Mock the Week/YMMV

"Dara: When would you be a guest on Eastenders? Unless you were playing a landowner or something...!
 * Acceptable Targets: Kerry Katona.
 * Lawyers, estate agents, bankers...
 * Paedophiles. Apparently there's enough of them to be considered a demographic...
 * Cultural Stereotypes: The middle and upper class are a frequent target of mockery, even amongst the comedians. Hugh is a frequent target, but he just rolls with the punches:

Hugh: (In an even posher accent than normal) One of you has been stealing my pheasants! I don't care who--"

"Dara: "Well, welcome to public life, Nick, you look like fat Hitler."
 * Acceptable Political Targets: As in, "everybody in politics". Some more than others, however...
 * When British National Party leader Nick Griffin got in an appearance on Question Time:

Frankie: "He looks like a plucked owl that's been fast-tracked for management at Greggs.""

"Frankie: "...when I read the headline "Fannie Mae Collapse", I thought Kerry Katona was having another baby...""
 * Actually Pretty Funny: Frankie Boyle has been known to make Dara (and the audience) wince and laugh simultaneously.
 * Big Lipped Alligator Moment: "ICE FISHING!"
 * Lampshaded by his disbelieving realisation of what he'd just said seconds later.
 * Broken Base: Did Frankie Boyle's departure make the show more inclusive and less of a bearpit, or just completely unfunny?
 * Colbert Bump: The show has been the first or one of the first television appearances for many comedians who are now very well-known.
 * Crosses the Line Twice: Frankie Boyle, almost every time he opens his mouth. Depending on your sensibilities, some of Hugh's lines may qualify (the suggestion for "Famous Last Words" of "Yeah Jackie, let's go in the open-topped car today!" being an example).
 * Too Soon?

"Frankie: We were sitting down for breakfast, and she said to me, "Daddy, what's the best thing in the world?" And I didn't even have to think of it. I said, "darling, I don't have to think about it, you are the best thing in the world, it's definitely you." And she quiet for a minute, and then she said: "for me it's sausages!""
 * Another notable occasion is seen in the second "two hot for tv" dvd, where the unedited version of the "deleted lines from the last harry potter book" is shown, with the multiple rape jokes intact
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: the Christmas special in Series 6 manages to have two rather ambiguous ones -- first, guest Adam Hills' tale of a Santa who visited his dad's plane which was flying at Midnight on Christmas Day, which gets derailed by Frankie. Second, in what must be a first for this show, a fan drawing submitted by a viewer, age 11, is proudly displayed --
 * One "Spinning The News" segment had Frankie doing a routine on the topic of "Kids" (cue audience groan). After a very typical gag, he told a very sweet story about his daughter:

"Dara: It's pretty clear that Saddam Hussein is going to be found guilty, but there's still debate about how long he'll go down for. My guess is about four feet, before the rope goes tight.
 * Dude Not Funny: Inevitable, given the tone of some of the humour.

[Audience groans]

Mark Steel: That joke was so contrived, people felt sympathy for Saddam Hussein!"

"Frankie Boyle: "Everyone knows I'm not a paedophile because I don't have a beard""
 * Ensemble Darkhorse: The camera crew seemed to like pointing out how even the other comedians were losing their shit during Stewart Francis' turn on Spinning The News.
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment: About 1:18 here.

"Hugh Dennis [when the "Scenes We'd Like To See" category was "Unlikely Things For a TV Announcer to Say"]: If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in Balamory..."
 * Kevin Bridges, Unlikely Things to Get Through Your Letterbox: "Dear Ms Winehouse, congratulations on turning 100, best wishes, the Queen."
 * Hilarious in Hindsight

"Stewart Francis: In an effort to cheer up the badger, Paul Gascoigne was seen in the area with an empty bottle of Cava, a can of Spam and a Savage Garden CD..."
 * After that, series 9 episode 8 of the show, where Balamory regular Miles Jupp appeared as a guest.
 * The more recent series of the show have taken a break over the summer. One of the reasons for this break is because Parliament is in recess and there won't be any big new stories to cover. For 2010, this worked well in practice. For 2011, not so much, as the show went off air in the same week as the News International phone-hacking scandal broke, closely followed by the riots in London.
 * 2:20 of this video. Presumably he took it to the knee.
 * Memetic Mutation: After Paul Gascoigne made a surreal attempt to appease escaped killer Raoul Moat with a can of lager, a chicken, and an offer of a fishing trip (apparently they were friends), Michael McIntyre started what became a Mad Libs Running Gag of Gazza cheering [someone] up with a [drink], a [foodstuff] and an [activity].

"Frankie (attempting Saddam Hussein): "Hello campers!"
 * "ICE FISHING!"
 * Replacement Scrappy: Averted somewhat in Series 8 by replacing Frankie with guests as opposed to a permanent panellist.
 * From Series 3's first Between The Lines:

Hugh: "I reallllly think we're gonna miss Rory Bremner...""


 * The Scrappy: For many Rory Bremner, who for two series was more of a distraction with his impressions than the lead comedian he was seemingly supposed to be.
 * Also countless base breaking guest comedians that contributed a noticeable lack of jokes compared to the regulars (although the half-hour edit is heavily biased towards the regulars).
 * From roughly series 4 to series 7, it was common for there to be one excellent guest and one that wasn't that funny and thus became this for the entire of the episode.