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Radio 4's The Reunion - The Day Today on 15th August

Started by dmillburn, August 02, 2021, 11:10:05 AM

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dmillburn

I caught the end of a trailer for this yesterday, 11am on 15th August. From the BBC site

The Day Today
The Reunion

Kirsty Wark brings together the cast of comedy show The Day Today. First broadcast in 1994, this six-part series savaged the business of TV news.

Coming off the back of the hugely successful and award-winning Radio 4 comedy On the Hour, Armando Iannucci, Chris Morris and cast brought their characters into the living rooms of millions. There was hapless sports reporter Alan Partridge, Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan, Rosy May and the eponymous newsreader and host Chris Morris.

Satirising the form of news presentation, with a groundbreaking use of comedic graphics and music that always went on slightly too long, the joke was always on the pomposity of news and how it was presented.

Armando Iannucci, co-creator (with Chris Morris) and series producer, came up with the concept while on a BBC training course.

Rebecca Front, known for her portrayal of characters such as Rosie May, went on to work with Armando Iannucci in political satire The Thick of It.

David Schneider, who was in a double act at university with Armando, contrived the very first early demos and was a regular cast member throughout.

Steve Coogan was drafted in after the initial pilot for On The Hour to help create a realistic sports reporter, who later morphed into Alan Partridge.

Doon Mackichan played multiple characters in The Day Today, as well as shows that followed, such as Brass Eye and Alan Partridge.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Simon Jarvis

Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Midas





Noodle Lizard

So no Chris Morris or Patrick Marber (if I'm understanding correctly).

muddybug

Yea, they don't make it very clear if Chris is involved in the reunion...

muddybug

https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/news/6481/the-day-today-reunion/

"Hosted by Kirsty Wark, the 45-minute retrospective, The Day Today: The Reunion, recorded for three hours yesterday to air on the 15th of this month, with Iannucci and all of the principal cast except Morris and Front."

up_the_hampipe

Morris still trying to keep up that enigma image, despite numerous interviews and podcast appearances over the past decade. Nice try, buddy.

olliebean

Strange that the BBC description of the programme mentions Front and not Marber, if Marber is in it and not Front.

lipsink

Coogan was in the pilot though wasn't he?

Edit: Oh sorry, they said the pilot for On The Hour. Head's gone.

Thomas

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on August 04, 2021, 04:50:57 PM
Morris still trying to keep up that enigma image, despite numerous interviews and podcast appearances over the past decade. Nice try, buddy.

He seems happy to discuss his old work during promotion for new projects, but I don't think he likes to join in with pure retrospectives.

He gave Oxide Ghosts his blessing, but as far as I know didn't take part (nor joined any of the Q&As). Similarly, he wasn't interviewed for Raw Meat Radio. I don't think he's ever done a public event or interview solely looking back on bygone projects.

mobias

I don't get the impression Chris Morris enjoys discussing his work much with journalists, unless its promoting a new movie. What I took away from that Adam Buxton podcast is that he's comfortable chatting and having a bit of a laugh with someone like Buxton who's clearly a friend but he doesn't like being analysed by someone he doesn't really know, he basically says so in that podcast. Its obvious thats the reason why he doesn't do many interviews. The fact that it adds a sense of enigma and helps his anonymity in day to day life is just a nice by product of course.

idunnosomename

Enjoying this. While I still quite warm to Iannucci, reminds me Schneider leaves a bad taste

agentorange76

Marber still honest about his relationship with Coogan. No mention of how he treated Lee & Herring yet though...

Good listen. Will try to locate a rip of this later on.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

I enjoyed that. It didn't contain any new information, but I didn't expect it to. It was just nice hearing those people talking affectionately and enthusiastically about something they're justifiably proud of.

Quote from: agentorange76 on August 15, 2021, 11:38:02 AM
Marber still honest about his relationship with Coogan. No mention of how he treated Lee & Herring yet though...

Do you mean the line about Marber being less talented but more intelligent than Coogan? That all sounded very jokey to me. As for Lee & Herring, Iannucci was very effusive about them. He obviously regrets the falling out they had, but this wasn't the sort of show in which to talk about that (or Marber's bitter rivalry with them).


idunnosomename

Also too lazy to check but didn't Wark call it "Paedogate". not really sure why that came up so much either considering it wasn't about Brass Eye. I really liked the Marber/Coogan clever/talented thing. I mean it's mutual praise isn't it? and Marber's "well I want a second series!!!" was funny.

manifest

This was a JOY to hear. I demand a second series!!! Even if it was sub-par it would still be 1000 times better than most UK satire around today.

manifest

Chris, if you're reading this, please bring the band back together!

Pauline Walnuts

Quote from: idunnosomename on August 15, 2021, 11:28:11 AM
Enjoying this. While I still quite warm to Iannucci, reminds me Schneider leaves a bad taste

I can't work out how to get a S&M joke in there, but I did notice Schneider mentioned Brexit once, 🥱 and everyone just ignored him.


mobias

Just listened to it and I really enjoyed it. I can't begin to imagine them doing a second series now and I certainly can't imagine Chris Morris wanting to go over old ground like that. I would however love to see them all working together on something else. Its a shame that when you get a really good team like that who clearly all really like each other and are fertile with ideas that they don't do more together in some form. They could pretty much do what Monty Python did and its a shame they didn't all become more of a Python like troop that just do various different things together as a writing and performing group.

EBGB

I'm going to be a dissenting voice, apparently.  I found it dully comfortable, self-congratulatory, and generally disappointing.  I know that's par for the course with more mainstream comedy retrospectives, but satire creators I expect still to have some sort of edge*.  And I was REALLY looking forward to it.

Can't help wishing they'd done The Reunion for 'On The Hour'.  It would have been more about the creative process, and less about how fabulous we all were.  :(

*for the Twitter people who are going to chip in and say, don't you follow Iannucci / Schneider etc.?, wouldn't you have expected this?, yes I do.  But I'd still like them to have had a little more fire here.

Pauline Walnuts

Quote from: EBGB on August 20, 2021, 04:59:16 PM
I'm going to be a dissenting voice, apparently.  I found it dully comfortable, self-congratulatory, and generally disappointing.  I know that's par for the course with more mainstream comedy retrospectives, but satire creators I expect still to have some sort of edge*.  And I was REALLY looking forward to it.

Can't help wishing they'd done The Reunion for 'On The Hour'.  It would have been more about the creative process, and less about how fabulous we all were.  :(

*for the Twitter people who are going to chip in and say, don't you follow Iannucci / Schneider etc.?, wouldn't you have expected this?, yes I do.  But I'd still like them to have had a little more fire here.

It was 30 years ago, I'm afraid that exciting punk group you liked have all sold out into middle age saying how wonderful everything was in their day, and how terrible everything is now. And it's all just a rip off of them anyway. Please buy out 30th anniversary version of our stuff, and the 40th and 50th where we dig up everything we did so extend the copyright so we can rake in what's left of the money from what's left of fanbase.

It Happened to Throbbing Gristle, it'll happen to you.


muddybug