Party

The Best Politically-Powered Comedies

What is it about the violently egotistical, easily corrupted, self-doubt-riddled nature of your typical politician that makes them such a perfect target for comedy?

Tom Basden's R4 comedy adapted for small screen

Radio 4's political sitcom Party is being adapted for television.

Radio weekly #16 - Party

This week saw the return of the world's least successful political party - and I'm not talking about the Lib Dems' party conference...

I've been to a couple of rather wonderful recordings of Radio 4 comedy recently. First up was the live recording of two episodes - 1 and 3 oddly - of Party, a four-part sitcom version of Tom Basden's play that I saw up in Edinburgh (ok, and down in London) in which five young and essentially clueless idealists set up a political party in its self-appointed leader's shed (or summerhouse, as he insists). It's broader than the theatre version, certainly, but the writing's still wonderful, and the performances still pitch perfect. Jonny Sweet is especially brilliant as that disputed leader, a campus Clegg/Cameron/Blair-like lothario; and Tim Key's immaculate timing is given a great showcase as the newest member of the party, drafted in because he new dad owns a print shop (though he thinks he's there for another reason entirely).

Radio Review: Party

Do we really need another political sitcom? Yes, on the evidence of Radio 4's Party, says Elisabeth Mahoney.

Comedy Review: Party

There are pitfalls when comedians make theatre. Sometimes they strive too hard to be serious; sometimes (judging by the reviews of last summer's The School for Scandal), they don't strive hard enough. The 2007 If.Comedy award winner for best newcomer, Tom Basden, sweeps all such considerations aside with his new play about student politics, an idiosyncratic and highly enjoyable piece performed beautifully by a crack cast of upcoming comics.

Setting a sitcom in the world of British politics is a difficult business - you're likely to find yourself tripping over other heavyweights of the genre such as Yes Minister and The Thick of It, for one thing; and will have to work hard to keep it from slipping into chortle-chortle-aren't-politicians-stupid clichés, for another. But blow me if writer Tom Basden hasn't pulled it off with this four-part politcom following a group of young, woolly-headed idealists as they attempt to set up a new political party. Neither Right- nor Left-wing, they prefer to see themselves as "inside the plane".