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Topic: Last Night's Recording

Message 1 / 6
StevenMay 4, 2011

Just a quick update on last night's taping which i was lucky enough to attend. As has already been noted the panel was Paul, Sue, Stephen and first timer Fi Glover (Radio 4 presenter). Stephen was brilliant as always, Sue was on stunning form, Fi was quite sweet, but suffered from first appearance syndrome and was kind of over-shadowed. Paul was strangely subdued and seemd a bit distant, never able to talk for long before stumbling to a halt. I wonder if he had something on his mind? Hopefully nothing too serious if so. There was also a film crew there which filmed a special 2 rounds for inclusion in a documentary that Sue was filming, for Sky about her re-learning an early skill (playing the piano) so there was a lot of footage taken of all the panellists playing. Something to look out for...

<<<< 5214 >>>>

Topic: Re: Last Night's Recording

Message 2 / 6
Espen KrømkeMay 4, 2011

On 04/05/11 12:41, Steven wrote:

> Paul was strangely subdued and seemd a bit distant, never able to talk for long before stumbling to a halt. I wonder if he had something on his mind?

I think he has been like this at some earlier random shows too. Maybe
he's tired of JAM now and then?
Or maybe he take a step back if he sees that the other participants are
doing a good job. I actually suspect the latter. Cause when the others
have been really bad, I think Paul has gone out of his skin (as we say
in Norway) in order to create humor, he's almost frantic at times.

Same goes with Nicolas, I am convinced he does some of the judgements to
support those who are "on a roll", giving them the advantage just to let
them go on if the audience likes it. Graham is one of those who I think
has got a lot of "goodwill" in this way, cause he is almost guaranteed
to be funny.

And the opposite with Clement Freud: Because he was best enjoyed in
short segments (really, he was not that funny), plus he was such a
competitive player, Nic often ruled unfairly against him just to balance
things out.

<<<< 5219 >>>>

Topic: Re: Last Night's Recording

Message 3 / 6
Dave BMay 4, 2011

Hello all,

I made a fair few notes whilst attending last night's (3rd May) recording of Just A Minute at the BBC Theatre at the south end of Portland Place. My intention was to share them with you, but hopefully without any spoilers.

I arrived at the Theatre at 4.45pm well before admittance at 6.15pm in time for the 7.30pm start. I was 9th in the queue when I joined it, but with friends joining friends I fell back to 12th on admittance.

It was a sunny afternoon and I sat down on the pavement with my back to the BBC's pale stonewalls, and watched the rush hour develop. Not something I am used to, not living in or working in a big city. I was glad of my Ipod.

At 5.15 with an hour to go I don't think 50 people were lined up down the pavement. But in the last hour the queue extended out of sight beyond the curve in the building. When the doors opened the first few people were called to the bag search, but I was allowed through. On entry I was given a number 12 sticker and my ticket bar code was scanned. As the sun had left the street, it had begun to get quite chilly on the pavement and I was glad of my warm jacket and cap.

We were guided down a corridor and into a lounge where plenty of us found a seat and plenty did not. Tea and coffee (reasonably priced) and some alcohol were available, as were chocolates and snacks. The tail-end of the queue was guided into a second lounge.

There were bathrooms on the corridor but they were designed for the You and Yours studio audience, i.e. not enough to go around, although perfectly modern and clean.

The big clock in the lounge said 7.15pm and I made a mistake of not moving and standing by the exit to the corridor. The quickest to the corridor got the seats closest to the stage.

I think the tail-enders who had waited the shortest time from the second lounge, were sent to the balcony, which, though elevated, was furthest from the stage.

The theatre itself consisted of a windowless room with rows of red seats bolted to a floor with a grey carpet. Maybe there were 20 seats in a row, about 25 rows deep, but this is a guess.

The raised stage had a huge brownish curtain as a back drop. On the stage were 3 tables each with two seats, which, in the theatre lighting, looked green for the contestants and brown for the Chairman and Whistleblower. There were two glowing Radio 4 signs behind the tables. The tables were arranged in an arc. The tables had 5 bulky microphones on stout arms. There were 5 bottles of water.

The Producer Claire Jones appeared and welcomed the seated audience. She asked us, no, told us, to laugh at anything we suspected may be a joke, telling us not to smile, but laugh. She explained the first recording would be broadcast on the 30th May. She asked us to give a big hand to Nicholas.

Nicholas then came around the curtain from its rear, to great applause, carrying a red microphone. He was wearing a red and grey pinstripe blazer, and his grey locks were falling across his forehead.

