Tom: The Spontaneity Shop presents All British Comedy Explained with Abigoliah Schamaun and Tom Salinsky.
Season Two Wrap-Up
Abigoliah: Hello there. This is All British Comedy Explained, the podcast where I finally learn about all the British comedy I’ve been missing out on all of these years. I’m comedian Abigoliah Schamaun, and to guide me through this comedy labyrinth is my good friend and fabulous writer, Tom.
Tom: Hello there.
Abigoliah: Hello.
Tom: Hello everyone. Nice to be back.
Abigoliah: Hello. It is good to be back. Now, the listeners have heard these come out consecutively, so they don’t know that we haven’t recorded an episode in, like, well over a month.
Tom: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We kind of batch-recorded a lot of those and put them out. We did some of the interviews more recently, but yeah, it’s been a while. So yeah, I’m sort of wandering around here, blowing the dust off things and generally trying to remember how we do this.
Abigoliah: Yeah. No, I feel the same way.
But I need to know, and the listeners need to know, how did your play In the Print go? How was it?
Tom: Yeah. Lovely reviews, sold out at least the last week, and was selling out at weekends before then. So yeah, really, really good. Very much enjoyed the whole process. And with any luck, we will be able to get it out on tour next year.
But before then, last year’s play will be going on tour. So look forward to me bleating on about that, because that will be going on tour, starting back at the King’s Head and also going to Richmond, as well as Oxford, Cambridge, Coventry, all of the places.
So that’s The Gang of Three, which will be going on tour later this year.
Abigoliah: Okay, but we don’t have a big date yet for it?
Tom: There are dates. I just don’t have them in front of me. They’re a little far in the future. We’ll get to that in good time.
Abigoliah: If I may, since we’re talking about something that’s very close to happening, it’s my book, Neurodivergent Moments, that I co-wrote with Joe Wells. It comes out on the 18th of June.
So if you haven’t bought a copy, buy a copy. And if you’re listening to this before the book comes out, pre-order a copy. That would really mean a lot. Pre-orders matter so much to writers. Yeah. Please, please pre-order now.
It’s crazy. We just did an interview earlier today and someone was like, from the time of conception to it being printed, how long did it take? And Joe and I were like, we’ve been working on this for two years.
This isn’t some The Vicar of Dibley where we had the idea and 365 days later we had a BAFTA for it. No. This is taking time. This is taking time.
Tom: Well, we have the beginning of one thing, your book, but also the ending of another, which is our tour of eight famous British sitcoms.
Abigoliah: Yeah.
Tom: So shall we start by looking at the state of the Shelf of Fame?
Abigoliah: Yeah, let’s have a look at it. So we have, I think, was it four new entries?
Tom: So as the Shelf of Fame stands right now, we have Victoria Wood As Seen on TV at number one.
Yes, Prime Minister at number two. And I’m so pleased that Yes, Prime Minister worked for you. It’s such an amazing show. Have you watched any more of that since we recorded yet?
Abigoliah: Yes, I have. And I’ve really enjoyed it.
Tom: And then after Yes, Prime Minister at number two, we have The Day Today at number three, Not Only… But Also at four, Absolutely Fabulous at five.
Abigoliah: I’m sure you’re going to like it if anything. I’m surprised it’s not higher. But I mean, I can’t really argue with the quality of the shows that are ahead of it.
I mean, it’s so hard to rate everything correctly because every time I look at the Shelf of Fame, I want to keep my top ten, but I want to move it around, you know?
Tom: And then we have I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue at number six, Fawlty Towers at number seven, The Vicar of Dibley at number eight, Morecambe and Wise at number nine, and The Young Ones at number ten.
Abigoliah: The Young Ones clinging on there.
Tom: Clinging on.
Abigoliah: But, Tom, I have a very big update.
Since you first showed me The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, which I found deeply unsettling, and then I watched more before we had our very good friend David Tennant on—
Tom: Best friend.
Abigoliah: Friend of the show, David Tennant.
