Comedy Slab

This week we review - Radio Active (Series 4 Episode 4)

Radio Active is "Britain's first national local radio station". With presenters including Mike Stand, Mike Channel, Anna Dapter and Mike Flex, the station broadcast music from acts such as The Hee Bee Gee Bees, as well as its own original programming with shows like Round Your Parts, Gigantaquiz and Stop That Crime UK.

The series originated as the 1979 Fringe show from the Oxford Revue, with stars Angus Deayton, Geoffrey Perkins, Helen Atkinson-Wood, Philip Pope and Michael Fenton Stevens.

Radio Active aired throughout most of the 1980s, with the fictional radio station eventually becoming the fictional satellite TV channel KYTV. Radio Active has since been revived both on radio and the stage.

Written by Angus Deayton, Geoffrey Perkins and Richard Curtis
Produced by Jimmy Mulville and David Tyler
A BBC Radio Production.
Radio Active is available here: https://bbc.in/3xpPM0F

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

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This week we review - Third Rock From The Sun (Series 3 Episode 1)

The show revolves around an extra-terrestrial research expedition from a planet on the Cepheus-Draco border attempting to live as a normal human family in the fictional city of Rutherford, Ohio.

They attempt to study human society and understand the human condition, while living as humans on Earth, reflecting on human life from the perspective of aliens.

Most of the episodes are named after the protagonist, Dick and in later episodes, they have become more accustomed to Earth and are often more interested in their human lives than in their mission.

Dick Solomon (John Lithgow), the High Commander and leader of the expedition, is the family provider and a physics professor at Pendelton. Information officer and oldest member of the crew Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has been given the body of a teenager and is forced to enroll in high school (later college), leaving security officer Sally (Kristen Johnston) and "the one with the transmitter in his head", Harry (French Stewart) to spend their lives as 20-somethings hanging out at home and bouncing through short-term jobs.

Written by Mark Brazill & Bob Kushell
Directed by Terry Hughes
Produced by Bob Kushell / Christine Zander / Patrick Keinlen
A Carsey-Werner Production.
Third Rock From The Sun is available here: https://amzn.to/3v1HDO1

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 - Whites (Series 1 Episode 3)

Set in the kitchen of a country house hotel, Whites follows the trials and tribulations of head chef Roland and his long suffering sous chef Bib.

Having been on the brink of success 15 years ago, Roland has since lost the sparkle and drive needed to win a long-coveted Michelin star. He can cook with the best of them when he puts his mind to it, but laziness gets the better of him, much to the annoyance of restaurant manager Caroline.

Bib, meanwhile, is under pressure and hasn't spent time with his wife for months. It doesn't help that Skoose the apprentice chef, has zero respect for him or that quirky waitress Kiki takes an order for an eggless omelette.

Despite all their problems, Bib knows he is lucky to be working alongside a true culinary genius and Roland knows that Bib is a true friend. But this doesn't stop things from getting heated in the kitchen.

Written by Matt King and Oliver Lansley
Directed by David Kerr
Produced by Charlie Hanson and Michelle Farr-Scott
A BBC Production.
Whites is available here: https://amzn.to/3239uRF

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 - Mister Winner (Series 1 Episode 3)

Leslie Winner is an eternally-optimistic klutz with his heart in the right place.

Somehow, despite his calamitous nature, he has found love with his fiancé Jemma and they are preparing for their wedding.

The pressure is on Leslie to find, and keep a job, pay for the honeymoon and keep his father-in-law happy, his mum and her new boyfriend happy and hang on to Jemma long enough to walk up the aisle together.

Will Leslie be a winner or will his surname continue to be ironic?

Written by Matt Morgan
Directed by Andrew Chaplin
Produced by Richard Webb
A BBC Studios Production.
Mister Winner is available here: https://bbc.in/3sXAm1a

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 - Ted Lasso (Series 1 Episode 6)

Recently divorced Rebecca Welton is the new owner of AFC Richmond, a struggling team in the English Premier League and to seek revenge on her cheating ex-husband, she hires the most incompetent coach that she can find to ruin the football club - the only thing her ex ever loved.

She hires Ted Lasso, an American Football coach who knows absolutely nothing about football.

Arriving in Richmond with his assistant, Coach Beard, he tries to connect with the players with his positive, folksy charm. The team hates him and take him for a fool but it soon becomes clear that he's smarter than he looks.

Written by Bill Wrubel (Episode)
Directed by Elliot Hegarty (Episode)
Executive Producers by Jeff Ingold / Liza Katzer / Bill Lawrence / Jason Sudeikis
An Apple Original Production.
Ted Lasso is available here: https://apple.co/3u2sWts

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 - 15 Storeys High (Series 2 Episode 1)

Sitcom focusing on miserable lifeguard Vince Clark, who hates being touched, and his Chinese lodger Errol, who live together in the tower block.

