Yes, and the "almosts" go out first...
Newsjack 2017 Page 50
Well done Bonzo and everyone else who made the cut.
No luck for me this week. Roll on the next series.
Ahh damn. So close, yet not close at all. I thought one or two of my one-liners were quite good this week but they obviously were too good.
Quote: Damian B @ 19th October 2017, 7:47 PMWell done Bonzo and everyone else who made the cut.
No luck for me this week. Roll on the next series.
Thanks Damian
Big empty e-mail box once again for me. Congrats to everyone getting in. Rest up, then prepare for next series.
Well done Bonzo.
Interesting to see what gets on.
Useful to see people getting on. At least you get less of a feeling that things disappear forever into the NJ inbox.
Very well done, Bonzo (and Viv?). Must be very satisfying to make the broadcast after your near misses, and indeed after sending in so much material in total this series (writes this envious one-liners-only person). Please let us know what got on, thanks.
Quote: Mike X @ 19th October 2017, 7:14 PMThis week my one-liners were brilliant - FACT - and I know I'll listen to the show and hear some jokes that are nowhere near as good - FACT. Pretty obvious that the people who put together the show are humourless idiots who just get their mates on.
You were right first time, I got the good e-mail so there's definitely been a drop in standard.
Well done StephenM and all other BCG posters who, this series, have overcome the odds against having their material performed on air or only at the recording......from, what, 10, 000 one-liners and 2,500 sketches. Number Cruncher in there somewhere? No, me neither. Good luck for the next run.
Boohoo! Missed every episode this series and some of my stuff was so good! Ah well, six months to be extremely dull and rebound with topical hilarity next series. Tonight's show better be pretty damn outstanding or I will feel as cheated as an unrecognised and cheated comedy writer person. Well done to those who made it across the whole series.
Quote: BTF @ 19th October 2017, 8:34 PMWell done Bonzo.
Interesting to see what gets on.
Useful to see people getting on. At least you get less of a feeling that things disappear forever into the NJ inbox.
Quote: Blinkered @ 19th October 2017, 8:44 PMVery well done, Bonzo (and Viv?). Must be very satisfying to make the broadcast after your near misses, and indeed after sending in so much material in total this series (writes this envious one-liners-only person). Please let us know what got on, thanks.
Thanks! It was the old pound coin sketch.
Quote: StephenM @ 19th October 2017, 9:14 PMYou were right first time, I got the good e-mail so there's definitely been a drop in standard.
Well done Stephen!
I can't help feel a liiiiiitle bit hard done by regarding the Crimewatch joke they finished on. It felt like a weaker version of my own one.
Oh well. Them's the breaks, I suppose.
Is it worth analysing humour? Of course not, it's all subjective. But I'm going to anyway...
Take the "fajitas" joke on last night's show. A fajita is a type of "wrap", right? So the punchline is just to use the word "wrap" and there's your joke. Ha-ha, very funny - basic word play. But there's nothing clever, original or especially amusing about this. No twist or extra level to the humour, just the simplest "joke writing 101" type one-liner.
Now don't get me wrong, this is a workable joke and got a laugh, but don't tell me that they didn't get sent hundreds of other jokes that used simple word play in the same kind of way and would have worked just as well. So I contend that getting your joke picked is just blind luck, there's no way that this "fajitas/wrap" joke was in any way "better" than the hundreds of other one-liners that were sent in (as the Newsjack Rejects thread clearly shows)
Am I saying this because I'm annoyed that I didn't get anything on the show this series? Yes, of course. But the point still stands. Getting on the show is a lottery (unless you know people on the production team, in which case it's a fix)
That's just the way it goes. Some jokes, in their simplest form can't be beaten, and when you're trying to maintain tempo, those quick-fire word play jokes are instantly processed and always get 'the laugh'. There was probably about 20 or so of those fajita jokes sent in, all very similar if not the same, and the script writers haven't got time to discuss the merits of every one, so some lucky bugger gets the credit.
I had a similar wrestle with the supersize chocolate NHS joke. I immediately came up with the 'topic' punchline (off-topic, too big a topic, hot topic etc etc) but thought that's too obvious. After a real struggle I ended up with a hospital radio lollipop number cruncher gag that was a bit too clever for its own good and wasn't as instantly funny as the simple but well-polished 'topic' gag that made it on the show.
The real meat and potatoes are in the sketches, I think we all know that. The oneliners just keep it social and give everyone a chance. Don't take it personally, there are loads of other things out there beyond NewsJack to try. And with that I'm signing off. Good luck to you all.
@Bonzo...listened to your sketch this morning, thought it was fab! wish I'd thought of it.
Yeah I think one-liners can be a bit of a lottery, if you share them around a group you'll see that different people like different ones. There's an element of luck in terms of which super-size chocolate or Crimewatch one gets through the sifting process of producers - script-editors - read through etc. Although should say it's more a case of which good one gets through rather than letting a rubbish one appear on the show.
In fact I too had a super-size chocolate one get nowhere but rather than topic I went for - The news will give patients a little boost.
Them's the breaks.