I get bored easy with all of 'em.
Current radio comedy Page 111
Can anyone explain "Warhorses of Letters" to me?
I've listened to it three times now and it completely baffles me, what about it is supposed to be funny?
Stephen Fry is in it. That makes it automatically 'brilliant'.
Quote: Tony Cowards @ December 6 2012, 10:14 AM GMTCan anyone explain "Warhorses of Letters" to me?
I've listened to it three times now and it completely baffles me, what about it is supposed to be funny?
No idea. I gave up after two episodes.
Births, Deaths and Marriages. God, this is lame. It's like a seance in which the ghosts of 1970s sitcoms are being summoned.
Quote: Tony Cowards @ December 6 2012, 10:14 AM GMTCan anyone explain "Warhorses of Letters" to me?
Yes. It's unlistenable shite. But because it contains 
Stephen Fry and (b) references to the 1973 A Level history syllabus, it's "intellectual" and not to be judged by such downmarket criteria as "being funny".
Quote: Tokyo Nambu @ December 6 2012, 6:38 PM GMTBirths, Deaths and Marriages. God, this is lame. It's like a seance in which the ghosts of 1970s sitcoms are being summoned.
Is this the repeat? I can't imagine it got a second series. Dire, lame stuff.
Both this and warhorse are about as funny as hemorroids.
If there's one thing that 'warhorses' has taught me, it's never to listen to any advice on 'How to be a writer'.
If 'two gay horses send letters to each other' can get made then anything can, so it's best to write whatever takes your fancy and hope you get lucky.
There's been an awful lack of quality radio comedy for a good while now
Bleak Expectations shines out like a beacon in a sea of shit at the moment
I don't know, what about Ed Reardon, Count Arthur Strong, Andrew Lawrence, Henning Wehn, the unbelievable truth, the best of what is on is as good as radio comedy has ever been.
Quote: Pingl @ December 7 2012, 7:16 PM GMTI don't know, what about Ed Reardon, Count Arthur Strong, Andrew Lawrence, Henning Wehn, the unbelievable truth, the best of what is on is as good as radio comedy has ever been.
Ed Reardon was unmissable, but the most recent series was running out of ideas --- adding Ed's girlfriend weakened it markedly. The recent series of Count Arthur Strong had jumped the shark: "goes on holiday and hilarity ensues" is never a good premise. I can see why The Unbelievable Truth is good, but it leaves me stone cold; I'm afraid I can't get Call My Bluff out of my head. And it's noticeable that Clue, Minute and News Quiz are always welcome returns to the schedule and still punch above their weight: their combined age is, what, a hundred?
Quote: Tokyo Nambu @ December 7 2012, 10:34 PM GMTAnd it's noticeable that Clue, Minute and News Quiz are always welcome returns to the schedule and still punch above their weight: their combined age is, what, a hundred?
I'm Sorry I Haven't a... Joke
Just a... Month to Prepare Your Bit On the Show
The News... Read From a Script Written by the Usual Bunch of Jaded Hacks
Fixed that for you. Their combined age is a trillion years and their weight is a tenth of an ounce.
That sounds a bit harsh. I'm glad 'Clue' exists as a pension pot for people who used to be funny. And I'm rooting for Nicholas Parsons to keep presenting well beyond his 100th birthday.
The News Quiz can be taken out and shot, to be honest. They ought to replace it with Newsjack.
Radio 4 Extra has been repeating S2 of Another Case of Milton Jones. Brilliant stuff!
Caught up with Nick Mohammed in Bits on R4 Extra. I once heard some of his series set in a police station. Can anyone tell me if he's ever been funny? Have I just been unlucky?
Quote: Jinky @ December 8 2012, 12:27 AM GMTI'm Sorry I Haven't a... Joke
Just a... Month to Prepare Your Bit On the Show
The News... Read From a Script Written by the Usual Bunch of Jaded Hacks
No argument with any of that. They're still massively better than most of the alternatives in the six-thirty slot. It's not that they're any good: it's that the other programmes are shockingly, shockingly bad. At least both "Party" and Lenny Henry plagiarising Desmond's have finished, but the week now consists of Clue (past it, but intermittently amusing), Bleak Expectations (like an endless Whose Line sketch, crying out for Clive Anderson's buzzer, but very good when it's good), Mark Steel (just...there, dead on the radio), Births etc which is shameful and The History Show. In that company, who could argue that Clue is the second best programme in the 6.30 slot at the moment?
The Now Show trails itself, in the front matter to its podcast form, as being "called topical for a reason".
Today, the opening monologue hinged on your knowledge of The Midwich Cuckoos (pub. 1957) and The Ramones (formed 1974). Christ, not only is Much Binding in the Marsh funnier, it's scarcely any more dated. The Now Show is starting to need footnotes for the under fifties.