When hearing about the new radio sketch show, ‘Bun Club’ I hastily applied for tickets, being a fan of other sketch shows such as ‘John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme’ and ‘That Mitchell and Webb Sound.’ Despite not winning tickets, my friend was ill and so let me have his (cheers Philip! 🙂 ).
On arrival at RADA Studios, we were notified that the title of the programme had been changed from ‘Bun Club’ to ‘Rum Bunch.’ Interesting. The cast consisted of Mel Giedroyc (half of the brilliant ‘Mel and Sue’), Justin Edwards and David Mounfield, as well as a keyboard player and drummer. The surprise guest was Clare Grogan, who I recognised but don’t really know much about.
The show consisted of a series of sketches which were all linked to the same characters and based around the fictional town of Clenton (hooray!), which the audience cheered at every mention of, imagining that we were locals of the area.
Although this was only the pilot, it was brilliantly executed and absolutely hilarious. Recent radio comedy has been seeming to go downhill in my view – either that or I’m less easily pleased nowadays – but this sketch show was absolutely brilliant. There was everything you could want – great puns and word-play, unique contrasting personalities of characters, and recurring themes or topics to tie it all together. Not to mention the fact that the songs were pretty decent and cast could actually sing, with Justin Edwards on guitar and the drummer and keyboard to enhance the tunes.
I won’t say any more as not to spoil it, but do listen to it if you get the chance (I really hope it gets a full series).
After the show, we hung around in the bar with Mel for a bit and had a good ol’ chat. I can now say that I have met both Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins (who I saw earlier this year), so it seems as though my life is somewhat complete.
Pure Destruction 