He reminded us that this was radio and we had to express ourselves loudly here. He said we would feel fools if when we came to hear the broadcast we had failed to laugh. He, alas, referred to 4 pairs of contestants.

Nic then told us we had an outstanding panel to look forwards to...who could it be? He announced Paul Merton and he entered from behind the curtain, to great applause, then Sue Perkins to great applause, then Fi Glover, which was a surprise given she is a serious broadcaster (my opinion), and then Stephen Fry, which would have

knocked us off of our feet had we not been sat down. I suppose the twitter crowd knew.

They seated themselves from left to right as we looked at the stage, first Paul, who in the studio lights, appeared to be wearing a pale pink open necked shirt. Next was

Sue who had a red t-shirt under her black suit jacket. Then sat Sarah Sharpe, the Whistleblower, who was in a pink blouse and sported a headset over her ears; then Nicholas. Next, Fi was in a white blouse, and Stephen, on the right end, was wearing a green jumper.

Nicholas explained the buzzers and lights and each member pressed theirs. The light box, he explained, had 4 lights. Paul's was white, Sue's was green, Fi's scarlet and Stephen's was yellow.

Sue opened with a joke to get us laughing - something about a large toothed celebrity and a large aperitif. Paul made a Bin Ladin quip, but I am not sure if it was in the preamble or the show itself.

Then Nic kicked off with WELCOME to just a minute. The Minute Waltz was barely audible. We all clapped and cheered, but shut up hastily as he started to introduce the panel. Alas, he again referred to 4 pairs of contestants. I hope the producer can cut out the word pairs.

I won't write about the rounds so as not to spoil it, though I was pleased that a certain subject came up that allowed a brief tribute to the Only Fools and Horses BBC TV comedy writer John Sullivan, who died a week or so ago.

Paul, as someone has already noted, seemed detached, listening to the others whilst looking into space. Sue continually looked into the audience seeking reaction. Fi, small in stature, was dwarfed by Stephen, who sat hunched over his table, often with the fingers of his hands linked.

What struck me were the sound levels. When we listen on the radio or other media we receive the sound taken from the microphones in front of the panel’s faces.

In the theatre what came to us was obscured by the audiences noises and of competing panel members. Often, especially from Nic, and also Fi, it was a mumble.

At the end of the show Nicolas conducted the audience to give higher and higher levels of cheers and applause.

At half time, as someone has mentioned, a Sky TV crew came in and the team did a make believe introduction and end to a make believe show, and then repeated two of the subjects for the cameras. Truly repetition, if ever there was such a thing. Sue Perkins has been having the crew follow her for a TV programme she is making. Paul feigned alarm at having a camera shooting over his shoulder, and I cannot recall a time when I have seen him filmed from that angle - they were probably after an across the tables shot of Stephen.

At 8.26pm the next show began, and lest I forget, we were out on the street at 9.15 pm. The second show continued as the first. Nic claimed two hiccup attacks.

The first subject was The best way to *********. The 9th subject was The worst way to *******. Nicolas, alas said that we had discussed the first of these "a few weeks ago" when the panel was last together, and now could Stephen discuss the opposite? Stephen' s correction to Nic totally passed Nic by, and he carried on on that line. Towards the end, Nic spoonerised Sue's name to Poo, but that was lost, to me at least, amid some mumbling and the spoonerism was missed.

At the end of the show, the producer asked Nic to do two retakes, to edit out the confusion over The best/worst way to ******* and Nic appeared a bit embarrassed. She also got him to redo the Poo mistake, but when Nic explained it was a spoonserism and the audience found the funny side of it, the producer said she would revisit the issue, by popular demand. We shall see.

Then she announced the new series would start on 16th May, and the panel left, waving to applause, and disappeared behind the curtain whence they came.

This left Nic on stage, briefly alone, and I scrambled for my ticket and a pen. No one else was making a b-line for him, but, as I neared the stage, I was turned away by a staff member. Not allowed. Eventually Nic left with some Production Guests.

I SHALL try and go again.

Dave

From: Espen Krømke <espen.kromke@...>
To: just-a-minute@...
Sent: Wed, 4 May, 2011 11:50:08 AM
Subject: Re: [just-a-minute] Last Night's Recording

On 04/05/11 12:41, Steven wrote:
> Paul was strangely subdued and seemd a bit distant, never able to talk for long before stumbling to a halt. I wonder if he had something on his mind?

I think he has been like this at some earlier random shows too. Maybe
he's tired of JAM now and then?
Or maybe he take a step back if he sees that the other participants are
doing a good job. I actually suspect the latter. Cause when the others
have been really bad, I think Paul has gone out of his skin (as we say
in Norway) in order to create humor, he's almost frantic at times.

