"Topical" Comedy on Radio 4

[Europa1]

BIRMA said:

Europa1 said:

I agree a lot of the 6:30 output is poor now, but there are still some gems: I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue and Unbelievable Truth are good. Hopefully Just A Minute will return with a new presenter. I caught the second half of The Now Show this week and it was OK - not having a studio audience seemed to calm everybody down a bit.

Yes I'd forgotten about I'm Sorry and Just a Minute.

I used to enjoy the News Quiz. Then they got Nish Kumar to host it.

[Nimby]

Not "comedy" but mildly amusing at times, and definitely topical: Rutherford & Fry's Curious Cases - this one on colds, flu and viruses, including coronavirus.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fq63

[Johnnytheboy]

dxg said:

Ever since this stupid Sounds app was launched and iplayer radio retired, I just miss all this stuff. I'm never around at 18:30 so I used to listen to it all on catch up, but it's impossible to find anything in that new app. Even if you select comedy, hardly anything shows up

Maybe it's only searching for things proved to make people laugh so is coming up empty?

[Countdown]

Europa1 said:

BIRMA said:

Europa1 said:

I agree a lot of the 6:30 output is poor now, but there are still some gems: I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue and Unbelievable Truth are good. Hopefully Just A Minute will return with a new presenter. I caught the second half of The Now Show this week and it was OK - not having a studio audience seemed to calm everybody down a bit.

Yes I'd forgotten about I'm Sorry and Just a Minute.

I used to enjoy the News Quiz. Then they got Nish Kumar to host it.

I know what you mean. You do seem to get used to him after a while (or maybe I've just learnt to tune him out)

[Dermot O'Logical]

I'm convinced that the only people who find Nish Kumar and Hugh Dennis funny are Nish Kumar and Hugh Dennis. Respectively.

I think that they both know where some bodies are buried.

There can't be any other explanation.

[Eric Mc]

I quite like Hugh Dennis. However, Nish Kumar thinks the LOUDER HE SHOUTS - the funnier he gets.

Not really.

[Riley Blue]

Europa1 said:

I used to enjoy the News Quiz. Then they got Nish Kumar to host it.

He was only signed up for one series which thankfully has now finished: https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/...

[Mr MXT]

Riley Blue said:

Europa1 said:

I used to enjoy the News Quiz. Then they got Nish Kumar to host it.

He was only signed up for one series which thankfully has now finished: https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/...

he’s got the newspaper upside down! Classic!

[PF62]

Europa1 said:

I used to enjoy the News Quiz. Then they got Nish Kumar to host it.

Even when Sandi Toksvig became the host after Simon Hoggart? Her continuous sycophantic laughing was far more irritating than anything Nish Kumar does

[Doofus]

PF62 said:

Even when Sandi Toksvig became the host after Simon Hoggart? Her continuous sycophantic laughing was far more irritating than anything Nish Kumar does

To be fair, that's Sandi's natural laugh. It's not Nish's.

[marcosgt]

Eric Mc said:

Nish Kumar thinks the LOUDER HE SHOUTS - the funnier he gets.

To be honest, it's possible he does, but starting from his normal level of 'funny', it's very hard to detect any difference.

I suffered him live once, he was terrible.

Of course, he'd say I only think that because I'm a racist...

M

[Rumblestripe]

marcosgt said:

Of course, he'd say I only think that because I'm a racist...

M

I suspect he wouldn't, why is it that you think he would?

(No particular fan of Mr. Kumar, preferred Sandi Toksvig on News Quiz)

I do agree that the choice of NQ panelist has been uniformly poor for some time. Too many comedians appear once or twice and never again, no chance to establish any running gags or rapport between panelists.

On a positive note, do check out "It's a Fair Cop" it is (IMO) very funny.

[MC Bodge]

marcosgt said:

To be honest, it's possible he does, but starting from his normal level of 'funny', it's very hard to detect any difference.

I suffered him live once, he was terrible.

Of course, he'd say I only think that because I'm a racist...

M

Is you being racist only incidental? If so, then he would be incorrect.

[Steamer]

K12beano said:

Smiler. said:

Another police based comedy returns (Friday 11.30):

It's a Fair Cop

This is definitely the BEST, BEST, BEST thing since the truncheon was invented!

New episode up today - great series, funny and interesting content + I think he's just got a great voice for the radio.

[K12beano]

I'm wondering whether "Dead Ringers" might hold anything that's funny in the current climate? The trailer sounds like an interviewer trying to ask stupid questions of a "typical" family on lockdown....it's like.... there should be a seam of something funny to mine there, but I just don't know if Dead Ringers could do it - at least they'd be better than The Now Show, I suppose.


R4 at the moment has re-runs of Cabin Pressure and ISIHAC (both superb, of course), and apart from this I don't find much to laugh about..... Then Greg Jenner's history programmes are more funny than some of the "funny" stuff

....whereas in more serious stuff, they continue to provide some excellent quality programs such as Jim Alka Seltzer's "Life Scientific" and Tim Har-har-ford's "More or Less", World Service's Kevin Fong killing it with S2 of "13 Minutes to the Moon" (which I listened to in the middle of the night as well as on podcast) - it's not like they can't get some things right, so why can't we have something funny?

What am I missing?

[Smiler.]

It's a shame that the quality of comedy is so dire on R4 these days.
Maybe there just aren't the same quality of comedians these day.
Add to that the professional offence mob (particularly in the commissioning department).
The News Quiz & Now Show are, and have been for some time, utterly dire.

A few of the sitcoms are worth a listen. I'm listening to less & less of R4 these days, it's content is too repetitive & "on message".
Which does however, mean more frequent slips of the mask.

[Riley Blue]

K12beano said:

What am I missing?

The Ed Reardon repeats on 4Extra.

[MC Bodge]

Smiler. said:

It's a shame that the quality of comedy is so dire on R4 these days.
Maybe there just aren't the same quality of comedians these day.
Add to that the professional offence mob (particularly in the commissioning department).
The News Quiz & Now Show are, and have been for some time, utterly dire.

A few of the sitcoms are worth a listen. I'm listening to less & less of R4 these days, it's content is too repetitive & "on message".
Which does however, mean more frequent slips of the mask.

I like Radio4, but I don't rely on it for comedy or hammy soaps. Comedy (and every other form of entertainment) is everywhere these days. I suspect that we expect higher standards. There has always been poor comedy.

If there is good comedy on Radio4, it's a bonus.
I can do without hammy soaps, on TV or radio.

The Now Show should be ended.
The News Quiz is not as good as it was.

The new series of Dead Ringers may be good.

[Doofus]

MC Bodge said:

The new series of Dead Ringers may be good.

But it won't be.

The trouble with DR is that it's supposed to be topical and satirical, but they're limited by the peple they can do impressions of.

Consequently, Tom fking Baker always seems to be making political comment, and everyone else sounds like John Culshaw.

[K12beano]

Riley Blue said:

K12beano said:

What am I missing?

The Ed Reardon repeats on 4Extra.

Fair point...... but "repeats".... and still not as good as Cabin Pressure, which easily stands another listen, such as "Douz" where they get themselves stuck in the desert... or like when they play all those stupid games like "Simon Says"....