Comedy Slab

This week we review - Back To Life (Series 1 Episode 1)

Back To Life follows Miranda 'Miri' Thomas, a woman who committed a terrible crime many years ago.

It was a catastrophic mistake, one she paid for with well over a decade in prison.
When we meet her, she has just returned to her family home, aged 36, with no job, no friends and no choice but to move back in with her parents.

Miri is desperate to move on, put the past behind her and get back to her life; but, in a small-town where her crime is the most dramatic thing that has ever happened, will anyone let her?

Written by Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon

Produced by Debbie Pisani

Directed by Christopher Sweeney

A Two Brothers Pictures for BBC.

Back To Life is available to watch here https://bbc.in/2MifIYP

The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.

Subscribe for a new episode each Monday.

Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review - Mum (Series 3 Episode 1)

`Mum' is a critically well-received family sitcom by the hands of BAFTA Award-winning writer Stefan Golaszewski.

The story follows lead character suburban mum Cathy, portrayed by Olivier Award-winning Lesley Manville, as she mourns her husband's death and tries to move on in the years that follow, starting with the funeral in January and ending on New Year's Eve.

Each episode in the earlier series revolves around a month in which Cathy attempts to rebuild her life, surrounded by her sometimes problematic family and friends.

The series features Cathy’s supportive lifelong friend Michael (played by Peter Mullan), and her family: son Jason and his girlfriend Kelly, Cathy's brother Derek and his new partner Pauline and Cathy's in-laws.

Written by Stefan Golaszewski

Produced by Lyndsay Robinson, Jennie Fava and Georgie Fallon

Directed by Richard Laxton and Stefan Golaszewski

A Big Talk Production in association with The Money Men for BBC.

Mum is available to watch here https://bbc.in/30JrHBC

Mum is available to buy here https://amzn.to/2JYi2S1

The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.

Subscribe for a new episode each Monday.

Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review - Ghosts (Series 1 Episode 1)

The crumbling country pile of Button Hall is home to numerous restless spirits who have died there over the centuries - each ghost very much a product of their time, resigned to squabbling with each other for eternity over the most inane of daily gripes.

But their lives - or, rather, afterlives - are thrown into turmoil when a young urban couple - Alison and Mike - surprisingly inherit the peaceful derelict house and make plans to turn it into a bustling family hotel.

As the ghosts attempt to oust the newcomers from their home, and Mike and Alison discover the true scale of the project they've taken on, fate conspires to trap both sides in an impossible house share, where every day is, literally, a matter of life and death.

Written by Mathew Baynton, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond

Produced By Matthew Mulot.

A Monumental TV Production in association with Them There for BBC.

Ghosts is available to watch here https://bbc.in/2WNLUnx

The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.

Subscribe for a new episode each Monday.

Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review - Inside No.9 (Series 2 Episode 2)

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith follow up the multi-award-winning Psychoville with an anthology of tales of the genuinely unexpected.

What goes on behind closed doors on the street where you live? Each series of Inside No. 9 invites viewers into six very different No. 9s, where the ordinary and mundane rub shoulders with the extraordinary and macabre.

From a grand country house to a séance in a Victorian villa, and a blood-soaked actor's dressing room in London's West End to a 17th century village witch trial; these unpredictable tales feature high comedy and claustrophobic horror, where the ordinary and mundane rub shoulders with the extraordinary and macabre.

The locations in Series 2 include a sleeping-car on a French train, and a grand Victorian villa where a séance is taking place. There's also a 17th century village witch trial, and a volunteer call centre.

Series 3 themes included a crossword puzzle, a shoe, a karaoke booth and an art gallery, whilst episodes in Series 4 played with time, memories, iambic pentameter and more.

To mark Halloween in 2018, the duo created and starred in an episode broadcast live.

Written by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith.

Produced By Adam Tandy.

A BBC Comedy Production.

Inside No.9 is available here https://bbc.in/2Mdv3pw

And available to buy at https://bit.ly/2V7now1

The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.

Subscribe for a new episode each Monday.

Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review - This Country (Series 1 Episode 1)

This Country is a British mockumentary sitcom, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Three on 8 February 2017.

