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March 28, 2024, 08:48:20 PM

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Chris Morris - Loose Ends Audition Tape

Started by TJ, August 23, 2006, 10:48:14 AM

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TJ

http://chilled.cream.org/mp3/Chris%20Morris%20-%20Loose%20Ends%20Demo%20Tape.mp3


This is a real find - the eight minute demo tape that Chris Morris sent in to BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends in 1988. Thanks to the mysterious 'JRC' for passing this on to us. A short extract from this was used in an edition of Loose Ends early in 1989, but apart from that it's been unheard - except possibly by listeners to Radio Bristol - from that day to this.

A couple of observations:

- the item is obviously a parody of See For Yourself, a misguided and patronising annual BBC extravaganza of the late 1980s in which the 'suits' appeared before the cameras and pretended to be chummy with everyone and big fans of Laura & Disorder etc. I daresay Alan Partridge's nemesis Tony Hayers had some basis in this phenomenon too. The shows were generally wretched, but worth it for Marmaduke Hussey saying "my favourite record in the pop charts right now is a very catchy one by Bazz".

- Morris has hinted on a couple of occasions that he somehow "upset Marmaduke Hussey" while at Radio Bristol. Given that this item makes fun of the erstwhile Director General's artificial leg, could this be the offending remark in question?

- this must have been recorded after August 1988, as it contains an extract from Michael Jackson's Bad

- the whole item is clearly attempting to ape the style of Victor Lewis-Smith, whose rapid-fire tightly-edited 'A Look At Life' pieces were a regular feature in early editions of Loose Ends. Indeed, Ned Sherrin and company only broadcast a clip from the tape after recieving letters from listeners claiming that Morris was copying VLS, and to be fair there are a couple of jokes in here that could be considered direct lifts. It's worth bearing in mind that this would have been sent at a time when VLS was on an extended absence from Loose Ends while doing some TV work for Channel 4.

- It's really not that good. Certainly not in the same league as some other similarly early material that has turned up.

butnut

Woah thanks for this TJ. It's great to hear any thing this early from Morris, even as you say it's pretty hit and miss.

Purple Tentacle

Blimey, great find TJ and 'JRC'!

It's always nice hearing some more early Victor Lewis-Smith!

Pinball


alan strang

Quote from: "TJ"It's worth bearing in mind that this would have been sent at a time when VLS was on an extended absence from Loose Ends while doing some TV work for Channel 4.

Ironically, the day they played a minute-long clip of Morris' demo also coincided with the return of VLS' own contributions to the show. As a result the demo clip ended up being played back to back with VLS' latest 8min piece.

For Lewis-Smith fans at the time there was no comparison!

Great listening anyway, despite the shamelessness. Excellent find.

RFT

Quote from: "TJ"- this must have been recorded after August 1988, as it contains an extract from Michael Jackson's Bad
"Bad" was released august '87, not '88...

hands cold, liver warm

thanks for this, great to hear it

regarding the relative cackness of the material, I suppose we all have to start somewhere

TJ

Quote from: "RFT"
Quote from: "TJ"- this must have been recorded after August 1988, as it contains an extract from Michael Jackson's Bad
"Bad" was released august '87, not '88...

Whoops. My 'Bad'.

Still, it's definitely 1988, as it mentions Sue Lawley hosting Desert Island Discs.

Marvin

Interestingly I found this on Victor  Lewis Smith's page on Wikipedia quite a long time ago, there's a link to it on that page, hosted on the Associated Rediffusion website.

TJ

Quote from: "Marvin."Interestingly I found this on Victor  Lewis Smith's page on Wikipedia quite a long time ago, there's a link to it on that page, hosted on the Associated Rediffusion website.

That's odd - mind you, if anyone could let us know about anything like this that they might find, we'd be very grateful. Don't assume that we'll already know about it, and more importantly don't be afraid of jerks saying "boooooring, we know about this already, please ignore this thread", because unless someone's coming on saying "hey fellas did you know Chris Morris once did a programme called Brass Eye!" they've got no excuse for it really.

Just had a look at the Wikipedia page, which has been massively expanded since I last saw it. I suspect VLS himself might have been padding it out...

Marvin

Quote from: "TJ"
Quote from: "Marvin."Interestingly I found this on Victor  Lewis Smith's page on Wikipedia quite a long time ago, there's a link to it on that page, hosted on the Associated Rediffusion website.

That's odd - mind you, if anyone could let us know about anything like this that they might find, we'd be very grateful. Don't assume that we'll already know about it, and more importantly don't be afraid of jerks saying "boooooring, we know about this already, please ignore this thread", because unless someone's coming on saying "hey fellas did you know Chris Morris once did a programme called Brass Eye!" they've got no excuse for it really.

Just had a look at the Wikipedia page, which has been massively expanded since I last saw it. I suspect VLS himself might have been padding it out...

I did think that, paticularly with those seemingly hidden links hosted on that site.

Apologies for not mentioning it, I was going to and then I thought it would probably be old news and then until now I'd genuinely forgotten about it.

You're right though TJ, I think fear of that kind of reaction does put people off sometimes but I think things have got a lot better.

I'll certainly mention anything else I spot in future!

TJ


Emergency Lalla Ward Ten

That's so great, that piece - you can tell he's having a ball doing it.

And people still claim that VLS was trying to copy Morris? Send them all a copy of this and it'll shut them up.

gazzyk1ns

Ditto with the thanks - and do we have the first ever recorded example of an attack on "Monkey whimsy", towards the end?

mcbpete

Fantastic find man and cheers for the upload, but my god was that dire. Slickly produced but deeply unfunny.

ApexJazz

Listening to the Wayne Carr hour right now, and it's damn funny (though too close to Steve Nage not to notice). In radio, Morris is always in his element. A shame that he has disengaged with that medium.
The Loose Ends auditon tape is fascinating. It appears I'm enjoying it more than everyone else It's very bracing. Morris shows remarkable fluency in the VLS style; hard to imagine a better simulation of his techniques. If Lewis-Smith is disseminating this tape (which I presume, being sourced from Associated-Rediffusion) in hopes to vindicate himself against Morris' success after all these years, it shows an unfortunate side to his character. In retrospect, the funniest part of the original broadcast was Ned Sherrin saying  "Victor Lewis Smith is THRILLED that a new broadcaster is etc. etc."  The Wikipedia article is rather extensive; has anyone heard VLS as a "regular on BBC Radio 4's Colour Supplement" of 1986?

Bert Thung

I don't blame him wanting to vindicate himself at all. It's the first accusation people make when they hear the name Victor Lewis-Smith. Look at his Radiohaha entry.

ApexJazz

Granted, but how much credence can you give to something that calls itself "Radiohaha"?

benthalo

Quote from: "ApexJazz"The Wikipedia article is rather extensive; has anyone heard VLS as a "regular on BBC Radio 4's Colour Supplement" of 1986?

The predecessor to Loose Ends, also featuring Stephen Fry and with the same presenter and producer. No one seems to have recordings.

lazyhour

I found this much more enjoyable than I'd expected to from the comments here.  Not much that was laugh-out-loud funny, but as ApexJazz notes it's terribly enjoyable to hear the young and unknown Morris do such an accurate and densely-packed VLS homage.

Edit: So thank you very much to those who made hearing this possible!