Sketchorama

Last updated

Sketchorama
Genre Comedy
Running time25 minutes
Country of origin United Kingdom
Language(s) English
Home station BBC Radio 4
Starring Humphrey Ker (Series 1)
Thom Tuck (Series 2 - 3)
Isy Suttie (Series 4)
Created byGus Beattie
Produced byGus Beattie
The Comedy Unit
Original releaseJune 2012 
August 2015
No. of series4
No. of episodes16
Audio format Stereophonic sound
Website At BBC Radio 4

Sketchorama was a radio show created by The Comedy Unit for BBC Radio 4. It featured a rotating cast of comedic sketch groups who performed in front of a live audience. The groups were introduced by a host comedian on each series: Humphrey Ker, Thom Tuck or Isy Suttie. The shows final series was in August 2015. [1]

Contents

Episodes

Series 1 [2]

EpisodeTitleHosted ByFeaturingOriginal air date
1"Episode 1" Humphrey Ker Delete the Banjax, Lady Garden, Idiots of Ants26 June 2012 (2012-06-26)
2"Episode 2"Humphrey KerNoise Next Door, the Boom Jennies, Jigsaw3 July 2012 (2012-07-03)
3"Episode 3"Humphrey KerThree Englishmen, Max and Ivan, Frisky & Mannish10 July 2012 (2012-07-10)
4"Episode 4"Humphrey KerHow Do I Get Up There?, The Ginge, The Geordie and The Geek, Pappy's17 July 2012 (2012-07-17)

Series 2 [3]

EpisodeTitleHosted ByFeaturingOriginal air date
1"Episode 1" Thom Tuck the Beta Males, Shirley & Shirley, Jonny and the Baptists29 April 2013 (2013-04-29)
2"Episode 2"Thom TuckSo On and So Forth, That Pair, Sheeps6 May 2013 (2013-05-06)
3"Episode 3"Thom TuckMcNeill & Pamphilon, Barbershopera and Wittank13 May 2013 (2013-05-13)
4"Episode 4"Thom TuckAbsolutely, Endemic20 May 2013 (2013-05-20)

Series 3 [4]

EpisodeTitleHosted ByFeaturingOriginal air date
1"Episode 1"Thom TuckCroft and Pearce, Beasts and Casual Violence23 June 2014 (2014-06-23)
2"Episode 2"Thom TuckMixed Doubles, the Real MacGuffins, Bob and Jim30 June 2014 (2014-06-30)
3"Episode 3"Thom TuckFour Screws Loose, The Jest, Birthday Girls7 July 2014 (2014-07-07)
4"Episode 4"Thom TuckThe Color Ham, Lead Pencil, Foil14 August 2014 (2014-08-14)

Series 4 [5]

EpisodeTitleHosted ByFeaturingOriginal air date
1"Episode 1" Isy Suttie The Twins Macabre, Massive Dad, The Penny Dreadfuls6 July 2015 (2015-07-06)
1"Episode 1"Isy SuttieClever Peter, Hennessey and Friends, In Cahoots13 July 2015 (2015-07-13)
3"Episode 3"Isy SuttieFrisky & Mannish, Thünderbards, Lazy Susan30 July 2015 (2015-07-30)
4"Episode 4"Isy SuttieAunty Donna, Gein's Family Gift Shop, Beasts26 August 2015 (2015-08-26)

Specials

EpisodeTitleHosted ByFeaturingOriginal air date
1"Episode 1 [6] " Thom Tuck Croft & Pearce, Mixed Doubles, Bob & Jim27 December 2014 (2014-12-27)

Production

Producer Gus Beattie began the show after noticing there weren’t many shows showcasing sketch talent. [7] Beattie chose which sketch groups performed on the show and found many of the groups at the Edinburgh Festival and online. The chosen groups gather at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to perform before a live audience.

Reception

The British Comedy Guide described it as "a format for Radio 4 which offers the same popular showcase dynamic as stand-up shows, but purely for comedy sketch groups. Sketchorama aimed to bring hidden gems and established live acts to the airwaves offering a truly distinctive and ambitious show." [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Radio</span> Division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation

BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the state media outlet British Broadcasting Corporation. The service provides national radio stations covering the majority of musical genres, as well as local radio stations covering local news, affairs and interests. It also oversees online audio content.

BBC Radio 4 Extra is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the principal broadcaster of the BBC's spoken-word archive, and as a result the majority of its programming originates from that archive. It also broadcasts extended and companion programmes to those broadcast on Radio 4, and provides a "catch-up" service for certain programmes.

<i>Little Britain</i> (TV series) British character-based sketch comedy

Little Britain is a British sketch comedy series that began as a radio show in 2000 and ran as a television series between 2003 and 2006. It was written and performed by David Walliams and Matt Lucas. Financed by the BBC, the radio series was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4, with the initial two television series premiering on BBC Three and the third and final series on BBC One.