Created, written by and starring siblings Daisy May Cooper and Charlie Cooper, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of two young people living in a small village in the Cotswolds.

The programme centres on themes of social clumsiness, the trivialities of human behaviour, the eccentricities of living in rural England, and the boredom and social isolation of young people in small communities.

Following rave reviews and over four million iPlayer requests, on 18 July 2017 the BBC renewed the programme for a second series, the first episode of which released on 26 February 2018.

On 20 April 2018, the BBC renewed the programme for a third series, as well as a 40-minute one-off special.

The Coopers play the central characters, cousins Kerry and Lee "Kurtan" Mucklowe.

Their father, Paul Cooper, plays Kerry's father Martin Mucklowe, while their uncle, Trevor Cooper, plays local man and antagonist Len Clifton.

Although credited as "Ivy Woodcock", the voice of Sue Mucklowe, Kerry's mother who is never seen on screen is provided by Daisy May Cooper.

Written by Daisy & Charlie Cooper.

Produced By Simon Mayhew-Archer.

A BBC Studios Production.

This Country is available here https://bbc.in/2BEdoTg

The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.

Subscribe for a new episode each Monday.

Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review - Meet David Sedaris (Series 7 Episode 2)

American humourist David Sedaris reads from his extensive collection of comedy essays for a live Radio 4 audience.

With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America's pre-eminent humour writers.

The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that he is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today.

David Sedaris's first book, Barrel Fever (1994), which included The SantaLand Diaries, was a critical and commercial success, as were his follow-up efforts, Naked (1997), Holidays on Ice (1997) and Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000). He became known for his bitingly funny recollections of his youth, family life and travels, making semi-celebrities out of his parents and siblings.

David Sedaris has been nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album.

A feature film adaptation of his story C.O.G. was released after a premier at the Sundance Film Festival (2013).

He has been a contributor to BBC Radio 4 since 1996.

Written by David Sedaris.

Produced By Steve Doherty.

A Giddy Goat Production for BBC radio 4.

Meet David Sedaris is available here https://bbc.in/2vc6C4d

More from David Sedaris here https://www.davidsedarisbooks.com

The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.

Subscribe for a new episode each Monday.

Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review - My First Planet (Series 1 Episode 1)

My First Planet is an audience sitcom set on a newly-founded space colony.

Unfortunately, the leader of the colony died on the voyage, so his Number 2, Brian (Nicholas Lyndhurst) is now in charge.

Brian's a nice enough chap, but no alpha male, and his desire to sort things out with a nice friendly meeting infuriates the colony's Senior Medical Officer Lillian, who'd really rather everyone was walking round in tight colour-coded tunics and saluting each other.

She's also in charge of Project Adam, the plan to conceive and give birth to the first colony-born baby. Unfortunately, the two people hand-picked for this purpose - Carol and Richard - were rather fibbing about being a couple, just to get on the trip.

Add in an entirely unscrupulous Chief Scientist, Mason and Archer, an idiot maintenance man who believes he's an "empath" rather than a plumber, and you're all set to answer the question - if humankind were to colonise space, is it destined to succumb to self-interest, prejudice and infighting?

(The answer is yes, by the way. Sorry.)

Written by Phil Whelans.

Produced By David Tyler.

A Pozzitive Production for BBC radio 4.

My First Planet is available to buy at https://amzn.to/2X3ZSBn

The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.

Subscribe for a new episode each Monday.

Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review - Terry Alderton - More Crazy Now (Series 2 Episode 4)

The prolific, uncensored and self-assured Terry Alderton embarks on a four part series where he plays every character and sings every crazy song.

‘Terry Alderton’s All Crazy Now’ is not so much a radio show, but a piece of evidence against him, or possibly cathartic repugnance from years of frustration and self censorship.

‘All Crazy Now’ is unique – if Kenny Everett and Spike Milligan got together they would be making a show like this. It’s a one man Goon Show not to be missed.

