Just A Minute

 
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first recording of the new season

Messages in this topic: 1
Dean BedfordOct 23, 2008
 

 
featured Paul Merton, Graham Norton, Charles Collingwood and Shappi
Khorsandi.

Ewen Moore sent this description which I'm sure you'll find
interesting...

I thought you might be interested to know that on Saturday 17th I
finally achieved a long-held ambition and attended a JAM recording - the
first, I think, for the upcoming winter season. I was arriving home that
morning from a holiday in your homeland of New Zealand so knew I would
be somewhat jet lagged but wasn't going to let that stand in the way of
this opportunity.

The recording was at the Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House - the first
of 3 recordings (6 episodes?) to be held there for this season -
Nicholas commented in the introduction how it was nice to be back there
after quite a while away. Maybe they're recording a lot in London this
season because it's winter? I'm quite pleased, actually, because it
probably makes it easier to get better panellists. I agree with you that
last season suffered somewhat from too many new/inexperienced players.

Anyway, after a wait outside Broadcasting House, where a police car
pulled up and asked what we were all waiting to see (they seemed
somewhat bemused by the reply) we made it in and took our seats. The
first slightly odd thing was that the producer was (I think…) Claire
Jones and definitely not Tilusha Ghelani. I'm not sure why Claire Jones
has returned? Anyway, she introduced Nicholas, who came on looking every
bit the showman and in surprisingly good shape for his age. He's
definitely of the old school of showbiz - a real old fashioned
entertainer who seems to come alive when he's in front of the audience.
He welcomed us and introduced the panel for the two recordings -
regulars Paul Merton and Graham Norton and two more surprising guests -
Charles Collingwood (returning after a bit of an absence) and Shappi
Khorsandi, who, like you, I wasn't necessarily expecting to return for
another shot. I was extremely pleased to see Charles - he's one of my
favourite 'minor' players and I'd been a bit worried that people like
him were being phased out in favour of 'trendier' faces. He is quite
gentle and surreal and reminds me quite a lot of Peter Jones. Shappi was
surprisingly good - she's definitely starting to get the hang of it and
I wouldn't be surprised if she starts to become quite a regular player
over the years. She struggled against Paul and Graham's lightning wit
and on-the-ball challenges but fought fiercely and was also thoroughly
endearing, definitely winning audience support! In the second recording
she particularly started to get the hang of things. The second recording
was actually the better of the two as all four players seemed thoroughly
warmed up by then and Charles also made a much more dramatic
contribution than in the first recording - even getting up in mock anger
at one point and threatening to walk out, during a round on 'clubbing'
where Paul and Graham were implying that he spent his spare time hanging
around outside nightclubs trying to pick up young girls!

I think the second recording will be the first to be broadcast - it was
a Christmas/New Year show and is due to go out on Monday 29th December -
and featured rounds such as 'what I got for Christmas' (which Nicholas
changed to 'what I was given for Christmas' in a protest against the
poor standard of English) and 'my new year's resolutions'. There was
quite a lot of humour derived from the fact that, of course, Christmas
is still several months away. There was also quite a lot of humour
coming from the fact that (apparently) the tables were set up further
apart than normal and Nicholas couldn't quite hear what the contestants
were saying, which made his job rather difficult! Claire Jones offered,
between the two recordings, to have everything repositioned but Nicholas
declined, saying that it would be too much hassle for everyone.

I enjoyed seeing how well Nicholas worked the audience and how much
warmth and camaraderie there was between everyone on the stage - how
they seemed pleased to have Charles Collingwood back, how they looked
out for Shappi Khorsandi, whilst still being competitive… needless to
say, Paul won both games although it seemed to me he wasn't quite on top
form - he seemed to be coasting somewhat. Graham was probably the
funniest contributor to the shows.

They're back recording in the Radio Theatre on November 1st although
they couldn't tell us who the panellists would be. I'm hoping they
manage to get Stephen Fry as I always enjoy a show when he's on and he
might be able to do it given it's in Broadcasting House. Anyway, I
thought you would enjoy this preview of the forthcoming season and
please feel free to use any of it in your blog. Thanks for the great
site - keep up the excellent work!

 
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