<i>The Now Show</i> British radio comedy show

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 hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. The show used to feature regular appearances by Jon Holmes, Laura Shavin, a monologue by Marcus Brigstocke, and music by Mitch Benn, Pippa Evans or Adam Kay, but now features a much wider range of contributors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Horne</span> British comedian and musician

Alexander James Jeffery Horne is a British comedian. Horne is the creator of BAFTA award-winning TV series Taskmaster, in which he takes the role of assistant to the Taskmaster Greg Davies. He is the host and bandleader of comedic band The Horne Section. Horne hosts the band's eponymous podcast and television series, and has appeared with them on BBC Radio 4, TV channel Dave, and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Zaltzman</span> British comedian

Andrew Zaltzman is a British comedian who largely deals in political and sport-related material.

<i>That Mitchell and Webb Look</i> British sketch comedy show

That Mitchell and Webb Look is a British sketch comedy television show starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb that ran from 2006 to 2010. Many of its characters and sketches were first featured in the duo's radio show That Mitchell and Webb Sound.

The Unbelievable Truth is a BBC radio comedy panel game devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith. The game is chaired by David Mitchell and is described in the programme's introduction as 'the panel game built on truth and lies.' The object of the game is for each panellist to deliver a short lecture about a given subject, which should be completely false save for five true statements which they must attempt to smuggle past the other players. The first series began broadcasting in 2007, and the 29th series began airing in May 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexis Dubus</span>

Alexis Dubus is an English alternative comedian and actor known for his French alter ego Marcel Lucont.

Anna Crilly is an English actress and comedian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humphrey Ker</span> British actor and comedian

David Humphrey Rivers Ker is a British actor, writer, comedian and football executive, who is a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Penny Dreadfuls.

Frisky & Mannish is a British musical comedy double act, created and performed by singer Laura Corcoran and pianist-singer Matthew Floyd Jones. Known for their pop music parodies, the duo have toured the fringe festival and comedy festival circuits in the United Kingdom and Australia, and appeared on a number of British television and radio programmes. The act's name derives from two incidental characters mentioned in one couplet of Byron's Don Juan: "Lady Fitz-Frisky, and Miss Maevia Mannish, / Both longed extremely to be sung in Spanish"

<i>Newsjack</i> Satirical sketch show on BBC Radio

Newsjack was a British satirical sketch show which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra between 2009 and 2021. It was hosted by Miles Jupp, Justin Edwards, Romesh Ranganathan (2014), Nish Kumar (2015-2016), Angela Barnes (2017-2018) and Kiri Pritchard-McLean (2019-2021). It was first broadcast on 4 June 2009. The series was notable for having an "Open door" policy on writing, advertising itself as "the scrapbook sketch show written entirely by the Great British public" meaning that unsolicited writers without contract to the BBC could send in material. The show was designed to give new writers an opportunity to get material broadcast. It was hoped by the people behind the show that it would be a modern version of Week Ending, an earlier sketch show which also accepted material the same way. Most shows were recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Sinha</span> British stand-up comedian

Supriya Kumar "Paul" Sinha is an English professional quizzer, comedian, doctor and broadcaster. He has written and performed extensively on BBC Radio 4 Extra, and is one of the six Chasers on the ITV game show The Chase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elis James</span> Welsh comedian

Owain Elis James is a British comedian, broadcaster and actor from Haverfordwest, Wales. James is best known as a stand-up comedian, his weekly radio show and podcast for BBC Radio 5 Live, his football punditry and presenting and for his TV acting roles. James's first language is Welsh and he performs stand-up in English and Welsh.

<i>John Finnemores Souvenir Programme</i> BBC radio programme

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is a sketch comedy series broadcast on BBC Radio 4. John Finnemore is the sole writer and performs with Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan. The first series was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011, and further series have followed annually. A special edition recorded at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was broadcast in 2012. A 45-minute special containing new material was broadcast on 27th May 2023, the end credits hinting at a possible new series to follow. All nine series have been released on CD.

Jason Forbes is a British actor, writer, comedian, impressionist, and TV presenter. He is best known for the CITV series Horrible Science; The Mash Report on BBC Two; as PC Peasey in the Professor Branestawm movies on BBC One; and as a member of the award-winning sketch trio 'Daphne'.

Daphne Sounds Expensive is a BBC Radio 4 comedy series, written and performed by the sketch comedy trio 'Daphne'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Parris</span> English comedian (born 1984)

Rachel Sarah Parris is an English comedian, musician, actress and presenter. She hosts the satirical news show Late Night Mash.

Darren Harriott is a British stand-up comedian from Oldbury, West Midlands. He was nominated for the Best Newcomer Award and Best Show Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017 and 2019 respectively.

References

  1. "Sketchorama Series 4, Episode 4". British Comedy Guide. British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  2. "Sketchorama Series 1". BBC Radio 4. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  3. "Sketchorama Series 2". BBC Radio 4. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  4. "Sketchorama Series 3". BBC Radio 4. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  5. "Sketchorama Series 4". BBC Radio 4. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  6. "Sketchorama Extra". BBC Radio 4 Extra. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  7. "Sketch groups for Radio 4's Sketchorama Series 3 revealed - News". Comedy.co.uk. 29 April 2014.
  8. "Sketchorama - Radio 4 Sketch Show". Comedy.co.uk. Retrieved 29 November 2021.