Fiona Allen

Why we need a Smack the Pony reunion

Two decades after the cult sketch show first aired, its creators discuss its inception, near-death experiences and why they were the Spice Girls of turn-of-the-century comedy.

Comedy review: An Audience with The Goodies

Once they found their rapport we were reminded what complementary talents they were.

Binging: Smack the Pony

Anneka Harry demands we all start watching Sally Phillips, Fiona Allen and Doon Mackichan's show right now. And if that doesn't make you, maybe her Top 10 sketches might.

The final of Nigel Smith's The History Plays, a History of Blair in 9 1/2 Voices, was about the gap between image and truth. The brilliant premise here was that this was a conversation between two impressionists, Sue (Fiona Allen), waiting to do a BBC audition, and Blair (Jon Culshaw) whom she assumed was an impressionist who didn't want to climb out of character before being seen. "You've mastered the walk, like a peacock, both arrogant and anxious," she compliments him.

Culshaw doesn't just do Blair, he does him through the generations, redefining personality and accent. There are many lines which read like the pithiest of references: "No one had any idea you had principles until you invaded Iraq - on a point of principle." Though the play ends with the pair in a desert, stalked by grief, Blair remained a spooky presence, all spin with nothing substantive, an impression of an impression, which may have been the honest truth.

I can understand the appeal of shows such as Grumpy Old Men and Grumpy Old Women because the sight of elderly curmudgeons railing against a world they no longer understand is innately amusing. But what is the point of The Grumpy Guide to the Eighties? The eighties have gone, never to trouble anyone again. It's like complaining about the Jurassic era.

The reason, of course is that programmes like this are cheap to make and can be cobbled together with the minimum of fuss, particularly if you are lazy and go after easy targets - mullet hairstyles? Check. Rubik's Cubes? Check. Bucks Fizz? Check.

Quite apart from the inherent idiocy of mocking past fashions - as I remember, we couldn't get out of the seventies quick enough - or lambasting pop music for being shallow, the contributors to this Grumpy Guide struck me as particularly obnoxious.

While Fiona Allen waxed lyrical from her kitchen, a hideous study in Dayglo spew leered over her shoulder from the wall behind, automatically disqualifying her as an arbiter of taste in any decade. Sadly, I can't identify the charmless American oaf with a goatee beard who shared reminiscences upon mugging local yuppies, otherwise you would know to avoid him. And as for Terry Christian slagging off the eighties, isn't that like Hitler denouncing the Third Reich.

The 1980s, according to the blurb for this, was a decade "defined by vacuity". You could say the same about branded "list" shows and talking-heads compilations, but the Grumpy series has often shown itself to be the best of a bad bunch and this programme includes contributions from Ronni Ancona, Fiona Allen and Alistair McGowan, who delivers bang-on impressions of pop singing styles of the era. Spandau Ballet, Roland Rat, Cabbage Patch Dolls, shoulder pads, big hair - easy targets one and all.

Vent, on the other hand, looks the terrifying in the eye and makes it funny. A sitcom about Ben, a man who fell into a sudden coma (yes, really), the first episode of this new series had Ben returning home, still pretty disabled, after months of being locked inside his failing body, unable to communicate. We hopped between real life - the ambulance, Ben's house, his life before his accident - and Ben's virtual reality, where his small daughter has grown up enough to hang out and give him advice, and there's a never-ending panel show going on, hosted by Robert Webb.

Strange? Yes. But witty and human too. Though the banter between Neil Pearson as Ben and Fiona Allen as his wife, Mary, occasionally erred on the Seinfeld side of sentimentality - no couple wisecrack all the time - this was convivial, clever drama. How refreshing to listen to a Radio 4 comedy that you feel you must keep up with, rather than one where you can predict every line.

Smack the Pony trio to reunite

Former Smack the Pony stars Doon Mackichan, Sally Phillips and Fiona Allen are reuniting, six years after they last appeared on television together, as the writers and performers of a new comedy drama.