Punched Up (2006– ) User Reviews (14)

It just doesn't work. At all.

[stinkmasterflash · 1/10 · 13 December 2006]

It's not a reality show and it's not scripted sitcom comedy, it is kind of made up on the spot but with real people and scripted parts but whatever it is supposed to be it's not the one thing it should be, it's not funny.

the comedy network has had a lot of failures recently (popculture, keys to the vip, girls will be girls, jeff ltd, etc.) but i had hopes for this show.

the big problems are the only known names in the show are the guests and they aren't funny, they are football players or newscasters etc. the cast all over act to the point where it makes me angry, why is the fat guy acting sooo hard to come off as mentally challenged or slow? why is the main girl character so bitchy? mainly who are these people and why should i be interested in watching them drive somewhere in a van and try to make somebody better at comedy? if you're going to have people giving comedy advice shouldn't they be real comedy experts and not a bunch of no name Toronto pardon the harsh term but nobodies? can't you get jeremy hotz or mike wilmot or anybody with real comedy chops to do a show? if not that just goes to show how low comedy network has let itself go.

the jokes are lame the written parts are poorly written and the improv parts remind me of college kids hamming it up for the camera to get attention, because they know they're funny because their friends told them so.

this show is so lame, not the worst in comedy network history but right up there, or right down there, whatever.

1 out of 10 and i wish i could give other comedy network shows less than 1 but the IMDb.com system won't let me give zero.

The only thing worse than improv is fake improv.

[gusglarp · 1/10 · 21 January 2007]

I came here to complain but from the look of it almost everyone hates this show. I watched it and swore I would not again but go outvoted and made to watch it again at my friend's place. They ended up apologizing for making me sit through it again. It is so bad watching untalented "comedians" try to be funny when they so obviously are not. It is hard to say how something so totally empty of any laughs is on the comedy network. I am sick of such bad Canadian shows. I'll just watch the U.S. shows now instead. I love Canada but I can't stand watching any more of these atrocious shows. I wouldn't mind a pretend documentary show if it was real at all but this show is so poorly written and performed that it should never have been put on television. What were they even thinking with this one?

Punched Up, Kicked In The Groin, Spat On, Insulted, Lunch Money Stolen

[summa-1 · 1/10 · 16 November 2006]

My title refers to how this viewer's intelligence felt after watching the show. What a yucky, lowest common denominator mess. The concept is pretty crappy to begin and it feels likes a rudderless, directionless ship from start to finish (I didn't actually get through the last commercial break because my trusty remote put its foot down).

I like giving new shows a chance and especially comedy ones, but between this one and keys to the hiv, there just isn't much out there worth paying attention to. Hopefully this show will not get renewed so they can fit in another half hour of Daily Show. Heck, I would take Daily Shows from the late 90s over this unfunny prattle.

Awful show.

Another Horrible Mistake?

[chelletrudeau · 17 December 2006]

I'm adding my name to the list of people who can't believe how bad the shows are on The Comedy Network.

Punched Up is terrible and there have been other shows on the network that are even worse! Girls Will Be Girls, Canadian Comedy Shorts, Popcultured, Mike Bullard, Keys to the VIP, You Bet Your Ass, Kevin Spencer, Butch Patterson - Private Dick, Con, and now Punched Up.

For sure there are a lot more equally bad shows that I'm forgetting right now.

What a history of complete and total failure! I am starting to think there is no hope for The Comedy Network after seeing so many terrible shows over the years.

I wish I could get rid of it but it is part of a cable package with other shows I actually care about.

Maybe that is how they make money and manage to stay on the air even though they suck.

The person who made the decision to put this pathetic excuse for a show on the air is the real person who needs a "Punch Up".

These People Should Be Punched OUT

[jpandemily · 1/10 · 11 July 2009]

Never before have I seen such an annoying bunch of clods in a TV show before as are on this show Punched Up but I guess I should not be surprised considering the other TV shows that have been produced by this 'how-can-they-still-be-this-incompetent?' network, like Popcultured and Girls Will Be Girls.

