Radio 4 comedy

Just a wee catch up

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Another month almost gone and I’ve only been in Edinburgh for seven days of it; after only a few days back from my European wanderings, I was summoned down to Yorkshireland. Busy, busy, and two sick pooches as well. Oh, they’re both fully recovered now – now that I’ve left.

I’m still working through all the photos, videos and occasional scribbles from my trip. As a matter of curiosity, this afternoon I went quickly through which songs I’ve taken videos of, and surprisingly there are none of Babestation, I know! Really?! Hot Blondes and Lost In You have the most clips, followed by Merry-Go-Round, Mock Marble Linoleum and Dans Le Jardin. Some will pop up randomly on Instagram, but I do intend to put them in some semblance of order later (mind, good intentions can just stay that way).

I am without tv to distract me – it says there’s no signal. It actually happened back halfway through April but as I had a lot to sort out I just left it. I’ve plenty to be getting on with now, so it can stay off, well the tv can, I do have a number of tv series on dvd that I can watch; there’s radio shows too. I’ve been listening to That Mitchell and Webb Sound on Spotify, still as funny and sharp as it was (on the Radio 4 early evening comedy slot between 2003 and 2013). I’m now on series 4, particular favourites are the Stargate sketches and the Old Lady Job Justification Hearings, so bitingly funny.

Missing watching tv at teatime, I dug out my old Coupling dvds, a tv comedy sitcom by Steven Moffat from about twenty years ago, loved it then and still do, especially Richard Coyle as Geoff. Some of the monologues would make brilliant set pieces in a stand-up routine. If anyone does snaffle the cushion speech by Steve, I’d know it from about six words in!

Last night I finally got round to watching Ash vs Evil Dead, it’s only been in a drawer unwatched for, oo, fifteen years?! OMG, it is so good! No, I don’t know why I never got round to watching it before, I think it was going very cheaply when the HMV store on Princes Street was closing down, I did buy a number of dvds at the time. I will definitely be looking for the second and third series at some point. Yeah, so no tv signal but I have plenty to entertain me.

There’ll be plenty to entertain this weekend, the first full weekend in June so it’s Meadows Festival time. The rain gods are being canny this year, rather than a wet weekend, there’s heavy rain everyday up until then, the ground will be pretty soggy and with all those feet traipsing everywhere – there will be mud. Saturday evening I’m off to see The Crow in the cinema, I’ve never seen it so grabbed a ticket for the 30th Anniversary Re-Release, better late than never, as they say.

It’s only two weeks until the full printed Edinburgh Fringe 2024 programme comes out, oh yay. Yes, I’m still being good and not peeking. Okay, so I know some shows that are up through social media, and ones that aren’t, like Aidan Goatley who’s not bringing his new show Looking For Edith, noooo!! If he’s doing it in your area, lucky you, bloody go see it and be thankful! The other Aidan, Aidan Sadler will be back, yay. And very exciting, just spotted this evening, John Robertson is finally doing another stand-up show at the Fringe, happy happy, joy joy!!!

It’s very late so I shall away to bed and leave you with, well, is it just a sign or sage advice?!….

Move over Lionel Ritchie, it’s Bea Arthur’s Seat now!

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Hello you, I’m ba-ack, the moose is in the hoose. All my travel bits have been sorted, cleaned and put away, time to play! And yay, tonight sees the Scat Rats back at Stramash. Oh yeah, I realised some time after I wrote the last post that I hadn’t mentioned seeing the Scat Rats before, how remiss of me. A few weeks ago I popped into Stramash on my way to the cinema as I had some time to kill, some band called the Scat Rats were playing. Well, blow me down, it was Carl Marah and Scott Rough from Logan’s Close! Needless to say, I never made it to the cinema that evening, it was well after nine when the lads finished their second set. Just the two of them on acoustic guitars playing mainly covers and a few of their own. Oo, they played Babe Station, love that song, gonna have to go back and check it out on the Limbic TV gig, has it altered since then?

I’ve been back since Wednesday evening, just before six. I know it was just before six because I made a brew, grabbed some digestives and put the telly on just in time for Richard Osman’s House of Games. What a lovely surprise and long time no see, Andy Hamilton is on it this week (he’s doing rather well). He’s a very clever and very funny man; he’s created, written and directed comedies on radio and tv, he acts, writes novels and is known for appearing on radio and tv game shows. Apparently he still appears on The News Quiz on Radio 4, I don’t bother with it any more, gave up on it a few years years ago. For me, the Simon Hoggart years were the best, when Andy was on it regularly with the likes of Linda Smith, Jeremy Hardy and Alan Coren (them were the days!).

Googling Andy Hamilton, I’ve discovered that he performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in the 1970s going on to being a scriptwriter for tv comedies and radio. He’s been responsible for creating some great comedy – Drop the Dead Donkey in the 90s (essential viewing at the time), Outnumbered (out of the mouths of babies, nuff said), Old Harry’s Game on Radio 4 ( it did tail off in the later series) oh, and the wonderful film What We Did On Our Holiday. Bud and I saw him at the Fringe in 2009, he did one night at the Queen’s Hall, Andy Hamilton’s Hat of Doom. The review in my fringe diary reads “Good, sharp, but not really brilliant like we wanted. ☆☆☆☆”

If Andy wins tonight’s ROHOG he’s won the trophy for the week, he may well still win it if he comes second. I want him to win, he deserves it just for getting the answer Bea Arthur’s Seat in the Answer Smash round. Speaking of the Seat, I must go out and stretch my little legs.

