Rum Bunch, Radio Recording

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.

The Lentil Sorters

I went to a recording of the new BBC Radio 4 sitcom, ‘The Lentil Sorters,’ at RADA Studios in London. The sitcom focuses on workers in the Office of Local National Statistics, consisting of Graham (played by Vincent Franklin) and his assistants – Daniel (Kieran Hodgson) and Audrey (Rebekah Staton), as well as tealady Mrs Wilkins (Julia Deakin).

I was really looking forward to the recording as I recognised some of the cast (such as Vincent Franklin from Cucumber and Julia Deakin from Spaced), and it was run by Pozzitive Productions (who have helped to produce great radio programmes such as John Finnemore’s Cabin Pressure).

Well, I didn’t know what to expect, but the plots were pretty interesting. I mean, illegal dog fights, violence-inducing strawberries, potential terrorism and strange foods being grown in a home. What more could you want? I mean, it wasn’t amazing but we had a good laugh and there were some good jokes scattered throughout.

And of course we stuck around in the bar area for a bit and got to chat to and get pictures with some of the cast. Ah, it’s good to have met Rebekah Staton and Vincent Franklin (as photographed above). Well, is The Lentil Sorters going to be a great hit? Probably not. But I would recommend that you give it a listen when it airs later this year, as it is quite amusing.

Chain Reaction: Olivia Colman and Sharon Horgan

Well, I went to a radio a fair while ago and never wrote about it, but feel as though I should now as it was very enjoyable and the first recording I’ve been to of ‘Chain Reaction’. ‘Chain Reaction’ is a BBC Radio 4 chat show in which someone from the world of entertainment selects another person that they want to interview. This interviewee then becomes the next week’s interviewer. ‘Tis a good idea.

I wanted to go to this recording mainly to see Olivia Colman, who I am a fan of and have met before. Olivia Colman is a very famous actress who is always on the TV, most recently being in programmes such as ‘Broadchurch’.

Sharon Horgan is an actress, writer and comedian, best known for her work on television series ‘Pulling’ (which I haven’t seen). I hadn’t really heard of her before I went to the recording, but I’ve heard her name mentioned a few times after that. Interesting.

Anyway, the recording consisted of Olivia Colman interviewing Sharon Horgan about her work and anything else that she wanted to ask, and it was quite funny. I must admit that I can’t remember exactly all that was asked and said, but Olivia Colman had prepared a variety of different questions. Some of which she was proud of and then realised that they didn’t make much sense once spoken. ‘Twas great!

When Olivia Colman ran out of questions she asked audience members if they could help her out, saying “one of my friends [insert name of audience member] was wondering…” and ’twas very amusing. However, she was asked to redo this without the names in the retakes.

I enjoyed the recording a surprising amount (I don’t know why I wasn’t looking forward to it) and think I’ll definitely go to another Chain Reaction recording in the future.

As always I met the cast outside (although this time I only met Olivia Colman) and we had a brief chat and got a photo with her. Good times!

 

The Best Laid Plans, Recording

Last Wednesday I went to a recording for a new BBC Radio 4 Sitcom, ‘The Best Laid Plans.’ It focuses on the idea that
“In 1885, God nodded off. In 2014, he awoke to discover that his idiot servant, the angel Smallbone, had accidentally handed out God’s plans for the next millennium when he was only meant to hand out plans for the next century. A thousand years of leisurely human progression has been crammed into the last 129. No wonder we’re all so stressed. Humans are now inventing things God never even dreamt of. Smallbone is cast down to Earth in human form by God, tasked with the dauntingly vague mission of ‘reversing the last thirteen decades of human progression.’”

The cast were Ardal O’Hanlon as Smallbone, Esther Smith as Tanya, Mike Wozniak as Toby, Ruth Bratt as Susan and Geoff McGivern as God. I really enjoyed their acting and thought that it was well cast, with O’Hanlon being a humorous character and McGivern seeming more serious and authoritative. Also, McGivern stood on a box to make him taller than the others and show his status as God, which was quite amusing.

The recording I went to was a double recording, the first of which included Smallbone coming to Earth, learning about technology and some local people’s concerns over plans for a technology shop to take over a local library. The second recording focused on Smallbone learning to ride a bike and the group of people he has met were trying to prevent a multi-storey car park from being built. Both storylines were well thought through to show the audience more about the personality of each character.

Although there weren’t many particularly funny jokes, I thoroughly enjoyed the recordings. I feel as though it probably takes a while for the audience to get used to the characters and new sitcom, as the audience weren’t as loud as they usually are. I look forward to hearing more episodes when they are broadcast and feel as though this recording has a great setting and opportunity for interesting storylines.

As always I waited around for a few minutes to meet some of the cast – I wanted to meet Ardal O’Hanlon and Esther Smith as I recognised them from the TV and like some of the programmes they’re in. So I got some awkward pictures and had some brief chats with them. They were both so nice and I was afraid I was gonna miss Esther Smith as she left immediately and I had to go outside to catch her.

