I’ve been listening to a lot of radio comedy shows recently and I thought it was about time I made another post about something in that area, as I realise I don’t tend to review radio things as much as television (while I spend probably an equal amount of time on both and they are quite similar). One brand new show I would like to mention is John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme. Finnemore is a comedy writer and performer that I have followed through his work on the radio sitcom Cabin Pressure (which I did review here) and his involvement in other shows like the Now Show, That Mitchell and Webb Sound, 10 O’Clock Live, David Mitchell’s Soapbox and so on. This is his new sketch comedy show, which is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Sundays, with the first episode currently up on iPlayer. Given that I like a) radio comedy, b) sketch comedy and c) John Finnemore, it is not perhaps surprising that I really liked the show, but I did think it was very funny. So if that is your sort of thing too, you may want to check this out.

John Finnemore on the News of the World

I have been following the whole News of the World phone hacking scandal unfold, and like pretty much everyone else, I am disgusted by the whole thing. Recently I was listening to The Now Show, which is a news-comedy show on Radio 4, and comedian John Finnemore had an excellent section covering the whole debacle.

Now, I’m aware, as I start this piece, of something Tom Lehrer once said about protest song singers: that it takes a certain amount of courage to get up in a coffee house and come out in favour of the things everyone else is against, like peace and love and brotherhood and so on. I feel a bit like that now; here I am on Radio Four to register my controversial view that hacking and / or deleting messages from the phones of murder victims, terrorism survivors or dead soldiers is… a bit off. I mean, that is very much my opinion, but I fear I might be preaching to the choir.

This is a full audio recording of it (it is also up on YouTube) and I would highly recommend listening to the whole thing. It is an excellent piece which really sums up the whole situation, and it has the bonus feature of being funny too. Finnemore has put a transcript of the uncut version on his blog, if you would prefer to read it. For those who won’t hear the whole thing, this is the key point: 

So, there we are, I’ve stood in front of a Radio Four audience and told them hacking into the phones of murdered children isn’t very nice, and nor is Rebekah Brooks, which are two things you all thought already. What was the point of that? Well, actually, this time, I think there is a point. I often complain about how politicians endlessly go on about ‘listening to the people’, as if the people always speak with one voice, and as if the politicians hadn’t already made up their minds what they were going to hear.

But this time is different, and unusual, and important. The stark, undeniable wrongness of the Milly Dowler case has unified our voice, and this time they really are listening to us. Most of the people concerned, broadly speaking, didn’t and don’t want to do anything about this. Milliband didn’t want to make an enemy of Murdoch; Cameron didn’t want to have an inquiry; James Murdoch didn’t want to end the News of the World just yet, though he would have done soon. But they all changed their minds this week, because we shouted louder than they expected. And now, they’re waiting to see if that’s enough. Are we going to take the nice neat ending to the story that’s been offered to us,  and go on to the next shiny thing nest week, or do they actually have to do something significant?

So this is a moment in time where I think there is actually a point to being like Tom Lehrer’s protest singer, and loudly making a fuss about what we already know we all believe, because people who didn’t think we actually cared that much are listening. So, let’s keep it up. Let’s not get distracted. Let’s not fall for the ‘The paper you hated… has gone! Behold the totally fresh and uncontaminated Sun on Sunday!’ trick. Let’s keep signing petitions, keep pestering advertisers. Let’s remember no-one has denied Milly Dowler’s messages were listened to and deleted by a man paid by News International, let’s not forget the chief exec of that company has told the House of Commons she paid the police for information; let’s chip in with our helpful opinions about whether she and it are therefore fit and proper persons to own the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. Let’s keep the pressure up, keep the chorus of disapproval going, because right now we have a rare and genuine opportunity to tell the people who influence our lives, elected or not, what sort of media ethics we’re prepared to tolerate, right now we can make a difference, right now - if we don’t lose our focus - the choir get to preach back.

So the News of the World is gone, but the people responsible for this whole mess are still carrying on, and there is a lot more to this story still to be sorted out.

One of my favourite radio shows returns to the air tomorrow. Cabin Pressure is a Radio 4 sitcom written by John Finnemore, based around the crew of a small charter airline, which consists of a single plane. Finnemore stars as the dim-witted flight attendant Arthur, son of the company owner, the bossy and parsimonious Carolyn. The two pilots are Martin, the overeager but inexperienced and occasionally incompetent captain, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, and Douglas, the cunning, manipulative first officer. It is a brilliantly funny show, one which frequently makes me laugh out loud (I was listening to old episodes of the show on my iPod whilst on the train recently and received some odd looks due to my stifled giggling). It really is one of my favourite comedies, radio or otherwise; it is close to sitcom perfection. I enjoy listening to it immensely and I am very excited for the start of the new series.

I am a big fan of David Mitchell’s Soap Box, which is one of those newfangled online video shows. It is basically just ~3 mins of David Mitchell ranting to the camera in front of bizarre green screen imagery. Anyone who has seen David Mitchell on television panel shows will be familiar with his mastery of the angry rant, and these Soap Box videos are also very much in the style of the ‘Listen to Mitchell’ pieces he did on 10 O’Clock Live. They are co-written by John Finnemore, a writer/comedian I have increasing love for as a result of his brilliant radio sitcom Cabin Pressure (which I will be reviewing soon), and his appearances on The Now Show; he also wrote for 10 O’Clock Live. Anyway, the reason I’m mentioning it now is that the show is now back for its third series, so this would be an excellent time to start watching it and get a new episode every week.