Vic and Bob, masters of the surreal and quite happy to take their sketches to new uncharted levels in comedy, took an ordinary and pleasant Sunday evening cookery programme, turned it on its head and twisted it into a bizarre concept in experimental alternative comedy.

The ‘Masterchef’ sketch appeared on ‘The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer’ in 1995, when the cookery programme, and both Vic and Bob were at the height of their popularity. Masterchef was hosted by the ‘characteristic’ Lloyd Grossman.

Lloyd was so easy to impersonate that he was one of the most mocked celebrities of the time, being an inspiration for comedy writers and supplying them with endless material.

In the sketch, Bob plays Lloyd Grossman and straps on a gigantic light bulb-shaped object to replicate Grossman’s large forehead. Although it is coloured a pale blue and is about three times the size of Grossman’s head!

What happens next is just freaky, but still funny. After introducing the show, he moves over to one of the contestants, not by walking as you would expect, but by taking off from the ground in his evil looking, pointed shoes and slowly gliding across the room, all to the sound of a ringing church bell!

The first contestant is ‘Jill Baptiste’, who is quite rough around the edges to say the least! She has created a face plate “in the form of Jesus Christ so people can learn about Jesus.”* It’s basically a smiley face with a sausage for a mouth, a tomato as its nose and two eggs for eyes. The ears turn out to be her own!

Then Lloyd moves or floats rather, over to the second chef, who presents a man’s bum cheeks on a plate, that just so happen to be connected to a man hiding underneath the table!

Last, but not least, is Bob, who plays contestant number 3 – hiding behind a thick moustache and a tartan suit. He presents his ‘Shoe Cake’. Vic goes for a sample but can’t cut it with his knife (which is attached to his index finger!) as it is a shoe! He says to the contestant, “It’s a shoe! Does this mean that I ate a pair of trousers in your restaurant last week?!!”*

Bob, playing an incredibly quick and nervous character tries to explain himself; “Cake Cake Cakey Trouser. It’s a trouser cake!”* He tries to hand him a mobile phone cake, but it interrupts his tasting when it starts ringing.

Contestant number two wins it at the end with his bum cheek delicacy, a dish which Lloyd can’t wait to get stuck into! A cheap gag, but it works!

This is the sort of sketch that some will love, some will hate – and most will definitely not understand. It is customary of Vic and Bob’s off the wall humour to leave their audience a bit bewildered, and the Masterchef sketch is a good example to prove it. Any fans of the wired, zany and plain ludicrous should definitely check it out!

* quoted from The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer/ Masterchef sketch