Men's Hour missed the point: men bond over humour

Listen to Men's Hour

Men's Hour is being sold as the radio equivalent of a bunch of friends meeting in the pub, chewing the fat on all the things men talk about. If this is the case, the producers must have been imagining a conversation between the two goatee-wearing new men in Private Eye's It's Grim Up North London. This was a cowed, media-conscious version of barbershop banter, spoken with one eye towards the group of women poised and ready to pounce at the first sound of something they don't like.

Tim Samuels, who came across as likable but nervous, began by getting his regular team – camp Louie Spence, truculent Hugh Dennis and down to earth Andy McNab – to talk about infidelity. An unconvincing argument for biological determination on monogamy v infidelity followed, with nobody being honest enough to state the real reason why both men and women are unfaithful, namely: "I thought I would get away with it, and why were they checking my emails anyway?" Dennis congratulated himself on being monogamous, as if he were flooded with offers. McNab edged closer to honesty, admitting that his time away in the army might help explain why he had been through five marriages.

Samuels stated that Men's Hour was all about showing how men have evolved; that "we're willing to talk, we're willing to emote". Men have always been willing to talk – just not in a way that displays how wonderfully in touch with ourselves we are. The guest Mark Ronson, for example, told what it was like to work with Amy Winehouse, but Samuels kept pushing him on the emotional angle. Alan Johnson joked about being a mod in his youth, and Samuels used this as a window to ask if he had a troubled childhood. There's a big difference between being emotional and making a show of being emotional. Men's Hour was about the latter.

The star of the show, surprisingly, was McNab. He explained how men and women are equally in danger in war zones because there is no frontline any more, and he didn't appear to take himself so seriously. This is Men's Hour's problem. By being so careful not to offend, it is devoid of humour, and humour is the real glue of male interaction.

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