And then I kept watching it. I’ve watched all of the first series because that’s on BBC iPlayer. And the more I watched it, the more I liked it. And the more I liked it, the more I found myself falling in love with it.
It’s sticky. It’s stuck with me in a way that some of the others haven’t. Like, I couldn’t get it out of my head.
So I think after putting it in the bargain bin, we’re now going to have to take it out and put it on the Shelf of Fame.
Tom: So where does it go, and what are you going to throw out?
Abigoliah: Well, it was a slow burn. So part of me is like it should go up high because of the journey.
Me and my relationship with the Shelf of Fame is like the two guys in Heated Rivalries. We hated each other, then we loved each other, and then we just wanted to have sex with each other, and then we fell in love with each other, and then we had to come out with our mother.
Okay, I’ve been rewatching that a lot.
I’ll be honest, I’ve probably watched Heated Rivalries more than once.
I think because it was… I was thinking of putting it higher, but now that I look at the Shelf of Fame again, it’s like, you can’t take that off. You can’t.
I think—and this is going to hurt—it’s going to bump The Young Ones out, and we’re going to put The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin up.
Tom: So does it go at ten, or does it go higher?
Abigoliah: It goes at ten.
Tom: Okay. All right. I will update the website.
So yeah, that’s a surprise, but again a heartening one because The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, I could see why you would find it potentially off-putting, but I just think it’s so imaginative. It’s so creative. And it’s really about something, as well as being incredibly funny.
Abigoliah: Yeah. Well, the more you watch it, it’s almost like watching a soap opera. Not that it’s serious, but in the way it’s kind of laid out.
In the last episode, where he’s dressed as someone else and goes to his own funeral, I kept waiting for this big, like, “Aha! It’s me!” or someone being like, “Wait a minute, you’re Reggie.”
And his wife is just quietly like, “I know it’s him. It’s fine. I’m ready. I want to fall in love with him all over again.”
And she doesn’t even tell him.
I don’t know. It ends very odd. Very hilarious, but very sweet and also unsettling.
I don’t know. I think it’s one of those comedies you do have to watch a bit of to understand the rhythm of it, you know?
Tom: Yeah, yeah. That’s definitely one of them. It’s not like anything else we’ve seen.
Okay. So any other updates? Any other admin? Anything else to say about this little crop of shows?
Abigoliah: As far as the shows I didn’t enjoy much, I just want to shout out our viewers on YouTube. By the way, if you ever want to watch the show as opposed to listen to it, it’s on YouTube as well.
Guys, our viewers on YouTube write the best comments. When you’re making stuff and putting it on the internet, you’re always so like, “Oh, this could go very badly for me.”
And everyone writes such thoughtful and interesting things, and people are totally respectful if I’m not into something.
But I found what people had to say about Dad’s Army very interesting. I didn’t pull up the exact comment, so I apologise if I screw up exactly what you said, but several people were like, it was just always on as repeats. And someone was like, “It’s not exactly the funniest thing, but for me it’s like watching family members do something.” That’s how well they know it.
And so it’s like being in a British hug.
And several people pointed out, they’re like, “I don’t think Abigoliah understands what 1940s Britain was like.” And when I went back and watched the episode that we did, it is me kind of not understanding the level of patriotism that was happening during World War Two.
And I think that’s interesting, that people are like, she just isn’t grasping the context—not when it came out, but when it’s set.
Tom: And there’s a bit, I think it’s in the second series, where due to a hilarious misunderstanding, the Warmington-on-Sea platoon genuinely believes that they’re going to have to go and face Nazi invaders. And they sort of go out—they don’t, of course, because it’s another part of the platoon due to a hilarious misunderstanding—but they sort of say, “Well, we’ll have to go out and hold them off. If we’re to make it, there you go.”
And they sort of get on with it in that very British way, which is something that’s very hard for us, sitting on our comfy chairs with all our technology, to imagine what that was like.
Abigoliah: Especially, like, I mean, I don’t know how much you watch the news, Tom.
Tom: I try to avoid it.
Abigoliah: There’s a bit of a war.
Tom: One or two, yes. One or two in particular.
