Sunday Night Sketches and Souvenirs
We're really looking forward to 7:15pm this Sunday because it's the final episode of John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme on Radio 4. ThisÌýpromises to provide 30 minutes of edifying entertainment for your ears, performed by Finnemore alongside Carrie Quinlan, Lawry Lewin and Simon Kane.
John's had plenty of time to hone his comedy craft, as the creator of Radio 4 sitcom Cabin Pressure, as well as writing for Dead Ringers, That Mitchell & Webb Look and David Mitchell’s Soap Box. And yes, he’s also that bloke off Miranda...
The show is packed with comedy gems, from cautionary tales about the hazards of post-exam answer swapping to a current affairs clip in which Ministers helpfully call for a national debate:
'Everyone in Britain needs to compare diaries, find a day we can all do, then meet up, perhaps somewhere conveniently near the middle, like Nottingham...'
Then there are the letters from Jeykll to Hyde...
'If you will not respect our home, will you please at least respect our body. We both have to live in it, and as a lifelong member of the Temperance Society, I deeply resent getting your hangovers.'
...and back again:
'Give it up Doctor Stupidhead. There's nothing you can do to stop me so don't even try. Now I'm going to wee in your hat.'
And last week's episode finally answered one of life's great conundrums: Why is it that key-cutters always sell trophies on the side? C'mon, admit it, we’ve all thought about it.
So don't forget:
Time & Date: Sunday 9th October @ 7:15pm
Location: Anywhere -Ìýyour pod, pad, puter or, you could even use a radio
And in the meantime, you can still listen to last week's episode here.
Plus we have an exclusive excerpt from John's notebook below, giving you a unique insight into the process of sketch writing, direct from the horse's mouth... or pen.
John writes...
Here is the page of my notebook in which I came up with the 'Tardis Noise' sketch - which I did, as I often do, by writing something that annoys me in the middle of the page, and seeing what happens next.
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There's two things I find interesting about what happened in this case.
Firstly, the false start with the princess who wants to be a police dog handler, which is a perfectly decent starting point, but didn't seem to go anywhere. Had I written it, thatÌýsketch would have been a more straight-forward attack on the Follow Your Dream thing that annoyed me in the first place. Whereas the TardisÌýsketch isn't really about that at all; it's a character-driven story.
Secondly, for most of its development, the Tardis sketchÌýseemed to beÌýabout dodgem cars.Ìý It's interesting how late in the construction of the sketch the Tardis noise itself entered the picture.
Useful Links:
The final episode of John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme airs onÌýRadio 4 at 7:15pm on Sunday 9th October.Ìý
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