The Blame Game (radio)

The Blame Game is a comedy panel game broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC One Northern Ireland. Started in 2005, it is hosted by Tim McGarry (Give My Head Peace). Regular panellists include comedians Colin Murphy, Neil Delamere, and Jake O'Kane.

In the first round ("Pass the Buck"), individual members of the audience ask the contestants who they feel responsible for a topical issue, usually in the structure "Who do you blame for...?" Example issues include binge drinking, the "Stroke City" problem and trick or treating. Tim McGarry passes the question over to a contestant who attempts to answer it, normally in a humorous off-topic manner.

In the second round ("Blame It on the Boogie"), a piece of music is played, and the contestants must try to figure out why it is being played.

In the final round ("What's the Story?"), Tim McGarry reads out a recent newspaper headline and the contestants state their take on the headline.

The game ends with Tim McGarry telling the audience if they "blame (team) for winning, to cheer now".

The television version cuts out "Blame It on the Boogie", and the majority of the show consists of "Pass the Buck". With just a few minutes to go, Tim McGarry announces "There's just time to look at this week's news", before getting out a 'newspaper' from which he reads the headlines for "What's the Story?".

In the episode that aired after loyalist Michael Stone attempted to assassinate members of Sinn Féin at Stormont in 2006, Tim McGarry joked that Stone would claim that this it was a work of performance art. During his trial in 2008, Stone claimed that he had no intention of killing Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, and that it was all a work of performance art.

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