In addition to watching Vince and Errol, we dip in and out of the lives of the other occupants of the towerblock; there's wife-swappers, bible-bashers, lap dancers, hopeless stoners, embryonic boy bands, hygiene freaks, men who shout at TVs and even a bloke who keeps a horse in the spare room.

Written by Sean Lock / Martin Trenaman / Mark Jones
Directed by Mark Nunneley
Produced by Phil Bowker
A BBC Three Production.
15 Storeys High is available here: https://amzn.to/3lDJchI

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

Subscribe for a new episode each Monday.

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This week we review - Mandy (Series 1 Episode 1&2)

Mandy is a BBC TV series, written by and starring Diane Morgan as the title character Mandy Carter. The pilot was first broadcast in August 2020

Mandy is a woman with dreams. Big dreams. Most of all, she dreams of breeding Doberman Pinchers.

But there are hurdles to overcome before that dream can become a reality. In the series we'll see her go on a health kick, rent out her small back bedroom on Airbnb and attempt a series of short-lived jobs in the modern gig economy.

Supporting cast include Tom Basden, Maxine Peake, Tony Way, Sean Locke, David Bradley and Natalie Cassidy.

Written by Diane Morgan
Directed by Diane Morgan
Produced by Sam Morgan
A BBC Studios Production.
Mandy is available here: https://bbc.in/3bOtdu4

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

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The Men from the Ministry was broadcast by the BBC between 1962 and 1977 and starred Wilfrid Hyde-White and Richard Murdoch until 1966, when Deryck Guyler replaced Hyde-White.

It was written and produced by Edward Taylor with contributions from John Graham, and with some early episodes written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke, it ran for 13 series, totalling 145 half-hour episodes and two specials.

The series is about lazy, bungling, incompetent civil servants, "Number One" – Roland Hamilton-Jones (Wilfrid Hyde-White) and later Deryck Lennox-Brown (Deryck Guyler), "Number Two" – Richard Lamb (Richard Murdoch), with their dim, typo-prone, teenage secretary, Mildred Murfin (Norma Ronald), all watched-over by the lecherous, pompous, self-seeking Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Gregory Pitkin (Roy Dotrice and later Ronald Baddiley), all members of the British Civil Service based in Whitehall.

The characters are portrayed as inept, greedy, selfish and incompetent but never malicious and the humour was very light-hearted. There was also a little broad satire in many episodes although later series tended to recycle older scripts.

Written by Edward Taylor & John Graham
Produced by Edward Taylor
A BBC Radio Production.
The Men From The Ministry is available here: https://bbc.in/3sXR542

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

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

Stephen's father, a local legend and pub landlord, has died so Stephen is set to - finally - take over the pub. Mum Ellen and sister Cass have no interest in the family business - they're 'creative', with weed to buy and energy-centres to rebalance.

With his dad dead, it's now Stephen's chance to shine - his only achievements so far have been marriage (followed by divorce) and a slightly disappointing pub refurb. But when the charming Andrew turns up out of the blue at his dad's funeral, Stephen's plans go awry.

Charismatic Andrew has lived in Sydney, Amsterdam, Chicago, the Loire valley and Berlin but crucially, spent five formative months in 1989 fostered by Laurie and Ellen as a 15-year-old. To Stephen, Andrew was just one of a string of 30-odd foster kids who he spent his childhood resenting. But Andrew remembers every single detail and sees that time as the most important of his life.

Now Andrew's back, and keen to revisit the closest thing he's ever had to a family. Ellen loves Andrew. Cass loves Andrew. Even Laurie's erratic brother Uncle Geoff loves Andrew. But Stephen doesn't love Andrew. He thinks he's a glib, dangerous sociopath who's about to steal his family, his business and his life.

Written by Simon Blackwell
Produced by Kate Daughton and Lyndsay Robinson
Directed by Ben Palmer and George Kane
A That M&W in association with Big Talk Productions for Channel 4.
Back is available here: https://bit.ly/3b2GRZX

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

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This week we review - Toast Of London (Series 3 Episode 5)

Steven Toast is a middle-aged, middling actor with a chequered past who spends more time dealing with his problems off stage rather than performing on it.

When not treading the boards, Toast haunts the voice over studios of Soho where amongst other, he endures the company and shenanigans of producers Danny Bear and the inimitable 'Yes, I can hear you' Clem Fandango.

Toast lives with his friend and fellow thesp, Ed Howzer-Black and his career limps along with the 'help' of his useless agent Jane Plough and the hindrance of his acting nemesis Ray Purchase.

Written by Matt Berry and Arthur Mathews
Produced by Izzy Mant
Directed by Michael Cumming
An Objective production for Channel 4.
Toast Of London is available here: https://bit.ly/2NPE25o

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.