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Re: OT: Unbelievable Truth panel game

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Dean BedfordApr 21, 2009
 

 
On Monday, April 20, 2009, at 02:50 AM, Clitheroe Kid wrote:

>
>
> Ah, but...
>
> Reading your posts over the last year, I've sort of gotten the
> impression
> that you're a fan of stand-up comedians.
>
> Nothing wrong in that, certainly. But is a panel that consists *only* of
> stand-ups a varied enough mix to succeed in this type of format?
>
> In the old days, JAM didn't have a single stand-up comedian. Kenneth,
> Derek,
> Peter and Clement were all actors or raconteurs. Not even Kenneth was a
> stand-up comic; he was an actor, who was funny with a script, and a
> blindingly good raconteur.
>
> The Unbelieveable Truth has a panel solely comprised of stand-ups.
> It's a
> bit like the tv game show Jokers Wild, if your memories of 1970s tv go
> back
> that far. All of them good in their own right as comedians, but they
> didn't
> gell as a group.
>
> Also, the panel on The Unbelieveable Truth are just too young!
>
> This is heresy, of course, in an age which prays at the altar of the
> cult of
> youth. But people with no experience can't recreate JAM in The
> Unbelieveable
> Truth. Out of the panel you've named, only Jack Dee is really
> experienced
> enough, in show business terms, to fill the shoes of someone like Peter
> Jones or Derek Nimmo.
>
> Just a thought!
>
> Stephen
>

I wonder if it's more that it's the banter that people like and you only
get that when people really know how to push each other's buttons. Frank
Muir and Dennis Nordern worked together for years as of course did
Kenneth, Clement, Derek and Peter. Paul's improvising is the key to his
background so he knows how to work in a team too. Perhaps the stand-up
comedians don't - stand-up is an individual sport - but having a
different team every week makes it hard to build up the relationships.

Incidentally, I don't feel that I prefer stand-up comics to
non-stand-ups. As I guess is obvious, I love every aspect of the show
and pretty much everyone who has been on it. (John Junkin is the one
person who I find a bit grating, not sure why.) My all-time fave panel
would be Kenneth Williams, Paul Merton, Peter Jones and Stephen Fry,
none of whom is a standup. But I'd probably have Ross Noble as first
reserve and he is of course a stand-up comedian.

 
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