's opening post, George Lamb is the one I absolutely detest. The others are reasonably chipper and bashful and seem to know that they're ultimately transient peddlers of lightweight fluff, but Lamb has that real Moylesian air of portentousness, a deeply-seated sense that the guff he introduces wouldn't be there without him. And his 6 Music show is a crime against intellect.

[Ginger Yellow]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

What do these people present? I've only heard of Alex Zane.

[Ray de Galles]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

George Lamb must die.

His dad's turn on 'Eastenders' is rapidly using up all of his G&S credit as well.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

Ginger Yellow wrote:

What do these people present? I've only heard of Alex Zane.

E4/C4 music content, Big Brother spin-offs, and so on. Rentapresenta. They're pretty interchangeable and all seem to take it in turns to do the same shows.

[Ray de Galles]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

Spearmint Rhino wrote:

Then you've got those two hunky Welsh rugger bugger ones whose names escape me, but they're a slightly different K of F.

The Joneses, Steve and Gethin (no relation)?

I'm not sure Russel Howard fits in with the rest of your list, he is definitely a comedian however mediocre he is. The others are all presenter/DJ/VJ/whatevers (there isn't a statisfying male UK equivalent of M.A.W. (model/actress/whatever) is there?).

[Alderman Barnes]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

George Lamb is fucking awful. He's the reason I won't listen to 6music any more except in the evenings, and even then he's all over it with trailers for his show.

[Guest]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

Yeah, George Lamb is a couple of levels above the competition here.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

Harri Saer wrote:

Spearmint Rhino wrote:

Then you've got those two hunky Welsh rugger bugger ones whose names escape me, but they're a slightly different K of F.

The Joneses, Steve and Gethin (no relation)?

I'm not sure Russel Howard fits in with the rest of your list, he is definitely a comedian however mediocre he is. The others are all presenter/DJ/VJ/whatevers (there isn't a statisfying male UK equivalent of M.A.W. (model/actress/whatever) is there?).

Well, the first time I saw him, he was presenting BBLB or BBBM or whatever, so I think of him as one of That Lot.

[ian.64]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

I got my first glimpse of Matt Kirshen on Rude Tube last week and must admit that if taken in large measures, he could inspire feelings of homicide (even that pic of him has a book/cover aspect to it - bright-eyed and annoying chirpy inside and out).

Russell Howard's actually fine on Mock the Week whenever I see him, but then I'm wondering if he's the only kind of comedian who shines on carefully-edited panel quiz shows yet is a duffer when seen on any recorded one-man stand-up outing.

I've never seen the rest, which means I must be doing something right.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

Didn't know Lamb was yet another beneficiary of the 'don't you know my Dad?' school of tv recruiting.

They should launch a new digi-channel called 'Nepotism TV'

[loppy]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

I thought Vernon Kay was the first modern twat-laddish presenter, it's just as the new wave have come in he's looked older and been shunted to Family Fortunes.

[Lucia Lanigan]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

He's such a cunt, isn't he? I remember his first TV appearance, as a contestant in one of those "find a model" programmes, and against some very stifff competition he was the most thunderous mimsy of them all.

[JtS]

Most Annoying 'Groovy' Young Male Presenter On TV

I think I may have been to Laser Paintball with Russell Kane, he seems to be a friend of a few of my friends.