Same goes with Nicolas, I am convinced he does some of the judgements to
support those who are "on a roll", giving them the advantage just to let
them go on if the audience likes it. Graham is one of those who I think
has got a lot of "goodwill" in this way, cause he is almost guaranteed
to be funny.

And the opposite with Clement Freud: Because he was best enjoyed in
short segments (really, he was not that funny), plus he was such a
competitive player, Nic often ruled unfairly against him just to balance
things out.

<<<< 5220 >>>>

Topic: Re: Last Night's Recording

Message 4 / 6
nylon netMay 4, 2011

If the police ever become involved, your detailed account will be valuable forensic evidence of the event :-)

Thanks for that.

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: pondydave@...
Sent: Wed, 4 May 2011 13:26:00 -0700 (PDT)
To: just-a-minute@...
Subject: Re: [just-a-minute] Last Night's Recording

Hello all,

I made a fair few notes whilst attending last night's (3rd May) recording of Just A Minute at the BBC Theatre at the south end of Portland Place. My intention was to share them with you, but hopefully without any spoilers.

I arrived at the Theatre at 4.45pm well before admittance at 6.15pm in time for the 7.30pm start. I was 9th in the queue when I joined it, but with friends joining friends I fell back to 12th on admittance.

It was a sunny afternoon and I sat down on the pavement with my back to the BBC's pale stonewalls, and watched the rush hour develop. Not something I am used to, not living in or working in a big city. I was glad of my Ipod.

At 5.15 with an hour to go I don't think 50 people were lined up down the pavement. But in the last hour the queue extended out of sight beyond the curve in the building. When the doors opened the first few people were called to the bag search, but I was allowed through. On entry I was given a number 12 sticker and my ticket bar code was scanned. As the sun had left the street, it had begun to get quite chilly on the pavement and I was glad of my warm jacket and cap.

We were guided down a corridor and into a lounge where plenty of us found a seat and plenty did not. Tea and coffee (reasonably priced) and some alcohol were available, as were chocolates and snacks. The tail-end of the queue was guided into a second lounge.

There were bathrooms on the corridor but they were designed for the You and Yours studio audience, i.e. not enough to go around, although perfectly modern and clean.

The big clock in the lounge said 7.15pm and I made a mistake of not moving and standing by the exit to the corridor. The quickest to the corridor got the seats closest to the stage.

I think the tail-enders who had waited the shortest time from the second lounge, were sent to the balcony, which, though elevated, was furthest from the stage.

The theatre itself consisted of a windowless room with rows of red seats bolted to a floor with a grey carpet. Maybe there were 20 seats in a row, about 25 rows deep, but this is a guess.

The raised stage had a huge brownish curtain as a back drop. On the stage were 3 tables each with two seats, which, in the theatre lighting, looked green for the contestants and brown for the Chairman and Whistleblower. There were two glowing Radio 4 signs behind the tables. The tables were arranged in an arc. The tables had 5 bulky microphones on stout arms. There were 5 bottles of water.

The Producer Claire Jones appeared and welcomed the seated audience. She asked us, no, told us, to laugh at anything we suspected may be a joke, telling us not to smile, but laugh. She explained the first recording would be broadcast on the 30th May. She asked us to give a big hand to Nicholas.

Nicholas then came around the curtain from its rear, to great applause, carrying a red microphone. He was wearing a red and grey pinstripe blazer, and his grey locks were falling across his forehead.

He reminded us that this was radio and we had to express ourselves loudly here. He said we would feel fools if when we came to hear the broadcast we had failed to laugh. He, alas, referred to 4 pairs of contestants.

Nic then told us we had an outstanding panel to look forwards to...who could it be? He announced Paul Merton and he entered from behind the curtain, to great applause, then Sue Perkins to great applause, then Fi Glover, which was a surprise given she is a serious broadcaster (my opinion), and then Stephen Fry, which would have
knocked us off of our feet had we not been sat down. I suppose the twitter crowd knew.

They seated themselves from left to right as we looked at the stage, first Paul, who in the studio lights, appeared to be wearing a pale pink open necked shirt. Next was
Sue who had a red t-shirt under her black suit jacket. Then sat Sarah Sharpe, the Whistleblower, who was in a pink blouse and sported a headset over her ears; then Nicholas. Next, Fi was in a white blouse, and Stephen, on the right end, was wearing a green jumper.

Nicholas explained the buzzers and lights and each member pressed theirs. The light box, he explained, had 4 lights. Paul's was white, Sue's was green, Fi's scarlet and Stephen's was yellow.

