Terrible Radio Comedy

[Petey Pate]

Most topical comedy on Radio 4 reminds me of the 'Thank God It's Satire-Day' segment from On the Hour.  I'm pretty sure it was inspired by Lee and Herring's experiences writing for Week Ending.

[gloria]

Somewhat off-topic as I'm being positive, but I listened to a 40-odd year old episode of Round The Horne on Radio 4 Extra the other week, expecting it to have aged rather poorly, but it was still fucking brilliant and I'm lapping up the other eps with glee.  Kenneth H sure was one treacly-voiced avuncular deadpan motherfucker.  And Kenny Williams is superb in it too.  I used to love Radio Active but the series on iplayer (3 I think) is dire.  The sketches are incredibly weak and the only saving grace is Philip Pope's wonderful parody songs.  Radio Active got good in later series with the introduction of hapless ex-hospital DJ Martin Brown.

[yesitsme]

Whenever people praise the BBC they say that one of the best things about it is that they 'let you make mistakes'.  Take this http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nkq2s for instance.  It wasn't very good, I got the feeling that none of the participants had ever stood at a school gate in their life as an adult OR a child but I do like the people in it (well a couple of them) and I think they benefited from the experience and should go on to do better next time. And there should be a next time.

We shouldn't pour scorn on people for that should we?

What we should pour scorn on is stuff that gets made just because someone is posh.  Being posh and flauthing your poshness has become very popular for some reason. 

[Paul Calf]

Further to this, I've just noticed that they're re-running a series of I've never seen Star Wars tonight. This is on top of two of his terrible sitcoms that are currently running, Think the Unthinkable and Giles Wemmbly-Hogg Goes Off. What the hell has he got on the controller of 4 Extra?

GWHGO is currently running? I thought it finished years ago.

The News Quiz is genuinely fucking awful these days as you hear them struggle against reality and their commercial interests to obey what are obviously instructions to bash Corbyn and The Labour Party and give the Tories an easy ride.

[mook]

Somewhat off-topic as I'm being positive, but I listened to a 40-odd year old episode of Round The Horne on Radio 4 Extra the other week, expecting it to have aged rather poorly, but it was still fucking brilliant and I'm lapping up the other eps with glee.  Kenneth H sure was one treacly-voiced avuncular deadpan motherfucker.  And Kenny Williams is superb in it too.  I used to love Radio Active but the series on iplayer (3 I think) is dire.  The sketches are incredibly weak and the only saving grace is Philip Pope's wonderful parody songs.  Radio Active got good in later series with the introduction of hapless ex-hospital DJ Martin Brown.

there's a lot to like in round the horne, all except for when they have a musical guest on. that is torture.

i've got a soft spot for the navy lark & men from the ministry too. stick an episode on at bedtime & i've snoozed away within minutes, certainly never heard one all the way through at any rate.

[Black_Bart]

I listened to a 40-odd year old episode of Round The Horne on Radio 4 Extra the other week, expecting it to have aged rather poorly, but it was still fucking brilliant

Check out The Navy Lark, it's a Bilko type deal (going so far as to steal one of the plot of a PS ep.

re: GWHGO, I kind of like this, the main character reminds me a lot of the numpty teachers kids I went to school with. Tho' TBH, Giles is actually quite a nice person.

I listened to Clare in the Community last night. Should have been better. But then, like GWHGO, CITC is comedy actually taking the piss out of the people who RUN R4 (or at least their idiot children).

[gloria]

The News Quiz is fucking brilliant now Miles J is hosting.  He does understatement terrifically well.  The only way is, if I may say so, Jupp.

[mook]

it feels unfair to call ITMA a terrible radio comedy, it's of it's time & all that. but bloody hell is it hard going.

here you go... http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074bwvs#play have a crack it.

& as for the goons, christ. i've tried & tried with that show over the years cos it's well respected, & i feel that i'm missing out by not enjoying it. but bloody hell, it's rotten.

[Black_Bart]

The News Quiz is fucking brilliant now Miles J is hosting

Fair point. But let's remember that panel shows and there quality depend on the panel. Ie if Hardy isn't on TNQ then chances are I won't listen.

it feels unfair to call ITMA a terrible radio comedy

I had a copy of some of the shows they did for the services, um, you'll have to be a fan of "old skool" comedy...

And you don't have to like the Goons. Most of it is samey same, and peope forget Spike co-wrote a good deal of them.

[gloria]

The Goons is definitely worth a listen.  There's always an absolute stone cold genius Milligan line in every episode.

I've been listening to the Goons, Hancock and Beyond Our Ken/Round the Horne since the early '80s, btw.  Hadn't heard any of the Kenneth Horne shows for ages so I was very pleasantly surprised to find they're still wonderful.

[Paul Calf]

The News Quiz is fucking brilliant now Miles J is hosting.  He does understatement terrifically well.  The only way is, if I may say so, Jupp.

You can honestly listen to it without burning in embarrassment?

[gloria]

I never used to be a fan of Miles Jupp but after seeing him at Latitude years ago I became a convert.  There's something Humph-like in the contempt he can muster - unlike, say, the faux shticky grumpiness of Jack Dee on ISIHAC.

[Black_Bart]

I never used to be a fan of Miles Jupp but after seeing him at Latitude years ago I became a convert.

I saw the HIGNFY where they pulled out the Balamory(?) where he's singing. He took it on the chin. And he probably has a SOLID fan base (if you get them when there under 10, you've got em for life. Explains the career of Sandi Toksvig, doesn't it?

[Jack Shaftoe]

This is brilliant, it sounds like a first time read through, I can almost see the actors' fingers scanning the lines on the page.

I know a couple of actors who do stuff for radio, and they've admitted this is really common. Loads of them just turn up, read the words aloud and go home again. Not sure I blame them, to be honest.