The Best Laid Plans will be broadcast in January 2015, so watch out for it! I’ll definitely give it all a listen.

Start/Stop, Radio Recording

On Friday I went to a radio recording I’d never listened to before, Start/Stop, at BBC Broadcasting House. It’s a BBC Radio 4 sitcom by Jack Docherty, about love, marriage and despair which focuses on three couples.

This series included a cast of Jack Docherty, Kerry Godliman, Fiona Allen, Charlie Higson, John Thomson and Sally Bretton. Series 1, however, included Katherine Parkinson instead of Sally Bretton.

The arrangement of the radio programme is fairly interesting in that it involves group dialogue and then splits off as each person speaks into a different microphone to record their soliloquy. Here, they make their actual views apparent, often opposing what they’ve just said.

The double recording I went to focused on a date night and a wedding and I really enjoyed the content of both. The first one and also credits of the second included the British voice of Siri, Jon Briggs, and it was really impressive hearing the voice of Siri in real life.

One of the main features of both was the desirability of Bretton’s character, Alice, and how her older husband was afraid of losing her and other men found her attractive. ‘Twas very funny.

I don’t really want to give away too much, but the first recording included a French film and Alice helping with her husband’s work, and the second featured someone’s fourth wedding and Dockerty’s character, Barney, trying to fit into a suit bag. We also heard a clip from the Christmas episode which was very funny so I’m really looking forward to them being broadcast.

As per usual I waited outside, and this time I met the lovely Sally Bretton! Hooray! Aw, she was so nice and I’m really glad I got to meet her after seeing her at a Not Going Out recording and having to leave before she left.

John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme final S3 recording

As I’m a fool I forgot to apply for most of the John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme series 3 radio recordings so didn’t get tickets and couldn’t go. However, on the last recording I chose to go to BBC Broadcasting House at the end of the recording to say hi to the cast.

It was a bit annoying hearing everyone talking and laughing about the sketches they’d just heard, but at the same time I’m happy that it’ll be a surprise for me when it comes on the radio. John Finnemore and JFSP fans are some of the best and are extremely dedicated and kind, as they always seem to bring along gifts for the cast and have clothes covered in references to sketches and Cabin Pressure. Some people had even brought along a crocheted character from the most recent JFSP which I recognised from the only recording from this series I went to.

I also got a brief chat with John Finnemore and photos with Lawry Lewin, Simon Kane and Margaret Cabourn-Smith. The cast of JFSP are so nice and a crowd gathered around them, talking for quite a while and getting autographs and pictures.

I’m really looking forward to Souvenir Programme as the sketches I’ve already heard are really funny and John Finnemore is a great writer! It’ll be exciting hearing new sketches on the radio for the first time!

Dead Ringers recording

Recently I went to yet another radio recording, this time for Dead Ringers, the comedy impressions show starring Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Duncan Wisbey and Lewis MacLeod.

 The recording I went to was for Series 12, Episode 2. ‘Twas a pretty good recording for a radio show I’ve never listened to before and I liked it as I knew most of the people who the impressions were of (which is always good for an impressions show).

There were some brilliant sketches such as David Mitchell and Victoria Coren Mitchell being in Eastenders and Tony Blair on Money Box Live, as well as the random ones about made up programmes where titles were thought of before the content, including impressions of Barack Obama, Janet Street-Porter and Ian McKellen.

I believe that this episode has already been broadcast, but it was very funny and I’ve listened to a few more recently and really enjoy many of the impressions. I’d been to the recording of ‘Lewis Macleod Is Not Himself,’ the new BBC Radio 4 programme written by, of course, Lewis Macleod, and I must say that the recording of Dead Ringers seemed to be much better with funnier and more amusing jokes as well as more variety.

As per usual I waited afterwards and met some of the cast, Lewis Macleod who I’ve met before (in the image above) and also Jon Culshaw (below). They were both willing to stop and chat and take a picture with me. My friend was also a bit annoyingly enthusiastic about Lewis Macleod because he is the voice of Postman Pat, a show which my friend still seems to love and watch (despite being 16).

‘Twas a fun recording and it’s cool to have met Jon Culshaw as I’ve seen him on the TV a fair bit.

Lewis Macleod Is Not Himself

Well, fairly recently I went to a radio recording of Lewis Macleod Is Not Himself at the RADA Studios in London.

Lewis Macleod Is Not Himself is a new impression and sketch show starring Lewis Macleod, Kate O’Sullivan, Duncan Wisbey and Julian Dutton. I chose to go to it as I’ve seen Lewis Macleod in previous recordings such as Newsjack and found him funny so thought I’d see what his own show would be like.

As we sat down and waited for the recording to start we admired the lighting as we haven’t been to a recording at RADA for a while and hadn’t seen the fancy lighting!

