Radio Roundup, Time Travel Edition
Wow, it's been a long time since I've done one of these ...
This is mainly a listing-in-advance because I've just had a trawl of Radio 4 Extra's upcoming schedule and seen they have quite a few of my favourite shows on, so if you want a sampling of my average radio playlist, this covers quite a lot of it.
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue - One of the all-time classics of radio comedy, thankfully still running after nearly 40 years and the death of its original host. Long may it continue.
Dead Ringers - I listened to this show all the time back when I first started listening to R4; aside from being hilarious it was a great inoculation of British popular culture, celebrities, and current events for a noob like me. I thought it was a thing of the past but it's back, hooray!
Laura Solon: Talking and Not Talking - Deliriously surreal, brilliant, and refreshingly gender-balanced sketch comedy. Notable especially for the China Lion Lady, who looks like E from The Incredibles in my mind, who is hard to capture in one sketch but cumulatively is pretty much the best thing.
The Harpoon - An early-20th-century Boy's Adventure magazine, for the wireless! I say, tally ho, eh Harpooners? Three cheers for The Empire!
Listen Against - Radio 4 is such a complete subculture, it can have an entirely self-referential sketch show that is really entertaining in itself. You may notice a trend in the things I like being completely absurd.
It's That Man Again - Sketch comedy from the 1940s, which I link for two main reasons: 1. I have read that Cherry enjoyed listening to this show during the Blitz, and 2. The World's End opens with a recording of ITMA. It's kind of like a cultural touchstone sort of thing, and the granddaddy of radio comedy.
Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World - I presume its title is a poke at Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe but the show is more of a tongue-in-cheek exploration of a mundane subject with the surreal genius of Armando Iannucci as a detectable undercurrent. If you like Look Around You you may enjoy this, even though it's not at all the same. Airs later today.
Old Harry's Game - When I try to explain Radio 4 to Americans, I say it's like if NPR died and went to heaven, but it has a sitcom set in Hell and starring Satan. Old Harry's Game spoiled me for The Screwtape Letters – I have to agree with Matilda, C.S. Lewis should put in more funny bits. Old Harry's Game is what The Screwtape Letters should have been: philosophical, characteriffic, and funny. Series 6 is not my favourite but it's still really good. Airs Monday.
Habbakuk of Ice - Based on a true story I knew nothing about, in which a batty inventor proposes battleships made of ice for WWII. He got as far as testing them in a lake in Alberta and was more successful than anyone expected. Airs Thursday.
This is mainly a listing-in-advance because I've just had a trawl of Radio 4 Extra's upcoming schedule and seen they have quite a few of my favourite shows on, so if you want a sampling of my average radio playlist, this covers quite a lot of it.
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue - One of the all-time classics of radio comedy, thankfully still running after nearly 40 years and the death of its original host. Long may it continue.
Dead Ringers - I listened to this show all the time back when I first started listening to R4; aside from being hilarious it was a great inoculation of British popular culture, celebrities, and current events for a noob like me. I thought it was a thing of the past but it's back, hooray!
Laura Solon: Talking and Not Talking - Deliriously surreal, brilliant, and refreshingly gender-balanced sketch comedy. Notable especially for the China Lion Lady, who looks like E from The Incredibles in my mind, who is hard to capture in one sketch but cumulatively is pretty much the best thing.
The Harpoon - An early-20th-century Boy's Adventure magazine, for the wireless! I say, tally ho, eh Harpooners? Three cheers for The Empire!
Listen Against - Radio 4 is such a complete subculture, it can have an entirely self-referential sketch show that is really entertaining in itself. You may notice a trend in the things I like being completely absurd.
It's That Man Again - Sketch comedy from the 1940s, which I link for two main reasons: 1. I have read that Cherry enjoyed listening to this show during the Blitz, and 2. The World's End opens with a recording of ITMA. It's kind of like a cultural touchstone sort of thing, and the granddaddy of radio comedy.
Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World - I presume its title is a poke at Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe but the show is more of a tongue-in-cheek exploration of a mundane subject with the surreal genius of Armando Iannucci as a detectable undercurrent. If you like Look Around You you may enjoy this, even though it's not at all the same. Airs later today.
Old Harry's Game - When I try to explain Radio 4 to Americans, I say it's like if NPR died and went to heaven, but it has a sitcom set in Hell and starring Satan. Old Harry's Game spoiled me for The Screwtape Letters – I have to agree with Matilda, C.S. Lewis should put in more funny bits. Old Harry's Game is what The Screwtape Letters should have been: philosophical, characteriffic, and funny. Series 6 is not my favourite but it's still really good. Airs Monday.
Habbakuk of Ice - Based on a true story I knew nothing about, in which a batty inventor proposes battleships made of ice for WWII. He got as far as testing them in a lake in Alberta and was more successful than anyone expected. Airs Thursday.