Blue Jam

The 20 funniest radio comedies of all time

Before Radio 1's first run of new shows kicks off next month, here we count down the 20 greatest scripted radio comedies ever to hit the airwaves

7 clips that prove Chris Morris's also a musical genius

Looking back at Morris's body of work, 20 years after the first episode of Brass Eye was broadcast on January 29, 1997, it's clear that few people have combined music and comedy quite as successfully. Whether he's creating strung-out ambient music for a short film about a talking dog or parodying Eminem to highlight the media hysteria surrounding paedophilia, Morris's use of music strikes the balance between creating black comedy and something that's actually listenable. Below are seven of his finest music moments - just be careful not to find yourself jazzing to the bleep tone of a life support machine.

In the 1990s, I used to do a Sunday afternoon show on the late, lamented GLR (now BBC London). There would only be one person on the premises when I turned up and this was a tall, intense cove who unfailingly enquired whether I planned to play anything by the Pixies. This, I discovered, was Chris Morris, laying the foundations of a broadcasting career which would see him repeatedly fired by the very people who are now gathering to celebrate his contribution to British humour in special seasons on Radio 4 Extra and programmes such as Raw Meat Radio (Saturday, 7pm, Radio 4 Extra). The latter features collaborators, admirers and occasional firers such as Armando Iannucci, David Quantick and Matthew Bannister. There's also a repeat of his Radio 1 series Blue Jam on 4Extra at 11pm on Friday. Incidentally, if the powers that be wish to know how they can reproduce the circumstances in which Chris Morris did a lot of his best stuff, they might care to note that he was paid next to no money, given no help, and left the hell alone. I fear there's very little of that in today's BBC.

Blue Jam: An ethereal mix

Chris Morris's radio gem Blue Jam starts not with a bang, but a sob.

Technology, manipulation and mischief in Blue Jam

Lucian Randall, the writer and Chris Morris biographer reflects on the how technological advances fed the creative sound of the cult series.

Chris Morris's Blue Jam repeated after 17 years away

Radio 4 Extra to broadcast series one of programme which courted controversy with sketches, monologues and stings.

Arts: Chris Morris is dead... funny

The anarchic 'Blue Jam' show is a blunted sword on stage, but his disciples don't care.

Kind of Blue

It's melancholic. It's dark. It's like nothing you've heard on radio. Chris Morris tells John Mulholland how his brilliant show was inspired by a desolate mood.

Will Self on Blue Jam

This week Will Self tunes in to subversive BBC radio.