011 Contemporary Comedy – New
Some excellent new-ish comedy.
Time Spanner by
Simon Kane was, I thought, quite funny and very original, considering the
stream of semi-funny sci fi comedy programs we get on BBC Radio. And I didn’t even realize David Mitchell was
playing mogul and occultist Daniel Kraken (I knew the voice sounded
familiar). This may well be the best
thing John Finnemore has ever done (playing Laika the dead space dog). Laika is our narrator and guide to the story
of Martin Gay (Simon Kane), a self-deprecating man who has suddenly turned 40
and doesn’t know what he is doing with his life. He meets the irrepressible Gabbie (London
Hughes) on the street, who is collecting money for charity. For the first time, Martin starts to feel
human again. When he calls Gabbie back,
he accidentally says more than he should and really wishes he could go back in
time and find out if she heard him before the phone connection died. Well, not long after this, Martin discovers
his boss Mr Kraken standing naked on a scrying mirror inside a storage
unit. Martin is persuaded to take his
place and arrives in Heaven, where he meets an angel with a robot (Mr
Murgatroyd). The Angel wants Martin to
save humanity, whereas Martin just wants to go back in time and find out if he
made a fool himself in front of Gabbie. It
was buoyantly insane with more than hint of Douglas Adams. It also starred
Jeremy Limb and Belinda Stewart-Wilson.
Ability by Lee
Ridley and Katherine Jakeways was probably the best new comedy to come out of
Radio 4 this year (so far). Co-written
by “Lost Voice Guy” and veteran comedian Katherine Jakeways, it’s a fresh and
funny romp. Partly autobiographical,
it’s the story of Matt, who, like Lee Ridley, has cerebral palsy and cannot
speak. He uses a voiced iPad to speak
for him, which gives him a Stephen Hawking-like voice, whereas the voice inside
his head is Geordie and sounds like Andrew Hayden-Smith. Radiogenic?
Yes, ma’am! Wonderful
device! Matt is trying to cope away from
his parents’ at a flat he shares with Jess, whom he secretly fancies. He is looked after by first-time carer Bob
(Allan Mustafa), a likeable wheeler and dealer, and together they pull of lots
off silly, slightly illegal capers. I
will definitely listen to a second series.
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