Comedy Slab

This week we review Continuity (Series 1 Episodes 5 & 6)

A continuity announcer's booth can be a lonely place - especially on the late shift, when you've barely seen your wife and children for a week.

But this Radio 4 continuity announcer is a consummate professional, and he's not going to let his own insignificant little problems get in the way of everybody else's listening pleasure - especially when there are so many exciting programmes coming up for him to describe to listeners.

Alistair McGowan stars as the continuity announcer brooding on the escalating disasters of his private and professional life at the same time as attempting to give listeners a preview of the programmes on offer in the coming week on Radio 4.

Written by Hugh Rycroft.
Produced by Frank Stirling & David Spicer.
A BBC Production.
Continuity may one day be available here: https://bbc.in/2XkftTj

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This week we review - (Series 4 Episode 6)

Blackadder Goes Forth is set in 1917 on the Western Front in the trenches of World War I.

Captain Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) is a professional soldier in the British Army who, until the outbreak of the Great War, has enjoyed a relatively danger-free existence fighting natives who were usually "two feet tall and armed with dried grass".

Finding himself trapped in the trenches with another "big push" planned, his concern is to avoid being sent over the top to certain death.

His comrades in arms are his second-in-command, idealistic upper-class Edwardian twit Lieutenant George St Barleigh (Hugh Laurie) and their profoundly stupid but dogged batman Private S. Baldrick (Tony Robinson).

Rather than the Germans, who remain generally unseen, Blackadder's nemeses come in the form of his superior, the eccentric General Melchett (Stephen Fry) who rallies his troops from a French château 35 miles from the front, and Melchett's bureaucratic assistant, Captain Kevin Darling (Tim McInnerny).

Written by Richard Curtis, Ben Elton and Rowan Atkinson.
Produced by Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow and Richard Boden.
A BBC tv Production.
Blackadder is available here: https://bbc.in/38L9c5m

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 - Hobby Bobbies (Series 1 Episode 1)

Hobby Bobbies is a sitcom about community policing from the team behind The Music Teacher, Dave Against The Machine and 15 Minute Musicals.

Nigel is probably Britain’s longest serving Community Police Support Officer, and Geoff is probably the laziest. They make quite a team.

Written by the acerbic voice over who commentates on the twists and turns of the long running cooking show 'Come Dine With Me' (as well as appearing in People Like Us, Armstrong and Miller and The Smoking Room) it features the talents of Richie Webb (Horrible Histories) and Slade's Noddy Holder.

Written by Dave Lamb.
Produced by Steve Doherty.
A Top Dog Production for BBC.
Hobby Bobbies is available here: https://bbc.in/3BmA8V4

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

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This week we review - Limmy's Home Made Show (Episode 3)

Limmy returns with a new helping of his distinctive brand of comedy and this time he has gone completely solo.

Self-shot in his home and out and about in locations around his native Glasgow. Punctuated by techno versions of familiar ditties, Limmy's Homemade Show features scenes and musings which often seem to be rooted in the mundane - until the funnyman adds his own particular twists.

The series takes DIY comedy to a new level. There's a cast of just one, with Limmy playing multiple parts and capturing his off-kilter contemplations, scenarios and stories on a tripod-mounted camera in his home and at locations around his native city.

Written by Brian Limond.
Directed By Brian Limond.
Produced by Brian Limond.
A Permo Production for BBC Scotland.
Limmy's Homemade Show is available here: https://bbc.in/3D59IJj

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

This week we review - We Are Lady Parts (Series 1 Episode 1)

Sitcom following a Muslim punk band.

We Are Lady Parts is written, created and directed by Nida Manzoor, who has drawn on her own experiences and taken inspiration from the rich and diverse cultural collectives and artists in London; and boasts an exciting ensemble cast of new British acting talent.

We Are Lady Parts shows the highs and lows of the band - called Lady Parts - as seen through the eyes of Amina Hussain - a geeky microbiology PhD student, who's on the lookout for love and romance. Lady Parts' fierce and enigmatic frontwoman Saira sees something in Amina that the others can't see.

When Saira discovers Amina fancies Ahsan, fellow band member and taxi-driving drummer Ayesha's dreamboat brother, she uses this as leverage by offering to hook them both up on a date, but only if Amina agrees to join the band.

Written by Nida Manzoor.
Directed By Nida Manzoor
Produced by John Pocock.
A Working Title / Peacock Production Channel 4.
We Are Lady Parts is available here: https://bit.ly/3g61VAQ

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 - Alun Chochrane: Centrist Dad?

