Monday, October 10, 2005
Radio: Narrative Comedy: Old Harry's Game, Series 5 Episode 2, Radio 4 Tuesday 6-6.30 pm
My last post was also on Old Harrys Game so I hope you will forgive me if I don't rehearse the basic plot. We'll take Satan and his quest to stop (yes stop) people coming to hell as read. This week he tries to use politics and politicians to make the world a better place. You can imagine how well he gets on.
In the meantime Scumspawn has software problems in the 'meet and greet' part of hell and, since the clerical demons are on strike, Thomas and Vlad the Impaler are the only humans demonic enough to help him out. While there Thomas finds a soulmate a man as evil as himself.
As I discussed before I think this series misses the professor. But otherwise it is still sharp and still funny and definitely still worth hearing. Until tomorrow you can listen again here .
POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE CONTENTS: Vanessa Fetlz must be used to personal abuse by now. Ditto US Republicans.
YOU’LL LIKE THIS IF YOU LIKE: Drop the Dead Donkey.
RATING: ***** (The old series would get ****** - yes they are that good).
In the meantime Scumspawn has software problems in the 'meet and greet' part of hell and, since the clerical demons are on strike, Thomas and Vlad the Impaler are the only humans demonic enough to help him out. While there Thomas finds a soulmate a man as evil as himself.
As I discussed before I think this series misses the professor. But otherwise it is still sharp and still funny and definitely still worth hearing. Until tomorrow you can listen again here .
POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE CONTENTS: Vanessa Fetlz must be used to personal abuse by now. Ditto US Republicans.
YOU’LL LIKE THIS IF YOU LIKE: Drop the Dead Donkey.
RATING: ***** (The old series would get ****** - yes they are that good).
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Radio: Narrative Comedy: Old Harry's Game, Series 5 Episode 2, Radio 4 Tuesday 6-6.30 pm
I realise that this review is one episode behind but thanks to the miracle of the BBC's listen again feature I only heard this yesterday afternoon. Radio programmes are available for one week after broadcast so that was my last chance to hear it.
For those of you who don't know Old Harry's Game it's Hell. Or at least set there. The main character is, you guessed it, Satan. In the first four series the action focuses on Satan's debate with the Professor an idealistic human damned for atheism who still believes in essential goodness of humanity. Satan (aided by Scumspawn, and earlier Gary) sets out to prove humanities depravity to the professor, either by experiments back on the earth or by the moral example of Thomas - the most depraved man of all time.
In this new series the Professor is gone having been allowed into Heaven. The remaining characters miss him whether they admit it or not and so does the plot. This is now driven by the overcrowding of hell - brought on by humanities increased evil and Thomas' cheeking of God - and Satan's efforts to resolve the problem by tempting humanity to good instead of evil.
In episode 2 he tries to achieve this by impersonating various religous leaders and encouraging some of the more intractably dogmatics followers to play nice. You won't be surprised to learn that this doesn't work. Scumspawn ties to help as always and meets with his usual lack of success.
I love Old Harrys' Game but for me the best part was the interplay between Satan (played by writer Andy Hamilton) , the Professor, Thomas and Scumspawn. Even though the Professor was entirely a straight man the jokes miss him. Don't get me wrong - this is still good, great even just not quite as great as it was. Listen and laugh.
POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE CONTENTS: Religous fundamentalists should avoid this one. Believers who can take a joke (such as me) should be fine.
YOU’LL LIKE THIS IF YOU LIKE: Drop the Dead Donkey.
RATING: ***** (The old series would get ****** - yes they are that good).
For those of you who don't know Old Harry's Game it's Hell. Or at least set there. The main character is, you guessed it, Satan. In the first four series the action focuses on Satan's debate with the Professor an idealistic human damned for atheism who still believes in essential goodness of humanity. Satan (aided by Scumspawn, and earlier Gary) sets out to prove humanities depravity to the professor, either by experiments back on the earth or by the moral example of Thomas - the most depraved man of all time.
In this new series the Professor is gone having been allowed into Heaven. The remaining characters miss him whether they admit it or not and so does the plot. This is now driven by the overcrowding of hell - brought on by humanities increased evil and Thomas' cheeking of God - and Satan's efforts to resolve the problem by tempting humanity to good instead of evil.
In episode 2 he tries to achieve this by impersonating various religous leaders and encouraging some of the more intractably dogmatics followers to play nice. You won't be surprised to learn that this doesn't work. Scumspawn ties to help as always and meets with his usual lack of success.
I love Old Harrys' Game but for me the best part was the interplay between Satan (played by writer Andy Hamilton) , the Professor, Thomas and Scumspawn. Even though the Professor was entirely a straight man the jokes miss him. Don't get me wrong - this is still good, great even just not quite as great as it was. Listen and laugh.
POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE CONTENTS: Religous fundamentalists should avoid this one. Believers who can take a joke (such as me) should be fine.
YOU’LL LIKE THIS IF YOU LIKE: Drop the Dead Donkey.
RATING: ***** (The old series would get ****** - yes they are that good).
Radio: Comedy Lecture: Hollywood Screams, Radio 4, Tuesday 11-11.30pm
The comedy lecture is an increasingly popular form. No doubt this is because it gives a comedian a theme on which to hang his quips and sketches. It is much easier to maintain audience interest for a half hour or one hour slot for a lecture than for a collection of one liners. The increase may well be down to the number of comic performers taking shows to Edinburgh. Unlike the club circuit where twenty minutes is a big slot performers are now expected to fill over an hour. It is not surprising that so many want a lectern to lean on.