Toodle pip!

It’s downhill all the way

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After doing my civic duty yesterday, I skidaddled down the road to the old country (so much quicker going down the way, as my old dad used to say). First morning woke early, ye gods, frost! And I’d thought, what a waste of time, when I had to cover a multitude of young plants around the garden with various objects yesterday evening. Apparently it’s been back to wintery coldness down here recently, but now I’m here things are gonna get warmer and, rather annoyingly, wetter.

Hurrah, teatime viewing is Richard Osman’s House Of Games. Ha, back in the day mother banished the new colour telly to the sitting room and insisted we all sat at the table for meals – it still feels slightly devilish even now to eat tea watching the telly down here! ROHOG is rather good this week, I do like Samira Ahmed, she and Angela Rippon (isn’t she looking great) compliment each other well in the pairs round. Meanwhile at the far end Dom Joly has been rather a misery guts, doesn’t like losing, does he? And then there’s the stand-up comedian, the rather amiable and unassuming John Robins, he’s whupping Dom Joly’s ass in the final round each day (oh, I hope saying that doesn’t damn John’s performance today). On checking wikipedia last night, I see he’s been performing at the Edinburgh Fringe since 2007, winning the Comedy Award in 2017 for his show The Darkness of Robins – how does his name not register with me at all?! I’ll have to look through my Fringe programs when I get back home and see why Mr Robins has stayed below my fringedar.

Oh joys! John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme is back on Radio 4 on Thursday evenings, I was happy to have the kitchen to myself to listen while (while or whilst? Linguistics?) I did the washing up. Oo, I wonder if he’s ever been on ROHOG? With the unusual things he dreams up I bet he’d be rather good on it, though his quickness on the buzzer wouldn’t be stand-up fast. Finnemore v Neenan would be a good match, I reckon, let’s add in, erm, Carrie Quinlan and Alice Lowe. Okay, so I think about people I’d like to see competing on ROHOG, more about that another time.

By the time I return to Auld Reekie the dust will have settled after the parliamentary election. No doubt it’ll all be whirled up again soon enough with independence talks. Politics suck, why can’t folk just try to get along better? Vive la différence! Another thing that sucks is waiting to see how this year’s Fringe will pan out. Registrations have now opened for it but, as the vast majority of venues won’t be viable under current restrictions, it’ll be more the Online Fringe than the Edinburgh Fringe. Hey, at least that could be fairly international, I mean, from next year there could be fair less Creatives over from europe thanks to Brexit, and then, god knows what will happen when Scotland goes for independence?! And let’s not forget the new Scottish Hate Crime Bill thats been disturbing many with its potential new puritanism. At this rate 2019 may turn out to have been the last ever full-on Edinburgh Fringe!!

Oh dear, that went bad. I’ll pick the mood back up by leaving you with a pic of the blue haze of bluebells in the local woods. Toodle pip!

It was a very good year (part II)

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2013 saw McNeil and Pamphilon Go 8-Bit! Okay so if I just saw those words it would mean nothing to me, but the pic and blurb informed me it was about classic videogames. I had never been into videogames or particularly understood the appeal, but, well it was M&P so hilarity was expected. And how! So I didn’t know any of the games, but from my distance it was an entertaining hour of anthropomorphic insight; comedy, rivalries and the most evil forfeits (I really felt for Pamphilon by the end). The sheer enthusiasm and joy of watching a bunch of comedians mucking about and having a laugh was just a pleasure.

Go 8-Bit! embraced the new multimedia, these were young, tech-savvy comedians, or least, they knew someone who was! The following year the tech went even higher, the audience participated on their mobiles! Needless to say, I didn’t, and just as well as interaction meant you may be picked to play the next videogame – that would not have been pretty! The technology and interactiveness really fascinated me, but only as an observer.

The Pin was our opener that year (was or were? The name of a comedy act, but it’s a double act) two fresh-faced youngsters, Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen. It was the first preview which is possibly why they seemed to be trying too hard for the first while, but then it became much funnier as they relaxed. My journal says “They do have potential. ☆☆☆” I have seen them since and indeed, they’re doing well, they’ve even had the 6:30 comedy slot on Radio 4. I’d say that’s doing well.

2013 was our third outing to see Max and Ivan, who had moved into the Pleasance Queen Dome for Max and Ivan: The Reunion (they were going up in the world!)  The show was nominated for Best Comedy, though for me whilst it was slick and very well-done, it didn’t tickle my funny bone quite as much as their previous two shows. Indeed, the first time I put “A very enjoyable show, even though poor Holmes had broken his ankle… ☆☆☆☆+”, yes, Max Olesker had broken his ankle but he carried on and even got laughs out of it. Radio 4 beckoned and they’ve had two series of The Casebook of Max and Ivan with some great guests like June Whitfield and Reece Shearsmith!

Ah, I’ve just spotted on Thursday 15th at 14:10 I saw Sock Puppet in The Cellar at the Pleasance Courtyard. It was a monologue about a murderous possessed sock, and my first encounter with John-Luke Roberts. What a bloody fine year it was!

(To be continued……)