Which reminds me, I had a comedy thing in development with Radio 4. Got quite far, went up the chain for a decision about a year ago, and I haven't heard a thing since. Might be for the best.

[tomasrojo]

Somewhat off-topic as I'm being positive, but I listened to a 40-odd year old episode of Round The Horne on Radio 4 Extra the other week, expecting it to have aged rather poorly, but it was still fucking brilliant and I'm lapping up the other eps with glee. 

To divert into positivity also, I liked the recent "The Literary Adventures of Mr. Brown", and I hope they make more.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0717dlt
(About to drop off the iPlayer.)

[Gurke and Hare]

I can't get on with Round the Horne, The Goons or The Navy Lark, but I love The Men From the Ministry, despite it being pretty much exactly the same plot every week (Macguffin A has to be sent to one place, Macguffin B has to be sent to another, and they get them mixed up). Of all the stuff of that era that 4 Extra play, the best by miles is of course I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again but with that cast, it really should be.

[mothman]

I started getting into the radio comedy in a big way when I started my current commute, it's just the right duration for a half-hour show. But my God, the quality varies.

I learned early on to stick to sketch shows because so few of the sitcoms are any good. Cabin Pressure was a lucky find. The first series of Elvenquest was bearable but it had one basic joke. I've blocked the bad stuff from my memory.

So, sketch shows. John Finnemore I like but the most recent series wasn't as good, I thought. Mitchell & Webb can be hit & miss. I find myself wondering whatever happened to Laura Solon.

And lastly there's the... um, polemics? Jeremy Hardy Addresses The Nation. Mark Steel's In Town was also interesting but I find myself reluctant to listen to the most recent series.

And, yes, the Now Show:News Quiz. Because u subscribe to the Friday Night Comedy podcast.

[idunnosomename]

Speaking of The Now Show but I just heard them singing "Why, I.D.S." over the Village People this lunchtime

How

How can they think it's funny

The guest stand-ups they have on are invariably utterly incompetent comedians too

It's fucking abysmal

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

Love In Recovery just started on R4 and after 30 seconds I turned it off.

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

Speaking of The Now Show but I just heard them singing "Why, I.D.S." over the Village People this lunchtime

How

How can they think it's funny

The guest stand-ups they have on are invariably utterly incompetent comedians too

It's fucking abysmal

So that's "Why IDS" to the tune of "YMCA", you mean?

How did they develop this lyrical conceit? How did the "Young man" lines go?

[Lapsedcat]

Does Bunk Bed with Marber count as R4 comedy? Because it's great. Marber channelling his inner, cleaner Clive.

[Bobtoo]

So that's "Why IDS" to the tune of "YMCA", you mean?

How did they develop this lyrical conceit? How did the "Young man" lines go?

See for yourself, 2:15 in. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07466lj

[Guy]

Jesus, is there even a conceptual reason for launching into YMCA there? Is it just "it was on a Friday, and er, on Friday people go to THE DISCO"?

[Bhazor]

I remember liking Now Show a few years back when I always listened to the radio 4 comedies. But yeesh. That was like a fucking satire of bad satire.

[easytarget]

Guys
guys.
Seekers : http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bs3tf

Seekers guys.

It makes Hal look like fucking Shaft.

Hal is crap in a, ho hum, middle class radio4 sitcom, oh here comes Ed Byrne "ah wid ye look at that now, Be-jaayzus!" way

Seekers is fucking abysmal.

[Bacon]

Guys
guys.
Seekers : http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bs3tf

Seekers guys.

It makes Hal look like fucking Shaft.

Hal is crap in a, ho hum, middle class radio4 sitcom, oh here comes Ed Byrne "ah wid ye look at that now, Be-jaayzus!" way

Seekers is fucking abysmal.

'You any good with computers?'
'I like pancakes'
'ohhhkay, I'll put that down as a maybe!'

Nice one

[easytarget]

That joke was so good they used it twice:
"What qualifies you for this position"
"Oi've got a noice piece o ham in the fridge"

<click>

Production notes : You want to take another run at that? No? Ok, wow, everyone will be home by three again! This is easy! I dunno what those Arrested Development writers are complaining about.

Tighten it up, radio 4.

[Blinder Data]

I know a couple of actors who do stuff for radio, and they've admitted this is really common. Loads of them just turn up, read the words aloud and go home again. Not sure I blame them, to be honest.

Someone my friend knows writes plays for Radio 4. Like most writers he sweats buckets to make sure his script is in tip top shape, fits the bill to actually get it made by the BBC.

He's said there have been times when actors turn up for the recording and it's clear that they haven't read it beforehand. I think that's unacceptaby lazy and disrespectful behaviour, especially when the writer has spent months, if not years, on the script.

Anyway, radio comedy is mostly poo. Nish Kumar was on Just a Minute a week or so ago and he was absolutely terrible at the game, which he spun round to his advantage in making jokes about how rubbish he was. Why did they have him on if he can't say a few words without repeating/hesitating? Is there no audition? Bah humbug.

[KennyMonster]

I remember liking Now Show a few years back when I always listened to the radio 4 comedies. But yeesh. That was like a fucking satire of bad satire.

I loved The Now Show when it first started but it has been terribly mundane and predictible for years.

I remember when it was firs ton it sounded really fresh and had a bit of bite to it, memeory might lead me to believe this could mainly have have been down to just the 'Bussman and Quantick' bits though.

[Gurke and Hare]

Further to this, I've just noticed that they're re-running a series of I've never seen Star Wars tonight. This is on top of two of his terrible sitcoms that are currently running, Think the Unthinkable and Giles Wemmbly-Hogg Goes Off. What the hell has he got on the controller of 4 Extra?

The Museum of Everything starts a repeat run tonight at 11.30.