Top 10 Joe Lycett Moments

If you ever come across a scammer, you’d definitely want Joe in your corner. Here, Joe sends a mole to investigate a car rental company and what we discover is quite frankly disturbing. Joe hires out a car, twice, but it’s the second time that keeps us laughing the whole way through. He returns a completely wrecked vehicle, yet the representative timidly says, “It might be a write-off”. As more and more people come to have a look, it’s hilarious to see Joe stay so calm as he chats nonsense about possible repairs. It’s a brilliant dose of Lycett justice.

Playing master of ceremonies on “Live at the Apollo”, Joe rattles through this routine all while sporting an in-no-way-obvious sling. But he saves his best material ‘til last, when he recounts an email chain between him and his office management. Taking aim at assistant manager Carol, who writes to protest about a “missing cat” sign that Joe had placed on display, Lycett embarks on a tale as convoluted as it is hilarious. The cat sign shows a fox; Carol seeks its removal, whilst reminding Joe of his contractual obligations; and Joe simply refuses to play ball, rounding the story off with an especially rousing speech! Who’s gonna argue?

Joe Lycett and Richard Ayoade are the comedy duo we never knew we needed, and watching them holiday together is simply delightful. There are so many moments that crack us up, so where do we even begin? Checking out the hotel room, the disco lift, the Over The Edge swing and their visit to Moeders, a local cuisine restaurant, showcase some of Joe’s funniest moments. However, we have to single out their visit to the rather colourful Museum of Street Organs. We’ve never seen someone so hyped by an organ, and Joe’s even managed to crack Richard who otherwise politely nods along.

Joe’s mission, should he choose to accept it, and he reluctantly does, is to make his way through some questionable lasers to steal a Rembrandt painting. As the “Mission Impossible” theme plays in the background, Joe climbs through the laser ribbons and gets to the painting without too much difficulty. Unfortunately, he falls at the final hurdle as a bunch of marbles fall out from behind the painting, waking up QI's crack security guard. Joe gives an offhand apology and tells the security man to get back to bed before continuing to walk back to his seat as if nothing happened.

How to make the story of a world-famous highwayman actually hilarious? Have Joe Lycett tell it after one tipple too many! Here we have Joe giving us the who, what, where and why of the legendary Dick Turpin, capturing all aspects of the infamous tale - from the gun-toting hold-ups to the darkly comic ups and downs of his partnership with Tom King. As Lycett slurs just a few of his words, it’s got action, suspense and a killer ending. With a couple of glasses of white wine, what more could you possibly want?

After watching this, we’re just not sure Joe’s cut out for the boxing world. But what he lacks in physical skill, he certainly makes up for in enthusiasm. We love watching him get into the spirit of things with an interesting and unexpected take on trash talking. When their instructor gets them to practice in front of the mirror, Joe tries to be aggressive and somehow takes a wrong turn. We doubt this boxer has ever engaged in a group hug until now either. Once they get into the ring it’s ‘How Hard’ versus ‘The Duchess’ but who will strike the first blow?

On this occasion, Joe is presented with a totally believable story about a man who needs help transferring a large sum of money into the UK. Joe responds as Nick Knowles, with a young person’s railcard as proof. The scammer doesn’t seem deterred at all so Joe turns it up a notch. Yusif – as he calls himself – has now become caught in the middle of a lover’s quarrel but with his mind on his money and his money on his mind, he doesn’t seem to notice. It gets pretty personal and Joe – as Linda Bin, Nick's supposed wife – even outright tells him that he knows he’s dealing with a conman. Surprisingly, Joe never hears back again.

If you haven’t seen “Taskmaster”, it’s comedians getting other comedians to complete ridiculous tasks (like “duck felling”). And what could possibly go wrong? In this case, Joe is challenged to create a new handshake, involving a mannequin called Bernard. The results are rather disturbing and even Joe struggles to keep a straight face as he talks Alex through the handshake. In fact, it doesn’t seem like much of a handshake and both seem at a loss for words when it comes to an end after a full three minutes. It’s awkward to watch, but knowing how uncomfortable everyone involved is only makes it funnier.

Everyone needs a friend like Joe on their side. Never willing to let a scammer pass him by, Joe ‘does his worst’. The initial email raises so many alarm bells, but nothing that Joe can’t handle. He provides a fake address, and unsurprisingly, the scammer keeps avoiding meeting him, no matter how enthusiastic he may be. In fact, she’s insistent he pay the deposit and totally misses when he outright calls her a scammer. With every extra level of weirdness, we laugh even harder. And while “Gemma” seems undeterred by this difficult customer, we absolutely love when he turns the tables on her.

Joe’s a regular on this show, and whether he’s flaunting his faux-laddishness or taking us through some outrageous engraving ideas, he always brings his own kind of chaos. This time around, though, Joe wants to contest a parking fine and writes to the council for the evidence. What they provide is actually rather flimsy, but luckily for us, Joe’s in his element. He hilariously turns the tables by editing the image to prove he’s parked on “the moon” and uses the council’s own logic to argue that he’s in the Costa Del Sol. Ambiguity “Doth butter no parsnips,” so thanks to Joe’s quick wit, the charges are dropped.