Some comedy lectures are lectures in name only.You don't learn anything even accidentally. In Hollywood Screams on the other hand Michael Roberts clearly knows his stuff. His lecture on the early years of the 'talkies' in the cinema was a mixture of amusing anecdote, facetious asides and some fine impressions. When listening to a comedy lecture I am never confident what to treat as fact and what as comic embellishment but I was left with the strong impression of Michael Roberts mastery of his subject matter. He clearly loves these films.
His impressions of famous film clips were particularly good. So much so that the cynical radio listener such as myself wonders if perhaps some technical trickery is involved. This is of course (if untrue) the greatest possible backhanded compliment to his skills.
I enjoyed this show but I didn't find it moved me or grabbed me the way great comedy can. Perhaps this is due to the lecture form itself. As a comedy lecture this is a good one, it is informative and entertaining. But for myself I felt I could pop in and out of it without bothering about what I missed.
Film buffs should definitely catch this one. For everyone else: listen if it happens to be on.
For this week you can listen again here.
POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE CONTENTS: If you can't cope with this you need to lie down in a darkened room.
YOU’LL LIKE THIS IF YOU LIKE: Anecdotes about films and film stars.
RATING: ***
Some comedy lectures are lectures in name only.You don't learn anything even accidentally. In Hollywood Screams on the other hand Michael Roberts clearly knows his stuff. His lecture on the early years of the 'talkies' in the cinema was a mixture of amusing anecdote, facetious asides and some fine impressions. When listening to a comedy lecture I am never confident what to treat as fact and what as comic embellishment but I was left with the strong impression of Michael Roberts mastery of his subject matter. He clearly loves these films.
His impressions of famous film clips were particularly good. So much so that the cynical radio listener such as myself wonders if perhaps some technical trickery is involved. This is of course (if untrue) the greatest possible backhanded compliment to his skills.
I enjoyed this show but I didn't find it moved me or grabbed me the way great comedy can. Perhaps this is due to the lecture form itself. As a comedy lecture this is a good one, it is informative and entertaining. But for myself I felt I could pop in and out of it without bothering about what I missed.
Film buffs should definitely catch this one. For everyone else: listen if it happens to be on.
For this week you can listen again here.
POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE CONTENTS: If you can't cope with this you need to lie down in a darkened room.
YOU’LL LIKE THIS IF YOU LIKE: Anecdotes about films and film stars.
RATING: ***
Saturday, October 01, 2005
TV: Broken Comedy: SPOONS Channel 4 Friday 10pm
A new series in Channel 4’s youth oriented Friday evening lineup, Spoons is a sketch show about modern relationships. The show focuses on the lives and loves of twenty or thrirtysomething urbanites pointing out the ridiculous hidden in ordinary situations. The humour varies from the more traditional punch line/catchphrase gag to the embarrassment based laughs pioneered by Steve Coogan (Alan Partridge) and Ricky Gervais (The Office). A warning to the squeamish: there are frequent strong sexual references and swearing.
The writing is good but, as is almost inevitable in a broken comedy, variable. The performances and direction are subtle and controlled, playing it almost straight, allowing the lines to speak for themselves.
Editing can make or break a TV comedy especially a broken comedy show. Fortunately this one is well put together; the jokes are tight and there is little dead time. The whole show has a definite attractive clean style from the logo to the lighting.
I always wonder when channels run programs such as this which appear aimed at twenty to thirtysomethings at a time (10pm on Friday night) when a large proportion of these people won’t be in the house. Perhaps there shows are watched by younger viewers aspiring to the twentysomething dating world or older people intrigued by it. I’ll leave it to the marketers. They probably know something I don’t.
If you are not offended by candid discussion of sex and you enjoy squirming in embarrassment at your comedy, you’ll enjoy this. For me it did not have the magic something that puts a show up into the 5 or 6 star bracket. But is has everything you could reasonable ask for in sketch show. Try it.
POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE CONTENTS: Frequent strong sexual references and swearing.
YOU’LL LIKE THIS IF YOU LIKE: Smack the Pony.
RATING: ****
The writing is good but, as is almost inevitable in a broken comedy, variable. The performances and direction are subtle and controlled, playing it almost straight, allowing the lines to speak for themselves.
Editing can make or break a TV comedy especially a broken comedy show. Fortunately this one is well put together; the jokes are tight and there is little dead time. The whole show has a definite attractive clean style from the logo to the lighting.
I always wonder when channels run programs such as this which appear aimed at twenty to thirtysomethings at a time (10pm on Friday night) when a large proportion of these people won’t be in the house. Perhaps there shows are watched by younger viewers aspiring to the twentysomething dating world or older people intrigued by it. I’ll leave it to the marketers. They probably know something I don’t.
If you are not offended by candid discussion of sex and you enjoy squirming in embarrassment at your comedy, you’ll enjoy this. For me it did not have the magic something that puts a show up into the 5 or 6 star bracket. But is has everything you could reasonable ask for in sketch show. Try it.
POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE CONTENTS: Frequent strong sexual references and swearing.
YOU’LL LIKE THIS IF YOU LIKE: Smack the Pony.
RATING: ****
Friday, September 30, 2005
The Beginning
This blog will contain short consumer oriented reviews of narrative and broken comedy on UK free to air TV and radio stations. Comedy quizzes will generally be excluded; as much as we may love them and they do make us laugh, I'm not sure they have the same rewatchable quality that the finest narrative and broken comedy shows have. I reserve the right to break my own rules.
