A few comedy recommendations

Just thought I'd recommend a few good comedy programmes before they go off iPlayer.

Marley Was Dead
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00wqhlv/Marley_Was_Dead/

So it wasn't quite the star-studded adaptation of A Christmas Carol I was expecting but it was much more interesting than this. I don't want to give the gimmick away because you should listen to it but the way the writers play with the medium was ingenious and although this wasn't the same live (I listened on iPlayer) it was still effective. However programme does need to be listened to with a generous Christmas spirit as it does border on the sentimental; I listened whilst drinking port and making a gingerbread house but I guess you could always just crack open the Quality Street to get a similar feeling.

iGod
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ws7md/iGod_Episode_2/

Some of the oddest comedy I've heard on Radio 4 and really well suited to its late night slot. This is a series in which each 15 minute episode the amazingly voiced narrator explains how the apocalypse on various other parallel Earths has been caused by the ordinary actions of an ordinary bloke called Ian. The last episode was a crazy Shawshank Redemption spoof in which Ian created a tomato soup with the secret ingredient of concrete that became popular worldwide. Eventually everyone died coughing up breeze blocks. Although this week wasn't quite as funny as this it was worth a listen and I'll definitely be tuning in to the next episode on Wednesday at 11.00pm.

Delete This At Your Peril - the Bob Servant E-Mails
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00wqgml/You_and_Yours_24_12_2010/
(As this is being broadcast as part of You and Yours you'll need to skip to 27 minutes in to get to this.)

Although the target for this comedy, internet spammers, might feel quite safe and maybe a little "Daily Telegraph" the way it's taken to the extreme is hilarious and I particularily love the sound effects. This week the exchange is between Bob, who won his computer "in the bowling club raffle," and "Natalia" a young Russian women played excellently by Laura "China Lion" Solon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbl47GtH-WQ) needless to say Natalia's fondness for Bob doesn't seem to be completely guileless.

So this isn't really a review but...

On Monday I decided to broaden my horizons and listen to a radio station other than Radio 4. This change was mainly motivated by the fact that it was 11.30 and Today in Parliament was on (now that the speaker is no longer Scottish I can't even enjoy the first few seconds; "Order! Order!" just isn't the same with John Bercow.) In view of this I decided to defect to Radio 3 and to, what I discovered later, was the ominously titled Jazz on 3.

Now I'm not saying I hate jazz but when my piano teacher told me that if I wanted to carry on taking Jazz Piano exams I should really listen to more jazz (preferably jazz involving pianos) I took to the decision to stop taking Jazz Piano exams. Why I ever made the decision to start taking Jazz Piano exams remains a mystery to me. However ignoring any past associations I decided to listen with an open mind. When the presenter announced that the next piece would involve a Hammond organ I forced myself to think "Goodie! Jazz organ, my favourite!" I managed to keep this optimism up for about three minutes before coming to the conclusion that Jazz on 3 wasn't really for me either. So I began retuning my MP3 player to see if there were was anything worth listening to on a different station and it did that thing were it kept tuning out of the station and then tuning back in which gave me the weird sensation of being followed by an irate improvising jazz-organist who really wanted me to listen to them play.

Finding nothing else of interest I returned to Radio 4 just in time for Finishing the Hat an interesting enough programme about Stephen Sondheim, although he did remind me quite a lot of the start of this fantastic Mitchell and Webb sketch, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YptTtb4VPA, especially as he kept on referencing Oscar Hammerstein. Whether or not I stray away from Radio 4 again remains to be seen, however if I do I will make sure to thoroughly check the programme schedules beforehand. I wouldn't want jazz to happen again by mistake.

My first post (about last night's radio)

So last night I listened to Radio 4 in bed. I quite often listen to the radio at night but it’s a lot easier at uni where I have a normal bed and can listen to a “proper” radio as opposed to at home where my bunk bed (which I once fell through and as a result always go to sleep in an odd sort of brace position in) means I have to listen on my MP3 player or my brother’s old cassette player if I remember to put batteries in it. Listening on my MP3 player also means that in order to maintain signal I have to avoid touching the headphones (other than having them in my ears) and ever so often have to wave it round my head a bit. Here are some reviews of what I listened to...

Brain of Britain

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00wlc12/Brain_of_Britain_13_12_2010/

Listening to Brain of Britain I did of course shout a few answers out (“Mulligatawny!” “Dame Edna Everage!”) few of which were right as Brain of Britain is the kind of quiz show where you are impressed with yourself if your incorrect guess matches that of contestants (“wow I thought something that they thought!”) It’s still sad not to hear the contestants being referred to as Mr or Mrs So-and-So now that previous host Robert Robinson has gone (for an idea of his idiosyncratic presenting style watch this hilarious A Bit of Fry and Laurie parody http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npvQ3M3WaPA) However this did mean tonight we got to hear a lot of the splendid name “Lincoln Allison” which sounds like the name of a fictional private detective, Lincoln Allison PI or something along those lines. Another nice quirk is that as all the rounds but one are the same the current host Russell’s Davies’ periodic announcements of a new round seemed wonderfully arbitrary and Numberwangesque. There were also a few points in the programme where I mistook erudite pauses for a loss of signal and started waving my MP3 player in the air.

Had a bit of a Google today trying to find out something about the history of the show and discovered it was originally a segment of the wonderfully passively-aggressively titled 1950s quiz show “What do you know?”Although not my favourite Radio 4 quiz show (I prefer the breathtakingly obscure connections of Round Britain Quiz) Brain of Britain is a pleasant  listen with its unrelentingly old-fashioned feel.

Adventures in Poetry

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00wlbj4/Adventures_in_Poetry_Series_11_Waltzing_Matilda/

The best of the programmes I listened to last night even though I usually avoid (probably unfairly) any Radio 4 programmes about poetry. Adventures in Poetry explored Australia’s “unofficial National anthem” Waltzing Matilda and its author Banjo Paterson (whose name might be even more splendid than Lincoln Allison’s) with interviews from various academics. Interestingly the programme didn’t just focus on one aspect of Waltzing Matilda but instead explored different interpretations/approaches: was it a coyly veiled political statement? a defiant celebration of Australian identity? or just a means for Banjo to flirt with his friend’s sister? 

The only worry I had about this programme was that although it did focus on the lyrics rather than the music it was still surely more “Adventures in Song” than Adventures in Poetry though as it was so interesting it seems churlish to complain.