Basically the cast of over-acting 'look how funny and loud I am' unknown Toronto comedians scream and yell over each other for half an hour while they pretend to help improve someone's life with their fantastic advice and most of all their so-unfunny-it-hurts comedy.

The stories and 'real live guests' are all so scripted and fake that it is hard to believe all of it is so completely unfunny, when you are making it all up and control everything how can none of it be funny? The only good thing on this show is the animation which is average but at least not terrible like the rest of the show.

Not Good TV

[melweisbaum · 3/10 · 12 January 2014]

Although I don't understand the huge level of hate for this show, and it was far from "the worst show ever made", it was not a good TV show at all. I think a fair rating would be about 3/10. At least they were trying to do something different. The show was not funny and a lot of what they were trying to do was just stupid, also I found most of the cast to be incredibly annoying. I'm not sure why or how this was put on TV but it didn't work and is obviously not missed.

I have to say again I don't see why there is so much pure hatred for this show out there. Some of the comments though they are funny are pretty over the top on the hate scale! I have seen much worse shows in the world and even just in Canada, actually just on the Comedy Network there have been many, many worse shows (they are kind of famous for their awful shows), so why single this one out? It was not a very big show and is not even really remembered, if I had not seen it in an "also recommended" box on IMDb here I would never have thought to look for it! Anyone know how many seasons it lasted? Examples of worse shows: Keys to the V.I.P. and Popcultured (which may have been the worst TV show Comedy Network ever made)

Horrible

[fembot1002 · 1/10 · 15 December 2009]

I almost forgot about this show and I really wish I had completely forgotten about it because Punched Up was horrible! I hope that they destroyed/erased/burned/buried the tapes of this show because it was so awful I can't even believe it. Who at the comedy channel puts these shows on TV? Whoever is making these important decisions needs to have their head examined and should have been fired a long time ago, unless they have been firing people in which case look at your hiring process because you keep hiring people who don't know how to pick a good TV show and obviously do not have a single idea of what is funny. I gave up on this channel a long time ago but still see pieces of shows when I flip by and they are all terrible except for the reruns which they can't really take credit for. Punched Up had people pretending to do a "reality" show and helping out "real" people with their problems, but the main problem was that the show was not at all funny.

Punched Up - HILARIOUS!

[Misterslave · 10/10 · 10 December 2006]

I've just finished watching the fourth episode of Punched Up and I think it's an incredibly funny series. It's not a reality show. It's more like Borat where comedians go into the real world and do their thing and while part of it is real, part of it is set up, but thats what cool about it. It does have some elements of reality TV (real people, subjects addressing the camera etc.) but it's actually kind of original.

It's about four comedy writers who travel around messing with people's lives and it seems that half the time they do good, but half the time they screw up. That's way more interesting than these crappy formula shows that always have the fake-o dramatic reveals at the end where everything works out and the persons life is changed (but we know it's not really) The most recent episode they had this guy who wanted to become a professional wrestler and the comics each came up with a different character for him. The scenes of them trying different approaches (one guy wanted him to be an immigrant butcher, another one was pitching him to be a mime because everyone hates mimes were outrageous. He ends up doing something else (no spoilers) and getting into the ring with a real wrestler. Is it real or fake? Who cares - it's funny. They also brought in Edge (from the WWE) and Rowdy Roddy Piper, Edge showed this kid some dirty tricks and Rowdy Roddy gave this incredibly intense speech about getting to that mean and nasty place that wrestling 'heels' live in. It actually had some insight into how wrestlers get to that dark place.

I've now watched the first four episodes of Punched Up on The Comedy Network and I can tell you, each episode has been better than the last (typical of a new series) the cast standouts have to be Pat Thornton (a Chris Farley type) and Matt Baram (the neurotic Jewish one). These two have the makings of a memorable team. The pacing of the show fast and furious, it's never cheesy (okay maybe the first episode a bit), and best of all it's funny funny funny. It's kind of like Borat meets Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (with comedians) meets The Office. Punched Up is awesome.