Terry plays all the characters himself – every single voice you hear is him – from dancing bears, Akil Chowdry, Morgan the Freeman, his inner voices, Victor, a sketch which is about a mother and something to do with Monkey Fights. Oh, and there’s songs – songs about pole vaulting chickens, sausages, cornflakes and keeping your dreams alive….

His extensive TV credits include ‘The Royal Variety Performance’ (ITV1), Live At The Apollo‘ (BBC One) ‘Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Road Show’ (BBC One), ‘Edinburgh Comedy Fest Live’ (BBC Three), Dave’s ‘One Night Stand’ and ‘Let’s Dance for Sport Relief’ and that show set in London. 

Film credits include ‘The Flirting Club’, ‘Keeping Mum’, ‘Black Ball’ and ‘The Jam’.

Terry is the man behind online sensations ‘Danny Dire’ and ‘Bloke Cast’ and short film ‘Brahms and Liszt’.

Written by Terry Alderton.

Produced By Richard Melvin

A Dabster Production for the BBC.

Find out more about Terry at http://www.terryalderton.com

The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.

Subscribe for a new episode each Monday.

Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review - You, Me & The Apocalypse (Series 1 Episode 1)

With their days numbered, a group of people struggle with the inevitable apocalypse after it is discovered that a comet is on a collision course with Earth.

Jamie Winton (Mathew Baynton) works as a bank manager in Slough, England, living with his best friend, Dave Bosley (Joel Fry), and his adoptive mother, Paula (Pauline Quirke).

Jamie vows to find his wife, Layla (Karla Crome), who disappeared seven years ago, and his biological mother before the comet hits. In one of many revelations that occurs before the comet strikes, he learns he has a twin brother named Ariel Conroy (also played by Baynton).

Meanwhile, Rhonda MacNeil (Jenna Fischer) is imprisoned in New Mexico, United States, after taking the blame for a hacking crime committed against the NSA by her son Spike (Fabian McCallum). There, she meets a white supremacist named Leanne (Megan Mullally).

In Washington, D.C., Rhonda's brother Scotty (Kyle Soller) and his husband, US General Arnold Gaines (Paterson Joseph), are working to stop the comet that will cause the apocalypse.

At the Vatican, Father Jude (Rob Lowe) and Sister Celine (Gaia Scodellaro) work to find the potential Antichrist and the world's savior.

In the end, most of these people will come to be in a bunker together under Slough as they watch the apocalypse on TV.

Created by Iain Hollands.

Produced By Polly Buckle, Nick Pitt & Susie Liggat

A Working Title Films / BigBalls Films production

It's available to buy at: https://amzn.to/2HSwA4m

The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.

Subscribe for a new episode each Monday.

Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review - Fleabag (Series 2 Episode 3)

Hilarious and hurtful, a confession of the modern woman.

Starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Olivia Colman and Bill Paterson, Fleabag is a hilarious and poignant window into the mind of a dry-witted, sexual, angry, porn-watching, grief-riddled woman trying to make sense of the world.

As she hurls herself headlong at modern living, Fleabag is thrown roughly up against the walls of contemporary London, with all its frenetic energy, late nights and bright lights, in this very modern mix of fatalism and hedonism, sustaining a merry-go-round of broken dreamers.

Unfettered and unfiltered, Fleabag tears through the series sleeping with anyone who dares to stand too close, squeezing money from any orifice, rejecting anyone who tries to help her and keeping up the bravado all along because that's just the kind of messed-up, normal person she is.

By turns hilarious and heart-breaking, this is the thoroughly disarming confessional of a woman so totally detached she's utterly lost, and ultimately wondering what the hell she ought to be doing in life. Much like the rest of us.

In this episode, Fleabag helps with an event at her sister Claire's work which inevitably ends in disaster, but an introduction to Claire's colleague proves intriguing, and a chance meeting with a stranger opens Fleabag's eyes.

Created & written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Produced By Lydia Hampson & Sarah Hammond.

A Two Brothers Pictures Limited Production for the BBC.

Fleabag is available to watch at: https://bbc.in/2Ygl5K7

And is available to buy at: https://bit.ly/2FrwQWp

The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.

Subscribe for a new episode each Monday.

Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.