Sue opened with a joke to get us laughing - something about a large toothed celebrity and a large aperitif. Paul made a Bin Ladin quip, but I am not sure if it was in the preamble or the show itself.

Then Nic kicked off with WELCOME to just a minute. The Minute Waltz was barely audible. We all clapped and cheered, but shut up hastily as he started to introduce the panel. Alas, he again referred to 4 pairs of contestants. I hope the producer can cut out the word pairs.

I won't write about the rounds so as not to spoil it, though I was pleased that a certain subject came up that allowed a brief tribute to the Only Fools and Horses BBC TV comedy writer John Sullivan, who died a week or so ago.

Paul, as someone has already noted, seemed detached, listening to the others whilst looking into space. Sue continually looked into the audience seeking reaction. Fi, small in stature, was dwarfed by Stephen, who sat hunched over his table, often with the fingers of his hands linked.

What struck me were the sound levels. When we listen on the radio or other media we receive the sound taken from the microphones in front of the panel’s faces.
In the theatre what came to us was obscured by the audiences noises and of competing panel members. Often, especially from Nic, and also Fi, it was a mumble.

At the end of the show Nicolas conducted the audience to give higher and higher levels of cheers and applause.

At half time, as someone has mentioned, a Sky TV crew came in and the team did a make believe introduction and end to a make believe show, and then repeated two of the subjects for the cameras. Truly repetition, if ever there was such a thing. Sue Perkins has been having the crew follow her for a TV programme she is making. Paul feigned alarm at having a camera shooting over his shoulder, and I cannot recall a time when I have seen him filmed from that angle - they were probably after an across the tables shot of Stephen.

At 8.26pm the next show began, and lest I forget, we were out on the street at 9.15 pm. The second show continued as the first. Nic claimed two hiccup attacks.
The first subject was The best way to *********. The 9th subject was The worst way to *******. Nicolas, alas said that we had discussed the first of these "a few weeks ago" when the panel was last together, and now could Stephen discuss the opposite? Stephen' s correction to Nic totally passed Nic by, and he carried on on that line. Towards the end, Nic spoonerised Sue's name to Poo, but that was lost, to me at least, amid some mumbling and the spoonerism was missed.

At the end of the show, the producer asked Nic to do two retakes, to edit out the confusion over The best/worst way to ******* and Nic appeared a bit embarrassed. She also got him to redo the Poo mistake, but when Nic explained it was a spoonserism and the audience found the funny side of it, the producer said she would revisit the issue, by popular demand. We shall see.

Then she announced the new series would start on 16th May, and the panel left, waving to applause, and disappeared behind the curtain whence they came.
This left Nic on stage, briefly alone, and I scrambled for my ticket and a pen. No one else was making a b-line for him, but, as I neared the stage, I was turned away by a staff member. Not allowed. Eventually Nic left with some Production Guests.

I SHALL try and go again.

Dave

From: Espen Krømke <espen.kromke@...>
To: just-a-minute@...
Sent: Wed, 4 May, 2011 11:50:08 AM
Subject: Re: [just-a-minute] Last Night's Recording

On 04/05/11 12:41, Steven wrote:
> Paul was strangely subdued and seemd a bit distant, never able to talk for long before stumbling to a halt. I wonder if he had something on his mind?

I think he has been like this at some earlier random shows too. Maybe
he's tired of JAM now and then?
Or maybe he take a step back if he sees that the other participants are
doing a good job. I actually suspect the latter. Cause when the others
have been really bad, I think Paul has gone out of his skin (as we say
in Norway) in order to create humor, he's almost frantic at times.

Same goes with Nicolas, I am convinced he does some of the judgements to
support those who are "on a roll", giving them the advantage just to let
them go on if the audience likes it. Graham is one of those who I think
has got a lot of "goodwill" in this way, cause he is almost guaranteed
to be funny.

And the opposite with Clement Freud: Because he was best enjoyed in
short segments (really, he was not that funny), plus he was such a
competitive player, Nic often ruled unfairly against him just to balance
things out.

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<<<< 5221 >>>>

Topic: Re: Last Night's Recording

Message 5 / 6
DeanMay 5, 2011

thanks that was a good account – gives a flavour of the whole thing. On the audio, I know on one of the classic CDs, Paul and Nicholas were complaining about the acoustics at the Radio Theatre – ironic, as it was purpose-built, presumably!

From: Dave B

Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2011 8:26 AM

To: just-a-minute@...

Subject: Re: [just-a-minute] Last Night's Recording

Hello all,