Current radio comedy Page 135

Quote: lofthouse @ 13th October 2016, 6:31 PM

'Party' repeated again on 4extra

Superb show

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Couldn't agree more. Series 3, ep 4 - at the radio station with baby Aspinall - is outstanding, the best of the lot, I think. The riff on "debentures" is wonderful, and that Basden delays the introduction of baby Aspinall as long as he does is typical of the tangential, left-field writing. There was talk of transferring to TV - I think a pilot was made - but I don't know how it would cope. Its strength is its dialogue, better suited to radio. Still, it started out as a stage play, so who knows?

The latest series of "Ed Reardon's Week" is sounding worryingly like one too many. Ed is enrolled at university, a long way from the series' roots. Ed has always worked best when at war with the forces that frustrate his career - as a writer. Meaning, obviously, often at war with himself. The wonderful support characters - Ping, Stan, Olive, Pearl, etc - were a natural fit. Now, on the evidence of the first couple of eps anyway, they are being uncomfortably shoehorned into his life at university.

Perhaps Chris Douglas and Andrew Nickolds decided they'd mined his writing career, that there was nothing left to do after 10 series. If so, better to retire Ed. Or, perhaps, university is a tangent, and Ed will return to the world in which he worked best. Fingers crossed.

Quite why Lucy Porter's "The Fair Intellectual Club" was commissioned is beyond me. It's laboured, repetitive and just about completely lacking in wit. And poor Gordon Kennedy reduced to playing a character whose only purpose is to mispronounce the names of visitors.

Breaking The News is currently on BBC radio Scotland
It's worth a listen if you're free on a Friday afternoon

Quirky and fun, I liked Life On Egg.

Just listen to Kult on Radio Player which I think is one of the most unoriginal things I've heard in a long time. And it wasn't funny.
Sweat which I'm not sure was a pilot or part of a series wasn't much better but it was marginally.
Also disappointed with The Brig Society where Marcus decides to run a newspaper. It was too much like a Guardian editorial and I found all the sermonising tedious even if my politics (such as they are) vaguely agreed with his points.

Quote: Nogget @ 14th January 2017, 5:34 AM

Quirky and fun, I liked Life On Egg.

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I agree Nogget. Very silly and funny and carried well by Harry.

Mark these are some of my own faves of the newer though not current as of now.
Old Harry's Game, Revolting People, Trevor's World of Sport, The Party Line, Chambers

Barbara Nice - where to start? Laboured predictable jokes, a dull unrealised plot, appalling acting, a loud studio audience who would guffaw at a sudden gust of wind, hackneyed situations, unengaging stereotypical characters, mirthless plodding dialogue. The only way it succeeded was as a wonderful existential experiment exploring how to make half an hour feel like a day an half.

Barbara Nice is Aldi Mrs Merton.

Sarah Kendall's Australian Trilogy is exceptional. Funny, poignant storytelling.

The return of Dot which has just finished series two. A lot of 'hidden' jokes that I don't always pick up on straight away.

Also been listening to the Accidental AM and Ankle-Tag. Both Average but good to see Radio Wales trying something with comedy.

Did enjoy the Pin though even though if it feels a bit too clever sometimes and Daphne Sound Expensive which sort of aims to do blockbuster movies on Radio.

I prefer OTR and thanks to ROK Classic Comedy I can hear all my old faves:

The Castle, Jim The Great, The Men From The Ministry, The Arthur Haynes Show, Beyond Our Ken, Round The Horne and perhaps best of all, The Burkiss Way.

Except Dad's Army, The Goon Show, Take It From Here and The Navy Lark - they can just do one.

Lots of reliable old comedy favourites on the radio at the moment. Mark Steel's in Town, Keep Calman Carry On, Jeremy Hardy Feels It and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue have all finished runs and are available on iPlayer, and there are new series of John Finnimore's Souvenir Programme, The Museum of Curiosity, Simon Evans Goes To Market and The News Quiz.

By the way, did anyone catch Peter Oborne on The News Quiz? An absolute train wreck.

Quote: Tursiops @ 16th January 2018, 3:39 PM

Lots of reliable old comedy favourites on the radio at the moment.

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Including Hancock's Half Hour, Round the Horne, the Goon Show, the Navy Lark, I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again, The Ken Dodd Show & The Men From the Ministry all currently on Radio 4 Extra during the course of the week,