Getting Better

[nerdability · 7/10 · 11 December 2006]

Reality TV is dead, long live punched UP! I swear its not scripted. Or maybe it is but who really gives a crap. Its funny and that's all I really care about. This has got to be the most randomly bizarre show to hit Canadian television since Kids in the Hall. Its getting better with each episode which makes me think that it IS real and they're figuring it out as it goes along. But it does have some moments where you can tell they've done it again.

The fat guy is really funny, following in the footsteps of a series of great fat comics; Farley, Candy, Sasso. The team is great. The Blonde chick is hot. I'm expecting is will only get funnier..

Dear Ian MacDonald

[canadiancinderella · 19 January 2007]

Please stop making TV shows because you are terrible.

I don't know you from a hole in the ground but I see on IMDb that you also make that show the Wilkersons and it is also terrible.

I don't have anything else to say other than you should be shamed of your self for taking money to make such terrible TV shows but I can't blame you really when someone is going to just give you money to not do any real work then why not take it? It's free money so I can't blame you.

It says I have to write ten lines so okay.

Punched Up is terrible.

Ten lines?

Punched Up Canadian TV

[film-film-film · 7/10 · 11 December 2006]

It funny, wacky and I have a tough time figuring out what's real. I'll be watching to try to figure it out. Its clearly not trying to be real. Its a satire of those crappy reality shows. When you look at it like that, punched UP is very clever. I loved the John Avery episode. That guys got a filthy mouth!!! The naked news chick was super hot and the wrestling episode had two superstars. The improv is great, clearly made up on the spot and that's the only part that seems real to me. Its a Canadian show that pokes fun at itself, Canada and reality TV in general, what else could you ask for?

Good stuff Punched UP!

Putrid

[steveadams-1 · 1 August 2009]

This show was awful I am sorry I saw it on one of those "if you like this show we also recommend these titles" lines, well I was writing a comment for another show I hated and this title was recommended and I also hate it, so I will comment here. I just have to make sure not to look at this page's "also recommended" list or I'll see more shows I hate so much I have to comment about it and I'll end up here all day. How do shows this bad even get made? People pretending to get other people to pretend to do "spur of the moment" funny things like get their hair cut or throw a party, whatever, all of these episodes were obviously planned and even though it was planned out ahead of time the jokes were just bloody awful, I watched most episodes and didn't even laugh once. I hate this show and I'm glad it's gone too bad there are so many other awful shows still on TV.

Not Terrible?

[RoboGarrett · 1 June 2020]

I like one of the other reviews here. I read them all and most are very negative and I do get where they are coming from, but the one I agree with most points out exactly what I think about this show, that it was not funny or very good but it also certainly is not nearly the "worst show ever made". The 10/10 reviews I find totally out there, this show was not terrible but also was not good, so to give it a 10 makes your review suspect to me as well.

Like that other reviewer said as well, this show did try doing something different and probably had a budget of about nine bucks so they deserve some credit for that. I think it would have been better if it had been more "real" and less obviously scripted, and if they scripted it anyway why did they not have funnier stuff for these people to do and say?

The show was not very good but at least they tried and deserve points for effort. One last thing the other reviewer pointed out that I laughed at but also agree with totally, even though this show had serious problems, was cheap and was not funny, it still was better than most other shows on Comedy Network haha!

Brings It.

[walmartized · 11 December 2006]

Punched Up is unlike anything that's on right now…OK maybe it's a little like the Office or Curb Your Enthusiasm but neither of those shows have any "real" elements. I love the fact that Punched Up actually incorporates real people with real problems. And that cast (for those of you who don't know anything about the Canadian comedy scene) are at the head of the pack for young improv comics in Canada. It takes real chops to be thrown out there in the real world and improvise an entire show with real people. There's been some great cameos so far with some great athletes (I think Edge from the WWE was in the last episode). Unexpected laughs from an unpredictable show…Punched Up really brings it!