Abigoliah: Yeah. But, excuse me, America has decided to go to war with Iran, and you just don’t see that level of everyone being like, “Let’s suit up for our country.” You see a lot more people being like, “Should we be doing this?”
Me being one of those people, by the way.
But it’s hard to… Well, there was a time in my life when America went into a war and, in my own country, we were quite patriotic at the time. And then afterwards we looked back and were like, “I don’t think this was a good idea.”
But World War Two is that war where even pacifists are like, that probably needed to be done.
Tom: Yeah, yeah. And even after the fact, I don’t think anyone’s like, “We should have stayed out of that.”
Even World War One—when we get on to Blackadder Goes Forth, you’ll see this—a lot of people are like, that probably just looks like an awful lot of people being slaughtered for no very good reason.
Abigoliah: Yeah. Really interesting.
Do you have any thoughts about what we watched? I mean, what you kind of got there was the golden age of British sitcom. The most recent we watched was probably The Vicar of Dibley, which is harking back to shows like The Good Life. The earliest we watched was Hancock’s Half Hour, which is arguably the earliest sitcom on British television. And then all those shows in the middle.
Tom: Reginald Perrin and Yes Minister and so on. They absolutely were the lifeblood of the schedules. You couldn’t create a television station which didn’t have a whole bunch of those.
Despite which, as we’ve said, they were all BBC. Now, which is something we will address next season. But more on that shortly.
Abigoliah: And I do just want to shout out that I really enjoyed The Good Life. And that, to me, is a show that I can comfort-watch.
The way people feel about Dad’s Army is the way I think I could warm to The Good Life. I know it’s not on the Shelf of Fame anymore. It wasn’t on there for very long. But that’s a show that I really liked.
I’m so glad I got to watch all of them. I thought they were all great in their own way. I mean, I know we’re rating everything for the Shelf of Fame, but at the end of the day it’s just nice to sit down and watch.
Tom: It really is.
All right. Well, let me sort of probe you a little bit further then, because I came up with eight categories. Rather than doing a quiz, I thought we’d play this little game.
So you’ve had a little bit of advance notice of this, but not very much.
Let’s sort of see where we go. You have to put exactly one show into each category. You can’t leave any out and you can’t double any up.
So, of these eight, which was the best show that we watched, in your opinion?
Abigoliah: I’m going to go Fawlty Towers.
I think Fawlty Towers might actually be lower on the Shelf of Fame than other things on this list, but no, I’m going to go with Fawlty Towers for the best show that we watched.
I thought it was so much fun. It kind of reminded me of watching a farcical play, and I really enjoyed that.
Yeah. What about you? What’s the best show we watched?
Tom: You have to ask?
Fawlty Towers is pretty much without peer. But I have a sneaky feeling that I might enjoy watching Yes Minister a tiny bit more.
It’s more consistent. It’s more about the subtleties of the performances. And although I’ve watched them all several times, there are only twelve Fawlty Towers episodes and I’ve watched them all probably about twelve times, so I know them very well.
And so if I was going to sit down and rewatch something today, I’d probably be more likely to watch Yes Minister than Fawlty Towers.
Abigoliah: I get that. I get that.
I also know some of these other categories coming up, so I’m saving Yes Minister.
But which was the worst show we watched?
Tom: Which isn’t to say it’s bad.
Abigoliah: It’s not a bad show. It just was the one that I kind of went, “Yeah.”
Even the other ones I’ve dipped into since then—even if I haven’t watched all of them.
But Dad’s Army? I’m like…
People are going to yell at me for this.
Dad’s Army is second-screen viewing. I could watch it, but I’d probably want something else going on while I watched it.
What about you? I know you love all this. So which is the worst?
Tom: Yeah, it is sort of… It is very hard to pick. “Worst” is a strong word.
But if these were the top eight shows in the world, one of them would still be the eighth.
And for me it’s probably The Vicar of Dibley. That’s the one I have the least connection to. It feels a little bit like a throwback. It doesn’t feel like it’s pushing the boundaries in quite the same way.
