Little Britain and Come Fly With Me star David Walliams is taking a break from rummaging around in the dressing-up box to host Sky1’s new topical panel game, Wall of Fame (Friday, June 17), in which teams of celebrities are quizzed on famous faces in the news. TV&Satellite Week magazine caught up with him to find out more... My new show revolves around the Wall of Fame... It’s a huge video screen that will display photos of the 25 most-talked-about people that week. They could be anyone from Ryan Giggs to Lady Gaga. I always preferred guesting to hosting, being the naughty schoolboy rather than the teacher, until I hosted Never Mind the Buzzcocks... There was some great banter with Noel Fielding. I asked him: ‘Did you ban anything from the last Mighty Boosh tour – like jokes?’, and he replied: ‘No, just catchphrases!’ The best panel shows have good chemistry between the host and captains... I loved Have I Got News For You? when Angus Deayton was the host. As soon as he went off-script, Paul Merton always got the better of him. It was like a sitcom. Panel shows are an easy watch, as you can just dip into them... They’re also a great place for comedians to prove they’re spontaneously funny. It’s one thing seeing a comic’s act, but quite another to see him perform off the cuff. I enjoyed doing my panel show marathon, 24-Hour Panel People, for Comic Relief... But it made me realise that 24 hours is quite a long time to perform. It literally all became a bit of a blur as, towards the end, my eyesight went and I couldn’t even read the autocue. The risque comedy that Matt Lucas and I do in Come Fly with Me and Little Britain is really popular with children... They love it because they know it’s forbidden. It’s like when you’re young, the idea of smoking seems alluring because you know it’s not allowed. I’m in training to swim the length of the Thames for Sport Relief in September... It’s a big challenge. When I swam the Channel, no one could come and watch, so it’s great that people will be able to come out and see me in action. I must stress that I’m doing a length of the Thames, not a width!
