ShortList is supported by you, our amazing readers. When you click through the links on our site and make a purchase we may earn a commission. Learn more

The best jokes about Channel 4's first episode of 'The Great British Bake Off'

"I'm sorry, the old Bake Off can't come to the phone right now..."

The best jokes about Channel 4's first episode of 'The Great British Bake Off'
Tom Victor
30 August 2017

Remember The Great British Bake Off, that twee BBC programme with cakes and biscuits and flans and all that?

Well, we’re here to tell you that, just like Avril Lavigne before it, the Bake Off was killed and replaced by a lookalike.

Now on Channel 4, with Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig replacing Mel and Sue, and Prue Leith stepping in for Mary Berry, the show is… no, actually, it’s pretty much exactly the same, only with more ad breaks than the usual zero.

It’s still on a midweek evening, it’s still an hour long, and it’s still a show about British people baking things.

Oh, and it’s still the one time every week when the country comes together for that age-old tradition of making Twitter jokes about soggy bottoms and moist fingers.

It’s good to know that, in these uncertain times, some things never change.

Of course, other things do change, as we’ve explained above.

It wouldn’t be a TV livetweeting experience in 2017 without some reference to Game of Thrones, of course.

Watching Noel Fielding in unfamiliar circumstances was bizarre.

Wait, let’s try that again. Watching Noel Fielding on a mainstream TV programme in 2017 was bizarre.

Mighty Boosh fans weren’t sure about Fielding’s rebrand, and felt there was something missing.

Onto the actual baking, which I suppose we ought to mention at some stage.

One of the tasks involved contestants making cakes that looked like something else, be it a BLT, a watermelon or a takeaway coffee cup.

Oh, and they also had to make mini rolls for some reason.

With all the change, there was some sweet relief in the knowledge that Paul Hollywood is still around.

Followed by dread at the knowledge that Paul Hollywood is still around.

Folks are picking their winners already...

And we all know what contestants can look forward to once it’s all over and done with.

Roll on next week, when the contestants need to make Jaffa Cakes out of magic. Or something like that. I drifted off towards the end.

(Images: Channel 4)