There are lovely performances in it, and actually when I rewatched it I really had a good time. But I would definitely watch all of the other seven before I watched The Vicar of Dibley again.
But it’s still a great show.
Abigoliah: Yeah.
Tom: What’s the show—because these were all shot in front of a live audience—which is the show you would most have wanted to see live?
Abigoliah: I mean, I think the Queen was right. It ought to be The Good Life.
I want to be in that Good Life audience. I want to see that happen in real time. Team Margo. I’d wear the shirt that says Team Margo.
Yeah, I think that’d be a really fun one to see live.
Tom: I would love to have seen Fawlty Towers live. I think the crackle of excitement, the speed those actors are going at, that would have been amazing.
Have you ever been to a sitcom recording?
Abigoliah: I’ve not been to a sitcom recording. I have been to see The Daily Show live, but Jon Stewart wasn’t doing it. He had John Oliver subbing the time I went.
And I’ve been to other various live stand-up things, but I’ve never actually been to a sitcom recording.
Tom: Yeah. I’ve been to a few.
Depends what you count as a sitcom. So I saw Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge, which is a spoof chat show, and then a couple of sitcoms, including Frank Skinner’s sitcom. We knew a couple of people in it, and so they got us tickets.
And I saw an episode of dinnerladies being recorded.
Abigoliah: Wow. Wow. You just dropped that like it’s no big deal.
Tom: I think it was the last episode. I’m pretty sure it was.
Because I remember they used to do them on Friday and Saturday and then cut the best of both together, and we saw the Saturday.
Again, we knew someone who was in the cast.
Abigoliah: Did people cry if it was the last episode?
Tom: Now I’m doubting myself. Maybe it wasn’t.
I mean, yes, of course they did. Maybe we didn’t know it. Maybe I’ve just always told people it was the last episode.
No, now I’m doubting myself. Anyway, we saw an episode.
Abigoliah: You know what? Cut that out. Cut that out.
You saw the last episode. That makes it such a better story.
Go for the story, man. The truth is optional.
Tom: Yeah. Print the legend.
What is the show that you would most like to have been in? To have been part of the cast?
Abigoliah: I think I want to be in Absolutely Fabulous.
Tom: Yay!
Abigoliah: Oh God. Okay. So who could we be?
We have to be a duo in Absolutely Fabulous. Could we work in retail? Like, for Joanna Lumley?
Tom: We could be the people who sell the store their clothes.
Abigoliah: Yes! That works. What’s that job?
Tom: Wholesaler?
Abigoliah: Oh yeah. We’d be wholesalers.
A pair of interior designers whose marriage is falling apart.
Tom: That seems like it would fit very well.
Abigoliah: That would be amazing.
And after talking to James about what it was like to work with them, and how lovely they were, and how great that set was to be on, it just sounds like it was a really positive atmosphere.
Tom: So yeah, 100%.
Abigoliah: Okay. Yeah. We’re going to play two interior designers whose marriage is falling apart. That’s what we’ll do.
That’s great. Perfect.
Tom: What show do you think deserves a sequel?
Abigoliah: So part of me is like, it should be The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. They tried to remake it and it failed.
But that is the one… The reason why they kept remaking it is because I do want to see it.
Oh no. Oh no. The thing has happened where it’s eight questions and I can only pick one. This is the one that’s going to screw me over.
Tom: Yes.
Abigoliah: No. Yeah, yeah, I’m going to do this. I’m going to say Yes, Prime Minister for the sequel.
Tom: Well, a sequel might be coming our way quite shortly because, as I think we’ve previously discussed, Armando Iannucci was inspired by researching Yes Minister to promote it as part of a BBC Best Ever Sitcoms show, and he decided that more political satire was needed and he created The Thick of It.
Abigoliah: Yeah. Well, as soon as I was like, it should be a sequel, that’s another one that got remade. It technically has had a sequel because then The Thick of It became the inspiration for Veep, right?
Tom: Yeah.
Abigoliah: So it has a whole family tree.
