The Now Show
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| The Now Show | |
 Steve Punt (right) and Hugh Dennis (left) at the 2005 Radio Festival, Edinburgh.
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| Genre | Comedy |
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| Running time | 30 mins |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Languages | English |
| Home station | BBC Radio 4 |
| Starring | Steve Punt, Hugh Dennis, Jon Holmes, Mitch Benn, Marcus Brigstocke, Laura Shavin |
| Creators | Bill Dare |
| Producers | Katie Marsden |
| Recording studio | BBC Radio Theatre, Broadcasting House |
| Air dates | 26 September 1998 to |
| No. of series | 24 |
| Website Radio 4 |
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 PodcastThe Now Show podcast |
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The Now Show is a British radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, which satirises the week's news. The show is a mixture of stand-up, sketches and songs presented by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. The show also features skits from Jon Holmes (with jokes about his height), Laura Shavin (earlier series had Emma Kennedy, or occasionally Sue Perkins, for the female voices), a monologue (usually more of a rant) by Marcus Brigstocke, and music by Mitch Benn. Past series have also featured Robin Ince, Dave Gorman, Simon Munnery, Al Murray, Andy Zaltzman, Richard Stilgoe, Dr Phil Hammond and Barry Cryer. Jon Culshaw has featured on the 2004 and 2005 Christmas editions. Rory Bremner also pops up in a guest role from time to time. Guests have also stood in for absent cast members. The programme satirises both left and right-wing politics and non-political events.
The series is a successor to the early 1990s satire show The Mary Whitehouse Experience, in which Punt and Dennis were a key part, although its origins lie with the short-lived Live on Arrival from 1988. The programme first aired on 26 September 1998. The 24th series began on 7 March 2008 and ended on 25 April 2008.[1] The programme usually forms six part series, occupying Radio 4's Friday evening slot on a rotation with The News Quiz. Repeats of The Now Show can be heard on BBC 7.
A regular feature of the show is the "audience question" at the end of the recording, in which the audience are asked for their opinions on a topical issue. The responses often show a remarkable amount of wit and surreal humour on the audience's part, and often seem to be "mass therapy sessions". When asked for three good reasons for staying in Britain (on the 4 August 2006 show), for example, responses included "There's less chance of bumping into Tony Blair", "Sudoku is more difficult in a foreign language", "1: Why go when you can have a traditional English pint? 2: Then a second. 3: And a third."
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[edit] Running jokes
A feature of the show is its use of running jokes. In the current series, United States' Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama's catchphrase "yes we can" is played repeatedly after questions. In the March-April 2007 series, they included Marcus Brigstocke's dislike of Lily Allen, Andrew Flintoff's drunken antics on a pedalo, and the Scottish accent of Defence Secretary Des Browne. Past examples include:
- A tinny tape-style recorded excerpt of a line from a Mitch Benn song about President (then General) Pervez Musharraf, played as a jingle: "Now you can be president for e-ver!"
- The repeated use of the phrase "Let me come with you. I can see, I can see perfectly." by Hugh Dennis in the voice of Donald Pleasence as Flight Lt. Colin Blythe in the film The Great Escape
- The use of the phrases "Farepak" and "NTL Broadband" to symbolise something being poor quality, due to the recent (at the time) high-profile closure of the Farepak Christmas savings scheme and Hugh Dennis's problems with NTL Broadband support
- The "Sunny D Plant" (which plays on the ignorance of the stereotypical British teenager, especially being unaware of vegetables or of the origins of their foodstuffs)
- The depiction of Ruth Kelly in an artificially gravelly deep voice (this is also a reference to the 'Throat' voice used in the Goon Show 50 years earlier, one of a number of references to classic radio comedies which are then undercut by comments such as 'Topical satire, ancient jokes!').
- Impersonations of Tim Westwood and Ant and Dec (who can't tell each other apart)
- Mitch Benn's Dalek impression (which he performs without electronic effects)
- References to Jon Holmes's short stature by his co-presenters implying he is only a few inches tall, or even small enough to be mistaken for plankton (despite the fact that the show is typified by condemnation of prejudice, discrimination and bigotry)
- Mockery of the stunts of David Blaine, and references to him as "The Git Wizard" (usually by Marcus Brigstocke)
- Satirising the enthusiasm of the British public for tennis player Tim Henman - someone (usually in an upper class accent) yelling "Come on Tim" at inappropriate moments, or when making fun of the upper classes
- John Prescott and his affair with his ex-secretary - "perv ya melons"
- Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles and his high salary
- Mitch Benn's impression of Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, typically when pronouncing the word "Morrrrrrdorrrrrr"
- In series nineteen:
- John Prescott's visit to a ranch in Texas (prompting the lines 'Can I go to the ranch?' at inappropriate moments)
- David Cameron and his "hug a hoodie" campaign, by use of the phrase "Hoody hug, big hug" in the voice of a Teletubby
- James Blunt and the line from You're Beautiful: My life is brilliant (either with an excerpt from the CD or Mitch Benn imitating it in a squeaky voice)
- Repeated use of the phrase "I am the doctor!", in the style of Jon Culshaw's impression of Tom Baker, in reaction to the new series of Dr Who
- Referring back to the instance in one episode where an extract from a speech given by Osama Bin Laden, was broadcast without permission, allegedly prompting a slip from the BBC expense department offering him royalties for this excerpt. Examples include use of the phrase "Osama will want repeat fees", or Osama writing in to Feedback to offer programme ideas such as Osama I Haven't a Clue
- Revivals of the verbal style of Stanley Unwin
- "Relloo Raggy" said in the voice of Scooby Doo, when mentioning journalist Rageh Omaar
- Impressions of Bob Geldof saying "Give us your fucking money!"
[edit] Broadcast and podcast
The programme is recorded in front of a studio audience. On Friday 22 July 2005, The Now Show was broadcast without one due to the attempted 21 July 2005 London Bombings. Transport problems meant that it had to be recorded in the Radio 4 studios and not the usual venue. Hugh Dennis opened the show with the words "with us are Laura Shavin, Jon Holmes, Marcus Brigstocke and Mitch Benn... and no audience".
The eighteenth series, April-May 2006, was the first Radio 4 comedy series to be made available on podcast, as part of a trial, or to be downloaded directly from the BBC Radio 4 web page, both for seven days after broadcast. The podcast had some of the music (from outside sources) cut because of restrictions due to artist royalties (although a new joke was inserted in place of the music, such as "Don't worry, it'll be over in a minute", or rants about the BBC's lawyers), although the complete show could still be heard for 7 days after the broadcast on the BBC's listen again feature. This podcast was the fourth most popular podcast in August 2006, according to Schott's Almanac. However, due to the end of the trial, the twenty-second series, June-August 2007, was not available for download. The podcast has returned, as part of the "Friday Night Comedy" podcast, alternating with The News Quiz.[2]
A collection of four episodes of the series from 2002 were released on CD and Audio Cassette on 29 July 2002. A further collection of highlights from the 2004-5 series was released for download through Audible.com and iTunes.
The Now Show Wikipedia Excerpt
[edit] References
- ^ The Now Show.
- ^ The News Quiz Podcast (2007-09-28). Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
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