Just A Minute

--- In just-a-minute@..., "Greg @ Traralgon" <voyage@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> Definitely a comedy, rather than a game show. Over the years I had a
> love/hate respect for Clement Freud. He was certainly witty, clever and
> entertaining. But would occasionally irritate me when being pedantic about
> the rules. Also, because I listen to it as a comedy, I am not greatly
> bothered by what may seem like a loose or varying interpretation of the
> rules by Nicholas. I just listen for the laughs!
>
>
>
> Greg.
>
>
>
>
>
> From: just-a-minute@... [mailto:just-a-minute@...]
> On Behalf Of David
> Sent: Friday, 28 October 2011 1:08 AM
> To: just-a-minute@...
> Subject: [just-a-minute] What is JAM?
>
>
>
>
>
> Can I ask:
>
> Do most people listen to JAM as a game show or a comedy (or maybe both)?
>
> When I see posts about mistakes or errors in the show I wonder if others see
> JAM as a game show.
>
> Personally I am of the ISIHAC perspective where the points, winners and
> errors don't really matter to me so much. I listen for the laughs and
> entertainment.
>
> I just wondered how others felt.
>
> Love as always, David
>

-----Original Message-----
From: pondydave@...
Sent: Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:13:16 -0700 (PDT)
To: just-a-minute@...
Subject: Re: [just-a-minute] Re: What is JAM?

 

I have just had a look at Dean's blog. He mentions briefly in his very recent article about JAM that back in the 1970s he, as a youngster, kept score, and the official finishing positions were often quite different from the points actually awarded/obtained (let's assume that that was irrespective of the right or wrong of the challenge). Dean (referring to his earlier blogs/emails) and I grew up listening to Kenneth, always desperate to win, needing every point, always wanting to be IN THE LEAD, RIGHT. And Nic saying, encouragingly, when he was, watch out, Kenneth, you haven't held the lead for long....be careful. Dean and I felt Kenneth's desire to find the release of a win. A red letter day indeed, when he did. So to us as teenagers I suppose, it was a very funny game. Unlike Dean's efforts with JAM statistics, my table keeping lasted just 11 episodes in 1980. I pulled them out of the file today. From ep 277 to 287 the announced positions were right 5 times and wrong 6 times. A couple of those one could put down to showmanship - giving hard working players a joint first.

Now I recall fellow teenagers kept stats....usually football stats....and maybe teenagers do so today. So for every one of  us middle aged blokes who (now) listen for a laugh only, and haven't the time or inclination to keep scores, there just may well be youngsters out there who do what we did.

Some BBC announcer introduced a recent show saying, the subjects include.... and ........ So expect to learn absolutely nothing about those subjects.

Tim Rice made the mistake of calling the show a debate in one (hilarious) episode, and Nic pulled him up saying it wasn't. It was a comedy show, actually.

I Googled The Brains Trust and that led me to Does the Team Think? and Does the Team Think...., the latter a fairly recent revival chaired by Vic and Bob, which seems, from Wiki, to have been a very funny discussion program without the game element (maybe). I say this because some of this group's members may like to go and search for that show if they don't know it. It was not on Radio 4 so I missed it. This could be what JAM would be like without the game.

To echo the comment below, JAM without the competitive game, and the arguments over the rules would be a pale facsimile.

Dave

---

From: mattcchinn <matt_chinn@...>
To: just-a-minute@...
Sent: Friday, 28 October 2011 3:35 PM
Subject: [just-a-minute] Re: What is JAM?

 

Yes, we (or I do anyway) listen to it for the spontaneous comedy banter.

Nicholas has always been bendy with his interpretations of the rules to keep the comedy flowing and to encourage less-experienced players to be more involved (or less intimidated?)

However, as discussed by Nicholas and Paul Merton on the intro to one of the CD collections, it's critical to the show that the players themselves are competitive and argue about the rules. Therein lie some of their best sources of humour.

