British Comedy Guide

Serial Killer - Radio Rejects

Apparently this was one of the 'edgier' sketches at last night's Radio Rejects.

DAN: Neighbours. Are one in ten of them really raving psychopaths? (BEAT) No, that's not true; I don't know why I just said that. I'm Dan Slab and I'm reporting from the hometown of infamous serial killer Bill Daley - the Surrey Chainsaw Cannibal. I talked to Bill Daley's milkman.

MILKMAN: He seemed such a quiet man, always paid his bills on time. Pretty much kept himself to himself.

DAN: The police found one of his used milk bottles on your float, full of human blood. Didn't you find that a bit strange?

MILKMAN: Well he did that once or twice before but I thought he must have cut himself shaving and got blood on the milk bottle. He seemed such a normal sort of chap, kept himself to himself. Who could have guessed he ate all those people?

DAN: I also spoke to Daley's next-door neighbours, the Smiths.

MRS. SMITH: He was always such a polite man. You'd never have suspected him of butchering and eating 47 people.

DAN: The police report showed that traces of blood and a tooth were found in the blades of your lawnmower.

MR. SMITH: Yes, he borrowed it once. I remember wondering about the mess at the time but I assumed he'd run over a hedgehog or something with it.

DAN: He killed 47 people. Surely you must have heard something?

MRS. SMITH: We heard a chainsaw and screaming occasionally but we knew he liked horror films. Once I asked him if he would mind turning his television down because it sounded like he was murdering someone in there! (LAUGHS) We had a good laugh about that. He always kept himself to himself.

DAN: Bill Daley was clearly a man who kept himself to himself. But were there any warning signs? Any vital clues which could have led to his killing spree being stopped sooner? I talked to his best friend David Belm.

BELM: I knew Bill since school. He was always a quiet kid, kept himself to himself. There was that one time he nearly stabbed one of our classmates to death with a pair of compasses but he got 100 lines for doing it and never did it again.

DAN: So he never did anything suspicious?

BELM: No, nothing. He seemed like a normal guy, kept himself to himself. He loved having barbecues. I don't know where he got the meat he used but the things he served tasted like nothing else I'd ever eaten.

DAN: So the food he served was...unusual?

BELM: A little. I'd never seen a pork chop with a tattoo before! But it all tasted wonderful and there was always so much of it.

DAN: So there we have it, to his friends and neighbours Bill Daley was a quiet man who kept himself to himself. If even a man who butchered and ate 47 people showed no signs of his hidden life, how sure can you be of your own neighbours? I'm Dan Slab and if I were you I'd keep an eye on my neighbours because you never know when one of them will try to eat you. Goodnight.

I like the idea behind this one, the Pork chop with the tattoo made me laugh especially.

Are you going to try to get down to the next one Mark?

Ditto pork chop, a cracker. Liked the eest of it too.

It's essentially a very nice piece: it's literate, eloquent, funny and commendably concise.

It has a number of glaring (to me, at any rate) faults, however.

1) Many of the character names are confusing to the ear. Either they make the listener stop listening and ask 'Did I hear correctly?' or they whisk the listener's mind away from the narration.

'Dan Slab' makes me think 'Dance Lab', where dancers are taught.

'Bill Daley' takes my mind to 'Bill Bailey', the musical comedian or alternatively the other guy of 'Won't you come home?' fame.

'The Smiths' takes my mind to the sadly-no-longer-existent band of the same name.

'David Belm' takes my mind to 'David Bellamy', now working with Churchill the Dog to sell car insurance.

2) It's too much to ask us to believe that the milkman, upon receiving back from Daley a full bottle of blood, suspected only that he'd cut himself shaving. The other neighbours misinterpreted clues in a believable manner.

3) It really really really needs what many people call a 'punchline' - a very funny line upon which to end. The current ending would be fine if the piece were aimed at children and were to be delivered in a menacing tone but, for adults, it must be improved a very great deal.

All in my wholely-uninformed opinion of course.

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