So I think for this one, because so many of these are built around iconic performances from people who are now dead, what about a generational sequel?
What are Tom and Barbara and Margo and Jerry’s kids doing?
Tom: Oh, that’s interesting.
Abigoliah: You know how parents’ kids always rebel against their parents?
Tom: I think so, yeah.
Abigoliah: Right. So Tom and Barbara’s kids would be the ones who want to have a traditional suburban life. And Jerry and Margo’s kids would be crunchy-granola, but really insufferable, like nowadays.
Tom: So Margo’s daughter is an Instagram influencer.
Abigoliah: But a crunchy one. Oh, she’s basically a trad wife.
Tom: Oh, okay.
Abigoliah: Think about it. Because they want to go back to traditional living.
Tom: Yes, yes.
Abigoliah: Which is what we talked about on the Patreon.
So nowadays they would be going back to more conservative values. And then—
Tom: Tom and Barbara came into crypto early.
Abigoliah: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Really in the rat race.
Tom: I think that could be good fun.
Abigoliah: That could be really good fun. And they both sound like horrible couples, but it’d be like brothers and sisters. Or maybe it’s two girls on one side and two boys on the other side. I don’t know.
Yeah. Oh, I like this idea. I think we should write it.
Tom: The Gooder Life.
Abigoliah: The Gooder Life. That’s great.
We’re calling dibs. That’s our idea. You can’t have it. That’s our idea.
What should never be remade?
Tom: So what do you have left?
Abigoliah: I have left The Vicar of Dibley, Hancock’s Half Hour…
Yeah. I mean, I think The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin should never be remade because they tried to remake it and it failed.
The fact it is based on a novel suggests that somebody might be able to make it one day. They tried too early, I think.
Because when we were talking about it with David Tennant, it’s like now enough time has passed that I think you could get away with it.
Actually, I think there is a remake of it. Someone was telling me that Daniel Radcliffe is in something called The Fall of the Fall of Reggie Dinkins.
Tom: That’s something else. It just has a similar name.
Abigoliah: Is it?
Tom: Yeah, I think so.
Abigoliah: Okay, okay. I saw it come up in our YouTube comments. By the way, I read all of your comments. I really do read them.
Tom: Yeah, you’re in charge of social media.
Abigoliah: That’s my job.
Tom: I would say, for me, Hancock’s Half Hour is the one. And I’m saying that knowing that it has been remade.
But for me it was so much about the particular talents of Tony Hancock. Having Paul Merton recreate the scripts, I get it. I understand why they’re doing it. The original shows don’t exist. The scripts do. So now a new generation can see them. All well and good. But no, for me it’s about that person giving that performance.
Abigoliah: I can understand that.
And I think that as well. But I had to pick one, so I decided to go with The Fall and Rise.
Tom: But what do you think would make the best West End musical?
Abigoliah: The Vicar of Dibley.
Tom: Great choice.
Abigoliah: I think it would be fun. And think about it, you’d have all these beautiful choral scenes for the choir. It’s already got music built into it because you already have singing and the choir’s already there.
I think it would be so much fun as a musical. One hundred per cent.
And bring Dawn French back to play the Vicar of Dibley.
Tom: Yeah. And for me it’s Dad’s Army, which was a stage show but not a musical.
It’s been so many things now. It’s been a movie, it’s been a recast movie, there’s the behind-the-scenes TV movie. It needs to be a musical. What are we doing with our lives here, people?
It lends itself really well to a musical.
Abigoliah: It’s perfect for it.
One hundred per cent. I totally agree.
Tom: So we should, if it’s right, have one show left.
Which is best prestige drama.
So this again is a remake, but now we’re remaking it and taking all the comedy out.
Abigoliah: I’m left with…
Wait a minute. Hold on. What am I left with?
Oh yeah. Duh. I’m left with Hancock’s Half Hour.
I did that on purpose.
I think Hancock’s Half Hour as a prestige drama would only go for one season, because it’d be like what they’re doing now where they’re taking The Fresh Prince and making it serious, and everyone who grew up with it is like, “No one wanted this. Stop doing it.”
