Category: Content

Radio 1 last outputted their own comedy in 2014 through a programme called Phil & Alice’s comedy lounge which aired last aired in 2014, it was a section of the show titled Phil Taggart and Alice Levine which was predominantly focused on new music and filled the infamous ‘Peel slot, this means that comedy already felt  out of place on the programme.  The comedy itself was standup based on standup with the comedians taking to a stage in front of an audience and this then being recorded and subsequently broadcast, the variety that this had was huge though with their being different styles of comedians and different topics being discussed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01mqsdp

Before this, it would be fair to count Chris Moyle’s breakfast show as something that was funny and in a sense comedy due to the spontaneity of Moyles and the large team that worked with him and featured within the programme be it from Comedy Dave to the producer Aled. The reason that this was funny because of the characters and the way that Moyles would do very random items such as the games he played or the interviews he did. This last aired in 2012 and he was replaced with Nick Grimshaw.

The original dawn of comedy on Radio 1 was considered to be Jack Jackson who utilised tape recordings and comedy clips between records and used tape editing to experiment and he said to be the start of Radio 1’s relationship with comedy

Kenny Evertt is a seen as a man of pure talent, as he was a pioneer of Radio 1’s output and the comedy output particularly, he was on air from BBC Radio from 1968-1972, his show was music  based and he played relatively new music but the links between these is what he is known for with these being exceptionally funny and entirely random. The shows contained pre recorded elements, clips and alot of sarcastic comedy that relates to our own project, the things that he talked about were also very relatable to the listener.

The Marry White House Experience

This was a satire based programme that used music and clips to create comedy, with it mostly being one liners that segued into music to create the joke. This was all done in a front of a live studio audience. It also involved live sketches that would mock politicians or current affairs, however these would be a starting point and often expand outwards in to topics that did not directly relate. The Marry Whitehouse Experiment was probably the most similar thing that radio 1 aired . It utilised comedy double acts to front the programme and was heavily structured in its delivery and format. But it was ultimately funny and at the time considered to be relatively risky due to the style of comedy and its delivery (Worthington, 2012).

Armando Lannuci

This programme is similar to that of what we hear currently on radio 1 with it being fast paced and spontaneous. It had features such as the Shy Sessions with bands that wouldn’t get played elsewhere do a session with a microphone placed down the corridor, it also was heavily ‘news’ themed with items such as ‘The Height of Buildings’ and information about a song be said over it when it was being placed. It also featured mock guests that didn’t know what they were doing and were entirely false, there were also political satire elements to the programme with this occasionally featuring (Worthington, 2012).

Chris Morris,

The original dawn of comedy on Radio 1 was considered to be Jack Jackson who utilised tape recordings and comedy clips between records and used tape editing to experiment and he said to be the start of Radio 1’s relationship with comedy

Here I will analyse the current radio 1 podcasts and how we can utilise their preexisting style and implement this into our own project.

The first podcast that Radio 1 currently produce is That’s What He Said (Greg James’ podcast). This podcast mixes best bits of his daytime programme which airs 4-7 pm weekdays and exclusive games and chats for his podcast that do not air anywhere else on Radio 1.  The podcast is more than just say a new incarnation of the radio show, as it has the news reader Chris Smith involved in it as its co-host and backstage team members that produce the programme itself.

This means that the podcast is instinctively more chatty than say traditional radio where Greg James hosts the entire programme with limited interaction with other people whereas in the podcast due to the team being involved it’s much more random in terms of what is discussed in the podcast. The podcast also has reoccurring games and features that run over from podcast to podcast such as emails from listeners, this is mixed with interviews and funny features that happened on the daytime programme.  In terms of overall comedic style, I would say that this podcast revolves around the listener reaction it gets and how this is used within the podcast and this is mixed with games that in their very nature are stupid and random, meaning that overall this podcast revolves around the randomness of it.

The next podcast that I will evaluate is Nick Grimshaw’s, again it is done in a similar manner to that of Greg James’ as it has more than one person hosting it, this is regularly the shows assistant producer Fiona who acts as the second voice. In terms of what is on the podcast it is again based on the content that had happened within the show itself airing from 6:30am-10am, meaning that on this edition of the podcast it was talking about petty exes etc.  Compared to Jame’s this podcast was heavily focused on celebrity culture and entertainment news meaning the jokes that did come out of it were celebrity based. In terms of style it was very spontaneous and at times borderline stupid to make the programme funny.

Then there is the Scott Mills podcast which is an entire adaptation of his daytime programme and refers to itself as ‘Scott’s best bits without the music’.  This means it is heavily caller based, with these being random or for features, due to the nature of the podcast being daily bits from the show this does mean that its entertainment value can change rapidly.

Finally, there is Ali Plumb’s movies, the only podcast that isn’t based of highlights from a show. This podcast is specifically about movies and runs down the top 5 at the box office alongside various interviews that have been conducted over the course of that week relevant to the movies released, then there is the actual movie review which at times can be borderline funny for me personally.

Ultimately the point is that nothing similar to what we intend to pilot is being produced currently and the podcasts that are all fairly mediocre in their commitment to it as they are mostly collated best bits from their original shows rather than being standalone. Alongside this none of them are strictly based on comedy alone and they are more to serve as entertainment, furthermore, there is no current affairs based podcast that radio 1 produces. Ultimately it is clear to see why Radio 1 have launched their new commisioning strand, as their podcasts aren’t to a similar level to that of Spotify’s and we believe that a political comedy podcast would differentiate from their current output and fit the brief (that can be found here).This works towards my individual objective of creating an innovative piece of radio/podcasting that has not been created before, as nothing that Radio 1 currently outputs is politics based or purely comedy.