Quote: Renegade Carpark @ July 10 2009, 1:24 PM BSTListening to last night's broadcast, something else also struck me, we have a deadline of Monday and at least half the jokes were from events that happened on Tuesday and Wednesday.
How can you compete with that without a Tardis, wormhole, sling shot around the sun?
Well, you can't. What you CAN do is make a note of events that are due to take place in the near future (for example, the unveiling of the fourth plinth) and write generic sketches about them. I mean, Gordon Brown being on the plinth wasn't a nod to something that actually happened, was it?
Same as the Tiny Tears: The Movie trailer. That's a parody of a film that's been out a good few weeks now. Again, pretty generic.
Or you pick something that's on the cusp of being important, and just hope that a story breaks in the week that raises the level of interest. Again, you have to keep it generic.
Your best bet for getting anything on are still one liners, and since the cut off for them is 5pm Tuesday, you've got a lot more chance of them being more up to the minute.
But yes, if a massive story breaks on Wednesday morning, there's nothing you can do and it will be covered by the in-house writers. That's the way it goes with a topical show.