Current radio comedy Page 138

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 28th January 2019, 3:05 PM

HHH

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And the best one EVER was on yesterday. CLASSIC radio comedy. V Good story (for me, anyway!), perfect script, and played to perfection by all concerned, and the one that is No. 1 with the Hancock Society hands down every time: -

"Sunday Afternoon at Home" - " I thought my mother was a bad cook but at least her gravy used to move about. Yours just sort of lies there and sets."

Never fails with me, but then I remember those Sunday afternoons when there was nothing to do but stare at the wallpaper and you are completely BORED!!

No TV, Dad didn't have a car, it was 2pm and the Billy Cotton Band Show had finished on the Light Programme..............................

Now here's a bit of really obscure trivia for Hancock fans :-
What is the tune that starts to play on the wind-up gramophone player before it runs down?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRrQ_d-H6j0

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 29th January 2019, 11:35 AM

Now here's a bit of really obscure trivia for Hancock fans :-
What is the tune that starts to play on the wind-up gramophone player before it runs down?

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I've just listened to the episode and I can't remember a wind-up gramophone being used or mentioned.

Don't tell me my memory is that bad!

At 26m 28s, however, there's about ten seconds of Chopin's Funeral March on the soundtrack to indicate the passage of time during the neighbours animal impressions.

Is that it?

Quote: Rood Eye @ 29th January 2019, 1:36 PM

I've just listened to the episode and I can't remember a wind-up gramophone being used or mentioned.

Don't tell me my memory is that bad!

At 26m 28s, however, there's about ten seconds of Chopin's Funeral March on the soundtrack to indicate the passage of time during the neighbours animal impressions.

Is that it?

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Nope.........................

19.42, just after Bill starts to sing about the wild colonial boy Jack Duggan - Sid says "Why don't you put the gramophone on" It runs down and Hattie says "The springs gone"

And I thought I was losing the plot - of life that is (or in your case both )

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 29th January 2019, 3:34 PM

19.42, just after Bill starts to sing about the wild colonial boy Jack Duggan - Sid says "Why don't you put the gramophone on" It runs down and Hattie says "The springs gone"

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He's right you know!

Quote: Rood Eye @ 29th January 2019, 3:44 PM

He's right you know!

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I told you, you had to take the green AND blue pills together, but would you listen?

Presume then that the piece of music is lost on you?

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 29th January 2019, 3:59 PM

Presume then that the piece of music is lost on you?

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I can't put a name to it, I have to admit.

Quote: Rood Eye @ 29th January 2019, 4:14 PM

I can't put a name to it, I have to admit.

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I'll give it 24 hours but fear we are a fan club of just two on this forum..............................

The Bottle Factory Outing with Maxine Peake and Diane Morgan was pretty good. A great choice of a novel performed well, and a high laugh count for a comedy-drama. I heard they were writing something together, some original series I assume, so this makes me excited for it if it ever comes about. There was also an introduction at the start explaining how they met and how they chose this story which was very interesting

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 29th January 2019, 11:35 AM

And the best one EVER was on yesterday. CLASSIC radio comedy.

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For me, this one just edges it...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008v13d

Angela Barnes seems to be all over R4 (and Extra) these days.

I'm yet to determine why.

On the other hand, "ReincarNathan" is a lot of fun.

Agendum is slightly subtler than On The Hour. But not much. Brilliant.

The Cold Swedish Winter on BBC 4E/BBC Sounds) has been much better than I was expecting.

You can also play "guess the tune" in it too.

Just listened to an episode of Life on Egg and enjoyed it a lot, the delivery wasn't wooden like in most radio sitcoms.

Nice to see this mighty thread still going.

I'm enjoying Meet David Sedaris. It's not groundbreaking radio by any means, but Sedaris is such a great writer that just listening to him read his essays is a joy.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 29th January 2019, 11:35 AM

Now here's a bit of really obscure trivia for Hancock fans :-
What is the tune that starts to play on the wind-up gramophone player before it runs down?

View original

New member here, having joined after a brief lurk; I'll try to make the proper introductions on the 'Hello' thread.

There are some excellent discussions here & I hope to be able to contribute more in future ... but my *specific* reason for joining today was that my eye was caught by the above triv. question - the answer to which I reckon I've coincidently just spotted a few days ago.

I believe this is 'Elmer's Tune', first composed in the 1920's ( it certainly sounds like that sort of vintage ) although it wasn't committed to vinyl until many years later. According to Wikipedia there are quite a few recordings, the first cluster of five in 1941 being by various artists, including Lawrence Welk of Rutles fame:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer%27s_Tune

The song definitely pops up in HHH just over a year later in 'The Childhood Sweetheart', from the following - and final - radio series #6 ( broadcast late 1959 ). It's at about 22'15", when Hancock, Sid and Bill are arguing over tactics before entering the coffee bar to look for Olive. TH refers to it by name and sings some of the lyrics.

At any rate, the intro on the dodgy gramophone in 'Sunday Afternoon ...' sounds like the same tune to me. Maybe Galton and/or Simpson, or even Hancock, had a particular fondness for it. It's interesting that it should be featured twice - for those who enjoy comedy trivia, anyway. I suppose it could just have been the nearest disc to hand in the BBC record library.

Edit: This is worth a look for anyone interested in a further layer of trivia / comedy regarding this tune -

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth415807/m1/3/zoom/?resolution=3&lat=4751.000000000001&lon=2637.000000000001

TL;DR: " 'Elmer's Tune' was very coldly recieved on its first presentation [...] There were two very good reasons for this ...

1) The audience was Chinese
2) The audience was dead"