Current radio comedy Page 137

Quote: misfit @ 30th July 2018, 8:39 PM

If we are going back into the past one my colleagues and I used to listen to at work years ago was called Married about a guy who wakes up in a parallel world and horror of horrors he is married. Hugh Bonneville and Stephen Frost on top form.

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"Married" was excellent. Very dark.

There have been some good repeats lately. Kerry Godliman's "Kerry's List" was fun, delving into some dark-ish places, even if Kerry herself can become a bit wearing. She's about to reappear in a repeat of Jack Docherty's excellent "Start/Stop".

Gerard Foster's wonderful "At Home With The Snails" is getting another run. It's 17 years old now but hits very dark heights. Probably a young Miranda Hart's best ever performance.

And Katherine Jakeways' "North by Northamptonshire" is tonally sublime, balancing humanity with character assassination.

I'm finding "Josh Howie's Losing It" funny enough in parts but derivative. Hullo Tom Wrigglesworth. Unlike Wrigglesworth, Howie too often takes the easy way out using his narration for his gags.

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme being repeated again too

Absolute quality

He has an extraordinary mind, does Finnemore. Some of his two-handers in "Double Acts" are glorious.

Caught up with a couple of episodes of Barry and Bob Cryer's "Mrs Hudson's Radio Show". Beyond Barry's name and reputation, I cannot fathom why it was commissioned. Lame, unfunny, and sometimes doesn't even make sense. Apparently adapted from books. Maybe it worked on the page.

I'm listening to the first episode of the new series of Richard Herring's Relativity and it seems to sum up a lot different parts of radio all in one program. There's less of a filter in radio obviously, and a lot of the time that can be a good thing as it gives ideas a chance. But what it also means is you get a lot of half-baked stuff, because as mentioned there's less of a filter compared to tv.

This episode had a lot of good material, but also some not-so-good that I found a bit distracting. The joke about millennials was obvious and cringe-worthy, but thankfully also brief. The conversation the boy was having with Alison Steadman about religion smacked of the Outnumbered scene where Ben and Karen were talking to the vicar, even down to the tone.

Overall though, quite good, I also listened to the new episode of Love in recovery recently and it was great as usual

'Party' back on 4 extra

Absolutely adore it

Quote: italophile @ 16th December 2018, 11:31 AM

Caught up with a couple of episodes of Barry and Bob Cryer's "Mrs Hudson's Radio Show". Beyond Barry's name and reputation, I cannot fathom why it was commissioned. Lame, unfunny, and sometimes doesn't even make sense. Apparently adapted from books. Maybe it worked on the page.

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I listened to the first one and wasn't bowled over by it but will persevere.

Quote: lofthouse @ 5th January 2019, 9:46 PM

'Party' back on 4 extra

Absolutely adore it

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Yep. Lovely writing, perfect ensemble playing. Obviously helps that they've worked together on various other projects.

just listened to Cracking Up and it's been quite interesting. Usually if a comedy uses some kind of narration I'd prefer it kept more minimal so the novelty doesn't wear off, good examples being The Inbetweeners and White Gold. I still think it would be better if used more sparingly, but I don't think it worked against itself here too much, I think it was done quite well.

One of the benefits of radio as stated is you generally hear a lot of ground covered you might not see on a TV comedy, and that's the case here. Aside from a few cringy, slightly sneery jokes (I think radio would benefit from some more younger writers), I really enjoyed it

Quote: jsg @ 9th January 2019, 4:37 PM

just listened to Cracking Up and it's been quite interesting. Usually if a comedy uses some kind of narration I'd prefer it kept more minimal so the novelty doesn't wear off, good examples being The Inbetweeners and White Gold. I still think it would be better if used more sparingly, but I don't think it worked against itself here too much, I think it was done quite well.

One of the benefits of radio as stated is you generally hear a lot of ground covered you might not see on a TV comedy, and that's the case here. Aside from a few cringy, slightly sneery jokes (I think radio would benefit from some more younger writers), I really enjoyed it

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I caught up with it today. It's a Johnny Daukes project. Writes, does the music, and narrates. It has nice comic moments but it covers well-mined territory. I think the narration is excessive. It's almost as though he didn't trust the material. Let the story play through the characters.

Good point, it would definitely be better if it wasn't used as much

Caught Mark Steel's In Town on Radio Player (not moved to BBC Sounds but that;s probably another thread) and enjoyed it for two reasons. If I've been to the town its generally spot on and if I haven't been it makes me want to visit.

"MSIT" never fails to entertain. He has his shtick down pat and it's a winner.

Quote: italophile @ 17th January 2019, 4:04 PM

Let the story play through the characters.

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Unless I'm missing something, there isn't actually a story, just a series of strange events, some of which are connected and some which aren't.

When you say "Current" do you mean the latest or what is on now, only...........................

...............at the moment I am thoroughly enjoying on Radio 7 (alright, if you insist - Radio 4 Extra) Just a Minute, The Goon Show, HHH and finished for now sadly ISIRTA.