We’d only got tickets to the first recording but they seemed to be somewhat under-booked so we were able to go to both.

The episodes included such sketches as Miranda Hart looking at endangered animals, Sean Bean not being able to stay alive for a whole film, Louis Walsh and Gary Barlow’s relationship and impressionists being asked to do impressions of other impressionists. I shan’t give away too much because I can’t really remember much of all of them and don’t want to give away too much or make it sound dull.

I thoroughly enjoyed some of the sketches although there were a few which I didn’t fully understand or didn’t know the people who the impressions were of, which made it slightly less enjoyable. Also, not all of the impressions were too strong (which is understandable as there are so many people for four people to do impressions of) but some of the impressions such as the voice of Gary Barlow wouldn’t have been recognisable out of context had they not been paired with Louis Walsh, etc.

The sketches weren’t all brilliant, but it was still a good recording and you can tell from the quick thinking and actors’ speech between sketches or at mistakes they made that they were all genuinely funny people.

There were also occasional songs or brief parts in which Duncan Wisbey played the keyboard, which was quite nice, as well as good songs to finish off each episode, one of them being about Barack Obama and the other about Mary Berry and Gregg Wallace, which were pretty humorous and a good end to the recordings.

Afterwards I got the cast to sign my ticket and had a brief chat with some of them. It was quite a shame that more people didn’t turn up as not all of the seats for the second recording were full!

John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme recording

~ This post contains spoilers ~

Last week I went to The Shaw Theatre, London, to watch some of series 4 of John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme being recorded.

Of course as I’d gone to the previous try-outs I recognised a lot of the material, but nevertheless the recording was very funny and really enjoyable to watch! I only went to the second recording (as we didn’t have enough tickets for our whole group to go to the first and there was no guarantee we’d get into both), but the recording I did go to was great.

There were a few sketches about the Willoughbies, as well as the good subtle references to Belgium’s greatness throughout and song about Belgium to finish off. In addition to this, there was the ‘Well, since you asked me’ sketch about a trapdoor. I’d heard it before at one of the try-outs, but this time it was shorter and more concise, so probably improved.

This recording included a brief “Well, since you asked me where the hell my script is” moment, where John Finnemore went up to the microphone and realised he didn’t have his script, as well as amusing acting and John Finnemore standing on a chair for one of the sketches. There was also a final sing-along bit for the audience to join in with the Belgium song.

I was really pleased when some of the cast (Carrie and John) recognised me from other recordings and try-outs. Hooray! I also spoke to some of the cast after the recording, though the pictures I got with them weren’t very good quality as it was so dark outside!

There are to be another four JFSP recordings coming up soon, although being the fool I am I forgot to apply. Damn! Oh well, I can’t wait until they are broadcast as this series looks very good so far!

Welcome To Our Village, Please Invade Carefully

As I’ve got a long break from school, I’ve been going to quite a few radio recordings, two of them being for ‘Welcome To Our Village, Please Invade Carefully, which is a radio sitcom originally on Radio 2 but now for Radio 4.

It focuses on a small village which has been invaded by an alien race and the inhabitants have been trapped in, forced to stay and put up with or try to escape the aliens. There is a great cast, including Hattie Morahan (Jane in Outnumbered), Peter Davison (the 5th Doctor in Dr Who), Jan Francis (Emmerdale) and Hannah Murray (Cassie from Skins, Game Of Thrones).

I must admit that I wasn’t particularly looking forward to going as I had heard from people that the first series was very disappointing. However, I thought that it was actually really good, full of great humour and executed brilliantly by the talented cast.

The first episode involved a lot of digging for an escape plan and the alien leader, Uljabaan, growing potentially threatening and violent giant plants, whilst the second episode was based around the alien leader’s computer going to the village’s much loved Pub Quiz.

There were double recordings, so I would have had the chance to listen to 4 episodes, but I chose to leave before the fourth in the hope that I would be able to catch Peter Davison before he left (as he left really quickly after the first recordings and lots of people waited outside in the hope of meeting him, not realising he’d already left). Of course, it was just my luck that even though he came out he left just as I was gonna get his autograph. Irritating!

So, despite having missed the last recording for no reason I did get to listen to the third episode which was enjoyable, with Hannah Murray’s brilliant and humorous singing about Uljabaan accompanied by Grace Petrie playing the guitar (which Hannah Murray’s character is supposed to be playing).

After the recordings I got to meet some of the cast, Hattie Morahan, Hannah Murray and Ed Morrish (the producer) as shown above, and in the second recording I met Grace Petrie  and Hannah Murray again (below).

Hannah Murray is such a sweet person, letting everyone meet her and get her autograph (even the dodgy guys with high quality, professional pictures that you just know are going to soon end up on eBay). It’s just a shame that I didn’t get to meet peter Davison even though the rest of my group did.