Comedy Slab

This week we review Henry IX (Series 1 Episode 1)

Set in the fictitious, contemporary court of Henry IX, King of the United Kingdom, this is the almost universal story of a forty-something man going through a mid-life crisis, except this one just happens to be the reigning monarch, King of Great Britain and the Commonwealth.

This three part sitcom has been penned by the legendary, multi award-winning comedy writing team behind Porridge, The Likely Lads and Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.

The series sees Henry struggle to make changes to his life in the face of centuries of tradition and a Royal household who are fairly sure they have his - and if not, certainly their own - best interests at heart.

Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais
Produced by Pete Thornton, Jon Rolph, Tarquin Gotch, Tanya Qureshi and Simon Lupton
Directed By Vadim Jean
A Retort in association with Serious Comedy Production for Gold.
Henry IX is available here: https://bit.ly/3RokqBw
 
The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.
 
Subscribe for a new episode each Tuesday.
 
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This week we review Benidorm (Series 1 Episode 1)

The Solana holiday resort in Spain welcomes a regular group of British holiday makers each year.

There are sex-mad swingers; OAPs; young families; singletons; dodgy dealers; couples; flamboyant homosexuals; pub quiz champions; dysfunctional families and everything in between. And they're just the guests!

A similarly wild array of both Spanish and British staff members complete the line-up at Benidorm's all-inclusive Solana, where disaster never seems to be far down the road.

Written by Derren Litten
Produced by Geoffrey Perkins
Directed By Kevin Allen
A Tiger Aspect Production.
Benidorm is available here: https://bit.ly/3OGcavh
 
The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.
 
Subscribe for a new episode each Tuesday.
 
Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review The Music Teacher (Series 1 Episode 1 & 2)

The Music Teacher is a musical comedy written by and starring 2009 Writers' Guild award winner Richie Webb as music teacher Nigel Penny.

Shut away in a windowless practice room in a regional arts centre, Nigel endures a succession of pupils. The middle-aged bachelor with his homemade Moog; the six-year-old trombonist whose arms aren't quite long enough; and the female student who is forever in a state of tearful crisis and never gets her oboe out are just some of the people who enter Nigel's airless little room.

Written by Richie Webb
Produced by Richie Webb
Directed By Nick Walker
A Top Dog Production fro BBC Radio 4.
The Music Teacher is available here: https://bbc.in/3OP5Kt4
 
The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.
 
Subscribe for a new episode each Tuesday.
 
Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review Superstore (Series 2 Episode 1)

Starring America Ferrera and Ben Feldman (who both also serve as executive producers), Superstore follows a group of employees working at Cloud 9, a fictional big-box chain store in St. Louis, Missouri.

Written by Justin Spitzer
Produced by America Ferrera, Harry J. Lange Jr, Eric Ledgin, Sierra Teller Ornelas, Ben Feldman
A Pitzer Holding Company / The District / Universal Production.
Superstore is available here: https://bit.ly/3tNgkJi
 
The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.
 
Subscribe for a new episode each Tuesday.
 
Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review Here We Go (Series 1 Episode 1)

Here We Go follows the highs and lows of the Jessop family as they navigate a combination of life's everyday challenges - changing careers, keeping the romance alive within a marriage, adopting a healthier lifestyle, kidnapping a dog, destroying a swimming pool and sabotaging a wedding.

Youngest son Sam documents the family across the year using his camera. Moving back and forward in time, each episode offers an intimate, observed and absurd exposé of a modern British family doing its best to support each other, if accidentally annoying everyone else in the process.

Written by Tom Basden
Produced by Tom Jordan, Josh Cole & Tom Basden.
Directed by Will Sinclair
A BBC Studios Production.
Here We Go is available here: https://bbc.in/3x1kXjy
 
The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.
 
Subscribe for a new episode each Tuesday.
 
Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review Monty Python’s Flying Circus (Series 1 Episode 1)

Surrealist, observational and curiously subversive, Monty Python's Flying Circus is a sketch show not quite like any other.

Mixing off-the-wall animated sequences, observational humour, innuendo and plain silliness, it often shines an inquisitive and mocking light on the established conventions and idiosyncrasies of British life, and accepted ideas and norms.

Some of the most celebrated and memorable Monty Python sketches include: "The Parrot Sketch", "The Spanish Inquisition", “The Artful Nudger“, "The Lumberjack Song", "The Ministry of Silly Walks" and "The Cheese Shop".

Written by The Cast & Carol Cleveland
Produced by John Howard Davies and Ian MacNaughton
Directed by John Howard Davies and Ian MacNaughton
A BBC Production.
Monty Python’s Flying Circus available here: https://bit.ly/38wIe4G
 
The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.
 
Subscribe for a new episode each Tuesday.
 
Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review The Secret World (Series 2 Episode 1)

The Secret World allows listeners to eavesdrop on the bizarre, surprising and very secret lives of public people who have been caught unaware by the microphone.

Parallel stories unfold from morning until night as the great and good become embroiled in the most unlikely situations.

Although not topical or political, The Secret World is a surreal twist on the familiar "impression show" without parody, pastiche or the usual characterising.

Written by Bill Dare, Julian Dutton and Duncan Wisbey
Produced by Bill Dare
A BBC Production.
The Secret World is available here: https://bbc.in/38VU092
 
The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.
 
Subscribe for a new episode each Tuesday.
 
Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review Modern Toss (Pilot)

Modern Toss is a couple of cack handed trouble-makers thinking up jokes and drawing them up for comics, greetings cards, books and animation.

Prized by connoisseurs and collectors, their laugh out loud prints and artwork decorate toilet walls throughout the country.

They made two TV series for Channel 4 along with an impressive stack of other short animations for the telly.

Written by Jon Link & Mick Bunnage
Produced by Rebecca Ferrand
Directed by Joe Cornish
A Channel X Production for Channel 4.
Modern Toss clips are available here: https://bit.ly/3FBQSLy
 
The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.
 
Subscribe for a new episode each Tuesday.
 
Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review Peter Kay’s Car Share (Series 1 Episode 3)

Car Share is written, directed by and stars Peter Kay.

The sitcom follows John and Kayleigh who have been thrown together in a company car share scheme, forcing their paths to cross as they journey to their respective jobs at a major out-of-town supermarket.

Each journey brings fresh insight into John and Kayleigh's lives, with twists and turns in their unlikely relationship.

Written by Paul Coleman, Peter Kay, Sian Gibson and Tim Reid
Produced by Gill Isles & Margaret Mubarak
A Goodnight Vienna Production.
Peter Kay’s Car Share is available here: https://amzn.to/3yq5U5B
 
The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.
 
Subscribe for a new episode each Tuesday.
 
Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

This week we review Mum’s On The Run (Series 1 Episode 1)

Sitcom starring Ronni Ancona as single mum Jen and John Gordon-Sinclair as Mr Rigby.

Mum's On The Run follows Jen's hectic life as she finds herself spending most of her time as an unpaid chauffeur to her 14-year-old teenage existentialist son, Toby, and a tonally challenged harmonica practising 10-year-old daughter, Felicity.

Meanwhile, she also has to cope with her jazz musician ex-husband, the fiercely competitive and annoying downstairs neighbour, and the huge crush she has on her son's history teacher.

Written by Alex Zegerman
Produced by Dawn Ellis & Alison Vernon-Smith
A BBC Production.
Mum’s On The Run is available here: https://bbc.in/3s8wzje
 
The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.
 
Subscribe for a new episode each Tuesday.
 
Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.