However, I think Anthony Hancock is a great dramatic actor. And he certainly thought so.
Tom: Well…
Abigoliah: And he has a darkness within him, as we know. And I think it’d be a great drama.
Tom: Speaking of a darkness within, I think I’m going to go for The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.
What would that look like if you take all the laughs out? This man slowly going insane and driving everyone around him absolutely crazy as well.
Abigoliah: The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.
It’s not crazy enough. But I was going to say, you take out the humour and then it’s just madness.
Tom: I guess so.
Abigoliah: You take away the jokes.
This is why I found it so insulting, because like I said, I’m just a middle-aged man.
That’s who I am.
I couldn’t handle my own truth looking at me.
Tom: All right, so that wraps up Season Two.
Now, for Season Three we’re going to take a little bit of a break. There’ll be a few special episodes coming your way, listeners, and then we’re going to go on with Season Three. So we’ll give you a little preview now of what we have planned.
So I want to do satire. I know, Abigoliah, you said that you were only interested in happy things, but there are some really important shows. In fact, I nearly did satire for Season Two, but then I looked at Season One and went, there are no sitcoms here. These are all sketch shows and parody shows. We need to do some sitcoms. So we’ll have a mix of sitcoms and sketch shows here.
Abigoliah: I just want to say, I think this is going to be a really interesting season because British people like to tell me all the time that Americans don’t understand satire. So it’s going to be really interesting to watch these and just be like, am I having any fun?
Tom: Yes. Well, we’ve got quite a broad range.
But the satire boom of the 1960s, which we did touch on when we looked at Not Only… But Also, was a really big turning point. Arguably as big as the arrival of The Goon Show in the 1950s, or Monty Python in the 1970s, or alternative comedy in the 1980s.
And I think satire tells you a lot about what a nation thinks of itself and the rest of the world.
Abigoliah: Oh, I like that.
All right. And we’re going to do some ITV and Channel 4 shows for the first time.
Tom: Yes.
Abigoliah: So, for those of you who’ve been coming at us—now, I don’t think any of these are satire—but the shows that keep coming up, that everyone’s mad that we haven’t watched yet, there’s always a few.
One is ’Allo ’Allo!.
Tom: Oh yes.
Abigoliah: Now that we’ve watched Dad’s Army, everyone’s like, you’ve got to watch ’Allo ’Allo!.
The other one is Only Fools and Horses. And then the other one that keeps coming up, and I’m wondering when we’re going to cover it because you’ve written about it, is Red Dwarf. And I think you’d probably add Blackadder to that list as well.
Tom: So, yeah. I’m going to be spacing those out a little bit, I think. I don’t want to peak too soon.
Abigoliah: Exactly. I mean, that’s what we say.
Tom: We have to space it out. We have to space it out. We will get to everything eventually.
But guys, okay. So what are we going to watch?
And tell me which of these you’ve even heard of, let alone know anything about.
We’re going to start with Spitting Image.
Abigoliah: Spitting Image is the puppet show.
Tom: The puppets.
Abigoliah: You look so…
Like, I’m very curious. So I can’t say that I’ve ever seen this.
Tom: On ITV from 1984 to 1996, and then there have been a few attempts to revive it since then.
And then we’ll go right back to the source with That Was the Week That Was.
Abigoliah: I know about this because it came up this season when we were talking about… was someone a writer for That Was the Week That Was?
Tom: Oh, I think David Nobbs had submitted material.
Abigoliah: That was it.
Tom: Being a sketch show, being a topical show, it had one of those open-door policies and lots of writers got their stuff on.
Abigoliah: And it’s a radio show?
Tom: No, TV show. These are all TV shows. No radio this season.
Abigoliah: Oh, no radio this season. Okay.
Tom: But it only ran for two years, 1962 to 1963. But it spawned a lot of imitators.
More about that when we get to it.
Then Not the Nine O’Clock News, which is arguably the show which started this whole thing.
Abigoliah: It started off the satire podcast because it was me and Tom talking about Not the Nine O’Clock News then.