Cheers,
Matt

--- In just-a-minute@..., "Greg @ Traralgon" <voyage@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> Definitely a comedy, rather than a game show. Over the years I had a
> love/hate respect for Clement Freud. He was certainly witty, clever and
> entertaining. But would occasionally irritate me when being pedantic about
> the rules. Also, because I listen to it as a comedy, I am not greatly
> bothered by what may seem like a loose or varying interpretation of the
> rules by Nicholas. I just listen for the laughs!
>
>
>
> Greg.
>
>
>
>
>
> From: just-a-minute@... [mailto:just-a-minute@...]
> On Behalf Of David
> Sent: Friday, 28 October 2011 1:08 AM
> To: just-a-minute@...
> Subject: [just-a-minute] What is JAM?
>
>
>
>
>
> Can I ask:
>
> Do most people listen to JAM as a game show or a comedy (or maybe both)?
>
> When I see posts about mistakes or errors in the show I wonder if others see
> JAM as a game show.
>
> Personally I am of the ISIHAC perspective where the points, winners and
> errors don't really matter to me so much. I listen for the laughs and
> entertainment.
>
> I just wondered how others felt.
>
> Love as always, David
>

---

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--- In just-a-minute@..., "David" <drling0@...> wrote:
>
> Can I ask:
>
> Do most people listen to JAM as a game show or a comedy (or maybe both)?
>
> When I see posts about mistakes or errors in the show I wonder if others see JAM as a game show.
>
> Personally I am of the ISIHAC perspective where the points, winners and errors don't really matter to me so much. I listen for the laughs and entertainment.
>
> I just wondered how others felt.
>
> Love as always, David
>

-----Original Message-----
From: delmelza@...
Sent: Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:02:17 -0000
To: just-a-minute@...
Subject: [just-a-minute] Re: What is JAM?

 

Like many'games" it has changed over the yrs and it has been become more "comedy" in the last 20-25 yrs I think.
Whether that is 'good" or bad is according to one's taste.

I can enjoy a factual talk on a historical fiqure by Kenneth Wms just as much as a more surreal one as by Paul Merton.

In my opinion it comes down to the fact that the show is still going strong after 4 Decades!
And I still love listening to it both the new & the 'old".

As an american JAM has also introduced to me some good UK Comics and Personalities that I would have not known about if not for the show & I am grateful for that. Miriam

--- In just-a-minute@..., "David" <drling0@...> wrote:
>
> Can I ask:
>
> Do most people listen to JAM as a game show or a comedy (or maybe both)?
>
> When I see posts about mistakes or errors in the show I wonder if others see JAM as a game show.
>
> Personally I am of the ISIHAC perspective where the points, winners and errors don't really matter to me so much. I listen for the laughs and entertainment.
>
> I just wondered how others felt.
>
> Love as always, David
>

---

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-----Original Message-----
From: dbedford@...
Sent: Sun, 30 Oct 2011 10:35:34 +1300
To: just-a-minute@...
Subject: Re: [just-a-minute] Re: What is JAM?

 

This is an interesting post... gee, we’ve had some interesting, thoughtful posts recently that have been most enjoyable to read.

 

Mark, I wonder if you would post some of your other comedy interests, I’d just be interested to see them. I do agree – and I think Paul Merton once made a similar remark – that part of the enjoyment of JAM is that it can be played in different styles, and enjoyed on different levels. And there’s an old saying that goes something like “"once you try to analyse why a joke is funny, the joke disappears...”. Still it’s fun to talk about.

 

 

 

From: nylon net

Sent: Saturday, October 29, 2011 6:43 PM

To: just-a-minute@...

Subject: RE: [just-a-minute] Re: What is JAM?

 

 

<soapbox>

As with the peculiarly oblique and ineffable appeal of R.E.M., if one could ever reach a clear conclusion to the meaning of JAM, it will lose its powerful joy.

To me, it is the fact that it is so varied in its observation of rules, its catholic delivery styles, and its ever-shifting "purpose" that it continues to be fresh and curiously attractive over the decades.

Once the mystery goes, interest soon follows. Like children, we keep listening because the ground of JAM keeps shifting under our feet and it fascinates us. It defies definitive classification. While we *want* to finally categorise it and earmark it and say we grok it, the adult in us hopes we never will because after that point, it loses its flavour.

I once read that it's the faults in our partners that we love, not their perfections. It's the crooked teeth in our favourite actors that endear them to us, not their pearly Hollywood caps: and it's the eccentric oddities of JAM that keep me coming back, and analysing it too much starts to defeat my own enjoyment of it.

---

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