Radio comedy shows

[Clare]

I couldn't see a subforum for radio, so I'll just pop a thread here.

I wonder if anyone remembers these radio comedies I used to listen to sometimes (or my parents did):

Radio Active
The Grumbleweeds
Bernie Clifton's Comedy Shop
Weekending (This had the intro to "Party Fears Two" by the Associates as its theme tune.)

There was a sketch show whose name I've forgotten. It was on Radio 4, and it had Nick Revell and Any Hamilton. Any ideas?

[staffslad]

Re: Radio comedy shows

I couldn't see a subforum for radio, so I'll just pop a thread here.

I wonder if anyone remembers these radio comedies I used to listen to sometimes (or my parents did):

Radio Active
The Grumbleweeds
Bernie Clifton's Comedy Shop
Weekending (This had the intro to "Party Fears Two" by the Associates as its theme tune.)

There was a sketch show whose name I've forgotten. It was on Radio 4, and it had Nick Revell and Any Hamilton. Any ideas?

I think it was The Million Pound Radio Show.

I remember the ones on your list. Some get repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra from time to time.

I used to like The News Huddlines, with Roy Hudd, which ran on Radio 2 for many years. Going back further, Round the Horne with its brilliant double entendres and innuendo, quite daring for its day, particularly Julian and Sandy.

[staffslad]

Re: Radio comedy shows

Also I loved I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, especially when Humphrey Lyttleton was chairman. Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer, Graham Garden and the late Willie Rushton were the best panel imo .

[Twocky61]

Re: Radio comedy shows

There was ITMA (It's That Man Again) my Grandad liked

[George 1978]

Re: Radio comedy shows

The News Huddlines is one show that comes to mind - Roy Hudd and June Whitfield doing so many characters.

Did Weekending have an audience laughter track on it? I don't remember one.

Would Just a Minute count as a comedy show? I know that the panel made people laugh, so I assume that it was.

A lot of the shows on at 6.30 pm "just after the Six O'clock News" slot on Radio 4 are radio comedy shows - I remember one from the mid to late 1990s called First Impressions - Steve Nallion was always Margaret Thatcher on it, and Kate Robbins always did the Queen. And Bobby Davro even did Johnny Mathis one week. True.

[Clare]

Re: Radio comedy shows

I think it was The Million Pound Radio Show.

That's it! Thanks!

[George 1978]

Re: Radio comedy shows

I suppose that Just a Minute is a worthy mention as it has reached its 50th anniversary. I love the "repetition" ones - I remember someone using Lulu's name when talking about something, and someone buzzed in and said "repetition of the word Lu".

[staffslad]

Re: Radio comedy shows

A couple of long-running shows that stretched into the 70s were The Navy Lark and The Men from the Ministry.

It Sticks Out Half A Mile was a spin-off from Dad's Army with Bill Pertwee and Ian Lavender renovating a pier and seta couple of years after the war. John Le Mesurier also starred. Arthur Lowe was in the pilot but passed away prior to the full series.

[Clare]

Re: Radio comedy shows

A couple of long-running shows that stretched into the 70s were The Navy Lark and The Men from the Ministry.

It Sticks Out Half A Mile was a spin-off from Dad's Army with Bill Pertwee and Ian Lavender renovating a pier and seta couple of years after the war. John Le Mesurier also starred. Arthur Lowe was in the pilot but passed away prior to the full series.

And "The Navy Lark" featured Jon Pertwee, some kind of cousin of Bill, I gather.

[Richard1978]

Re: Radio comedy shows

It Sticks Out Half A Mile was a spin-off from Dad's Army with Bill Pertwee and Ian Lavender renovating a pier and seta couple of years after the war. John Le Mesurier also starred. Arthur Lowe was in the pilot but passed away prior to the full series.

I've heard about this series but have never had the chance to hear it.

There were 2 TV versions with different casts & renamed characters. Walking The Planks, a pilot made by the BBC, & High & Dry by Yorkshire Television for ITV.

[staffslad]

Re: Radio comedy shows

I've heard about this series but have never had the chance to hear it.

There were 2 TV versions with different casts & renamed characters. Walking The Planks, a pilot made by the BBC, & High & Dry by Yorkshire Television for ITV.

It Sticks Out Half A Mile turns up on Radio 4 Extra from time to time.

I am not sure if I have seen the pilot and full TV series; it doesn't ring any bells.

Morcombe and Wise made a radio comedy series for the BBC around 1976.

Richard Briers starred in a number of 'Doctor' radio series from the late 60s. I think there were 2: Doctor in the House and Doctor at Large.

[staffslad]

Re: Radio comedy shows

Another series which ran for many years and which was extremely popular was The Clitheroe Kid, starring Jimmy Clitheroe. It ran from 1957 to 1972. I remember listening to the later episodes on our old transistor radio.

[zabadak]

Re: Radio comedy shows

The Navy Lark - I have only heard on ep of it but it made me chuckle as a yoof

[akb48fan]

Re: Radio comedy shows

The Mary Whitehouse Experience on Radio 1 was quite amusing.

[staffslad]

Re: Radio comedy shows

I remember The Clitheroe Kid from listening to episodes in the late 60s/early 70s. Jimmy's sister had such a refined accent compared to the rest of her family and dozy boyfriend, and it was the interplay between he and Jimmy that I looked forward to most.

The Navy Lark and Men from the Ministry were both great series. Wilfred Hyde-White starred in the earlier series of Men but I don't remember them.

Adrian Juste presented a Saturday lunchtime show for many years in the 80s, where he would play records interspersed with clips from BBC series like Hancock.

Steptoe and Son ran on the radio, but I believe the stories were just adaptations from the TV series.

In the 70s, Tony Brandon starred in a Saturday lunchtime sitcom that I would listen to every week. I can't remember it too well now, but I think there was a foreign nanny in the household.

The very un-PC Hello Cheeky with John Junkin, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Barry Cryer did skits and sketches. I remember listening to it in the mid-70s.