"I'd quite like to listen to more radio comedy," my brother-in-law said on the weekend. Well, that's not an opportunity I can ignore!
There are two things - okay, maybe three things - that I feel passionate about to the extent that I try to convert unsuspecting friends. The two important ones are knitting and radio. On a good day, data is the third. I'll admit that I've had most luck with knitting.
So here's a chance to introduce someone to radio comedy and all the things I love about it. And, in true Radio 4 style, this has become a sort of Desert Island Discs-style challenge: What eight radio programmes would I pick to introduce someone to radio comedy? And, while we're at it, why are there no synonyms for comedy or programme that begin with D?
The rules for this thought experiment are straightforward: Pick eight programmes that showcase different aspects of radio comedy for a new listener. Each programme can be represented by just one series (not one episode, I'm not that hard on myself) and they must be broadcast on Radio 4 or 4 Extra (because where else are you going to get your radio comedy?).
The short list is a long one and difficult to narrow down.
It's easy to overlook staples like The News Quiz and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue that I think we all take for granted as the backbone of radio comedy. The most interesting constraint as far as I can see is the fact that it has to be aimed at a new listener. Ed Reardon's Week cracks me up but is it a little too grumpy-radio-4 for a newcomer? Does Bleak Expectations take a bit too long to click? Where is the line between comedy and comedy-drama? Does it even matter?
More importantly, what are these key aspects of radio comedy that I feel I need to include? Something satirical, a panel show, something surreal, something that was translated into TV? Well, okay, the News Quiz ticks all those boxes at times but I think that may be cheating.
If people raise an eyebrow when I say I'm a radio 4 listener (something tha happens less and less now I'm in my thirties) it's always comedy that I use to respond. I list all the programmes that started on Radio 4 and made their way to TV. Sometimes they're surprised, mostly they just look at me like I'm a bit of a nut. But it always reminds me of the huge variety of comedy that Radio 4 produces.
I don't have my eight Desert Island Synonym-For-Comedy-Beginning-With-Ds yet, but I''m enjoying thinking about it and the sheer wealth of comedy that I have to pick from.
Showing posts with label News Quiz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News Quiz. Show all posts
Monday, 23 January 2012
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Oh no it wasn't
On Sunday I walked into to town listening to "Oh No It Isn't... The News Quiz". I'm not sure what the people that passed me thought was wrong with me but I did get a few odd looks. It was extremely difficult to keep a straight face and, as I walked down the high street, I had to find a lot of excuses to cover up giggles.
I wasn't at all sure what to expect from a News Quiz pantomime, especially when I was feeling a little cheated out of a Christmas Now Show. But really, this wasn't exactly a News Quiz pantomime, more of a whole Radio 4 pantomime. Which is even better! The only part that felt a little awkward was the start and the concept that the whole thing was part of Sandi Toksvig's diary. Or maybe that's just because news readers doing acting can be unsettling. Not that there's anything wrong, for example, with Alice Arnold in the current David Copperfield dramatisation on 4 Extra but I do keep expecting Agnes Wickfield to launch into today's headlines.
Once the initial premise was out of the way, Oh No It Isn't romped with reckless abandon through every mainstay of the Radio 4 schedule. It gleefully rolled up Desert Island Discs, Just a Minute, Feedback and many others and coated them in the fabulous nonsense of pantomime traditions.
I do worry if there might be something a little odd about the Radio 4 audience though. We all love taking the piss out of the the hot air of You and Yours, the bickering of Moral Maze, Jeremy Hardy's singing talents and I don't think there's anyone that hasn't laughed at a good Quote Unquote joke over the years. But if I heard any of this from outsiders, I'd loudly and vehemently point out the many ways in which they were wrong about the station - possibly with more synonyms than Nicholas Parsons - until they gave up the argument in desperation. This is the sort of comprehensive and affectionate mocking that only true lovers of Radio 4 can appreciate.
Maybe all fanbases are a little like this but I think there's something truly special about Radio 4 addicts and, for those of us who turn the radio on first in the morning and turn it off last at night, Oh No It Isn't felt like the best present under the festive radio tree. Like the gift you save for last, it was extremely well judged, exactly what we all wanted even though we never knew it and it clearly came from people who know us far, far too well.
I wasn't at all sure what to expect from a News Quiz pantomime, especially when I was feeling a little cheated out of a Christmas Now Show. But really, this wasn't exactly a News Quiz pantomime, more of a whole Radio 4 pantomime. Which is even better! The only part that felt a little awkward was the start and the concept that the whole thing was part of Sandi Toksvig's diary. Or maybe that's just because news readers doing acting can be unsettling. Not that there's anything wrong, for example, with Alice Arnold in the current David Copperfield dramatisation on 4 Extra but I do keep expecting Agnes Wickfield to launch into today's headlines.
Once the initial premise was out of the way, Oh No It Isn't romped with reckless abandon through every mainstay of the Radio 4 schedule. It gleefully rolled up Desert Island Discs, Just a Minute, Feedback and many others and coated them in the fabulous nonsense of pantomime traditions.
I do worry if there might be something a little odd about the Radio 4 audience though. We all love taking the piss out of the the hot air of You and Yours, the bickering of Moral Maze, Jeremy Hardy's singing talents and I don't think there's anyone that hasn't laughed at a good Quote Unquote joke over the years. But if I heard any of this from outsiders, I'd loudly and vehemently point out the many ways in which they were wrong about the station - possibly with more synonyms than Nicholas Parsons - until they gave up the argument in desperation. This is the sort of comprehensive and affectionate mocking that only true lovers of Radio 4 can appreciate.
Maybe all fanbases are a little like this but I think there's something truly special about Radio 4 addicts and, for those of us who turn the radio on first in the morning and turn it off last at night, Oh No It Isn't felt like the best present under the festive radio tree. Like the gift you save for last, it was extremely well judged, exactly what we all wanted even though we never knew it and it clearly came from people who know us far, far too well.
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