Despite their bad reputation, Alun Cochrane is fine with being a "Centrist Dad".

Join Alun for this recording of his stand-up special for Radio 4 in which he examines the state of political discourse in Britain and tries to find his place on the ever-evolving UK left-right political spectrum.

Alun has never considered himself an offensive comedian but now finds himself to be one of the few pro free speech comedians. How come he feels right wing in comedy dressing rooms, left wing in general society and comes out as totally centrist on those online "what are your politics" tests?

Alun wants to find out if his politics have changed or if the world has just changed around him and left a reasonable man feeling like an extremist. He is pretty sure he isn't an actual baddie. He spends his days writing jokes in Where's Wally? pyjamas alongside his gluten-free dog.

Does that sound like an extremist to you?

Written by Alun Cochrane.
Produced by Richard Morris.
A BBC Studios Production.
Centrist Dad? is available here: https://bbc.in/3C7zEU3

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

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This week we review - Max & Paddy's Road To Nowhere (Series 1 Episode 1)

Comedy spin-off from Peter Kay's award-winning Phoenix Nights series.
The stars are doormen Max and Paddy who take to the open road in their prized motor home and wreak havoc across the country.

Living in such a confined space proves more difficult than they first thought and, without any suitable home entertainment, they end up sampling the local nightlife where Max's new dance moves are a hit with the infamous Belgrano sisters.

Written by Peter Kay & Paddy McGuinness.
Produced by Lesley McNeil
Directed by Peter Kay
A Phil McIntyre / Goodnight Vienna Production for Channel 4.
Max & Paddy's Road To Nowhere is available to buy here: https://amzn.to/3xe2Yoc

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 - The Shuttleworths (Series 4 Episodes 1&2)
 
Radio sitcom in which all parts are voiced by comedian Graham Fellows.

John Shuttleworth, Sheffield's favourite singer-songwriter, takes to the airwaves with his electronic keyboard, wife Mary, and next door neighbour (and sole agent) Ken Worthington in tow.

The fifteen minute episode are based "Sheffield's number one singer-songwriter" as he gives his thoughts on everyday life, and performs ditties on his keyboard.

John's adventures include writing a song for Lady Ga Ga, taking his first trip to an Indian restaurant and celebrating a milestone birthday with a picnic.

Racy stuff.
 
Written by Graham Fellows.
Produced by Dawn Ellis
A BBC Radio Production.
The Shuttleworths is available here: https://bbc.in/3xhLk2P
 
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 - Code 404 (Series 1 Episodes 1)
 
Detective Inspectors DI John Major and DI Roy Carver are the top crime fighting duo in the Met's Special Investigation Unit. But when an undercover sting goes horribly wrong, Major is gunned down on the job and killed.

How will the SIU function without Major? It doesn't have to.

As an 'asset' considered too valuable to lose, Major's body is fast-tracked into an experimental Artificial Intelligence project to bring him back from the dead. The only problem is, Major 2.0 may look like and sound like the original, but something has been lost in translation - quite a lot actually.
 
His arrogant demeanour and gung-ho approach remain but his crimefighting instincts have completely deserted him. Somehow, Major's error-strewn hunches and Carver's scrambling to make good allows them to just about scrape by. But while the experiment might be hailed as a success, on the front line Roy Carver is left dealing with an increasingly deluded partner.
 
Written by Daniel Peak
Produced by Charlotte Surtees
Directed by Al Campbell
A Kudos & Water & Power Production for Sky.
Code 404 is available here: https://amzn.to/3wL2NR1
 
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 - All New Fonejacker (Episodes 7 & 8)

Fonejacker is a British comedy programme broadcast on Channel 4's E4 featuring a series of prank calls involving a number of different characters performed by British Iranian television actor Kayvan Novak.

In 2005 Kayvan Novak and Ed Tracy created, wrote and directed Fonejacker, a prank call show, as part of Channel 4 Comedy Lab.

After making the pilot together they were given a Christmas special and a six-part series which began airing in the UK in 2007 and lasted 6 episodes. They went on to make a second series which began airing in 2008 and a third series which aired in 2010.

The all new Fonejacker Podcast features 100% brand new prank calls from the BAFTA award winning Kayvan Novak.

Written by Kayvan Novak
Produced by Not listed
Production company not listed.
All New Fonejacker is available here: https://bit.ly/3wH95kE

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.