Yeah. And it’s taken us till Season Three for me to actually get to watch it.
All right. I’m excited.
Tom: 1979 to 1982. It’s where Rowan Atkinson got his big break.
Abigoliah: And I’ve heard of him.
Tom: And arguably it has a better claim to being the first alternative comedy on television than The Young Ones.
Abigoliah: Really? Okay.
Tom: Then, as mentioned, we’ll do The Thick of It, which was from 2005 to 2012, though it wasn’t banging out episodes every year.
Abigoliah: Okay. So it was doing the Absolutely Fabulous model, where it’d take a break and then it’d come back and then it’d take a break for two years.
Tom: Yeah.
And then, have you ever heard of The New Statesman?
Abigoliah: Is that the one with Rik Mayall?
Tom: Yes.
Abigoliah: Yeah. And we did bring this up briefly.
Was it The Young Ones? Because yes, it’s him looking very dishy compared to his normal presentation.
Abigoliah: Rik Mayall’s my boyfriend.
Tom: That was on from 1987 to 1994. That’s another ITV show, as Spitting Image was on ITV as well.
Then we’ll do Drop the Dead Donkey, which is a Channel 4 show.
Ever heard of Drop the Dead Donkey?
Abigoliah: I have no idea. What? Can you even guess what that title might mean?
I mean, it sounds like a really cringey game show, but I know one of the rules is no game shows, so I’m going to assume it’s not a game show.
Is it like a panel show?
Tom: A panel show is a game show.
So what is this? This is a sitcom set in a television newsroom.
Abigoliah: Okay.
Tom: It’s “drop the dead donkey” like a phrase. I mean, the writers invented it. What it basically means is: we have a breaking news story, so the human-interest story about the dead donkey has to go.
Abigoliah: Okay. Drop the dead donkey.
Tom: The title they pitched it with was Dead Belgians Don’t Count.
Abigoliah: Oh no!
Tom: And then the week before they submitted it, there was a huge crisis in Belgium and they were like, they might see that.
Abigoliah: Yeah, yeah.
Tom: So: Drop the Dead Donkey.
And without getting too far ahead of myself, one of the things that was interesting about that show, and one of the reasons why it’s included in this satire line-up, is that they would record very close to transmission and have topical jokes in the script because it was set in a TV newsroom. So people would naturally be talking about things that were happening in international affairs.
Abigoliah: Because it… I should ask when we get to it, but that makes me think of South Park, where they would submit everything so quickly because then it had to get through the censors, because they were like, “We can’t reshoot it.”
And they’d be like, “Oh, fine.”
Tom: There’s a Spitting Image story about that as well. But again, we’ll get to that when we get to it.
This is one for me. Is this a landmark in British comedy television? No. Do I really like it? Yes, I do.
It’s Hot Metal.
Abigoliah: What’s Hot Metal?
Tom: Another sitcom, also about news, but this time newspapers. And it is set kind of in the period that my play In the Print is about too. It went out in 1986 and 1988, and it’s a brilliant piece of work.
Abigoliah: Okay. Hot Metal — that’s a good title for a show about newspapers.
Tom: It refers to the old printing technology, which literally involved pouring hot metal into moulds to make the letters.
Abigoliah: I like it. It’s sexy.
Tom: Now, the eighth slot is a bit controversial because I had every intention from long, long ago of showing you Brass Eye. But you let slip that you’d already seen one of the episodes of Brass Eye I was going to show you.
Abigoliah: I haven’t seen an episode. I’ve seen… I misspoke. I don’t know the difference.
The only thing I remember is the sketch about the fake drugs that wound up people in Parliament. Real-life Parliament. They were like, “We aren’t talking about this.”
Tom: Yeah. I also see Brass Eye as very much The Day Today Plus.
Abigoliah: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tom: So I thought, well, maybe we’ve kind of covered that ground. And so that led me to thinking about maybe we should do W1A.
Abigoliah: Yeah. What’s W1A?
Tom: So there’s a guy called John Morton, who obviously, when we do W1A, we’ll talk about. He’d done several radio and TV shows already.
He created this sitcom starring Hugh Bonneville as Ian Fletcher, who was given the task of helping to steer the 2012 Olympics. That was called Twenty Twelve and ran for two seasons.
Abigoliah: Okay.
Tom: And then it went away again. Then somebody had the idea that the same character should take up a job in the BBC, because W1A is the beginning of the BBC postcode.
And he’s the same character, has just had another job working on the World Cup, and that series has just gone out. But W1A ran for the longest and is the best. It’s the BBC satirising itself, which I think is fun.
So which shall we pick? I’m pretty sure I want to do W1A, but how do you feel?
Abigoliah: I mean, Brass Eye sounds so interesting, but I do want to cover it.
But now that you’ve pitched W1A to me, it does sound fun.
Should we leave this one up to the listeners?
Tom: Yeah. I was sort of disinclined to do a public vote and just throw the gates wide.
Abigoliah: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Tom: Not all the listeners. Not at present.
But yes, maybe we could allow our Patreon listeners to vote between these two. Or maybe if there’s yet a third show which they think it would be scandalous to overlook, then let us know what that is as well.
But I think probably one of these two. So we’ll put a poll up.
And if you’re on the Patreon, then you can go ahead and vote on that.
Which should we watch as our final satire show? What should it be? Brass Eye, which Abigoliah has already seen part of, or W1A, which is arguably less satirical but I think nevertheless very interesting.
Abigoliah: And this is something that Tom and I, as we’re developing this podcast, have talked about doing: letting you guys pick one of the episodes.
Doing an audience pick, which we’re doing for now for Season Three and will most likely continue to do something like it.
I don’t want to promise anything for later seasons.
So if you’re not on the Patreon, at £3 a month you get ad-free listening. At £5 a month you get our bonus minis, as well as now voting for an episode that we’ll cover.
And can I tell them what we’re going to be doing in the break?
Tom: Go on.
Abigoliah: So I have been watching some television, guys, and reading some books.
We’re going to flip the script a bit and we’re going to do, on the Patreon, All American Comedy Explained, where I’m going to cover American television shows and explain them to Tom.
So unlike the minisodes, they will be full-length episodes. They will be audio only. We won’t be doing these in video unless thousands of you sign up to the Patreon and demand video.
Guys, guys, we spend a lot of time on this. We still aren’t making any money, and that’s fine. We’re happy to be doing this for you. I don’t want to guilt anyone into anything, but there’s only so much production two people can do if they have other jobs.
But yeah. The first episode we’re going to cover is I Love Lucy.
The first show we’re going to cover in All American Comedy Explained is I Love Lucy.
I’ve been looking at other stuff to maybe cover. Tom, we haven’t really talked about this, but I’d like to try to do one a month.
I’ve been looking at everything, and I know you go for themes, and I don’t. I kind of want my overall American comedy theme to just be redressing the balance.
We just have to really struggle to get a female-led show. So I’m like, I’m only going to do female-led shows and shows with people who aren’t white and see how long I can do it for.
But then I also want to do Cheers, which kind of shuts that down immediately.
So, yeah, that’s something else we’re going to do on the Patreon. That’ll be again at the £5 tier level.
Tom: Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah, that’s what we’ll do. Right. £5.
Abigoliah: Yeah.
I mean, I think this is a pretty short wrap-up, but it’s also nine o’clock at night and Tom and I’ve been doing a thousand other things in our lives.
But I just want to say, guys, this show is really fun to do.
It’s fun for me to learn and sit down and have a reason to watch comedies. And I’m really enjoying watching you guys engage and talk about these shows among yourselves and with me online.
If you like the show, tell a friend. Send it their way. Share it on your own socials if you feel so inclined.
I’m really enjoying the community we’re building here with you, the listeners, and I’m just happy to invite more people into the tent.
Tom: Absolutely. Yeah.
All right, well, until next time.
Abigoliah: We’ll see you guys later. See you in Season Three.
A little before, actually.
All right. Bye.
Tom: Bye.