BBC

Not only did I get round to recording the podcast yesterday, I also had the foresight to upload it to the Internet Archive and embed the player onto the blog page. Although I didn't add the track list or advertise the fact that it was live until today, by the time I got round to officially releasing this week's edition of The Sunday Alternative it had already been listened to about twenty times. I don't know who these twenty overly keen people are but it's nice to know that there are music lovers waiting for their next fix. This gave the podcast a good head start on listening figures so it didn't take long once I had released it to get up to one hundred, I usually manage 100 in the first hour but reached that number within about twenty minutes. Once the artists start to tweet and share it (those that aren't kissing the arses of people who don't even bother to go to gigs, this bracketed comment is aimed at Nottingham readers) the figures creep up during the week and I do the official count the following Saturday. If only the listeners donated even once a month through PayPal then I would be able to make any number of free entertainments but unfortunately my biggest success in terms of audience has the lowest donation rate.

Last night we went to the theatre to watch a live production of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. Although I was a latecomer to this show on radio (I completely missed out on the Humphrey Lyttelton years but have listened back retrospectively) it is one of the funniest things out there and now I am hooked. It is plain to see that there is a script and this isn't an improvised quiz (then again I doubt very much that a lot of them are) but when the quality of comedy is so high you aren't bothered. After all, sitcoms and stand-up shows are written in advance and nobody complains about that.

Aside from obviously being longer than half an hour (and with more swearing) this was everything you'd expect from the show. I'm not sure if this was being recorded for the next series but if it is I would be interested to hear what stays in and what ends up on the cutting room floor. Graeme Garden wasn't well so his place was taken by Tony Hawks but apart from that the regulars were all appearing. They may use a different fourth comic around the tour in the same way that they do on the radio, I don't know but Jeremy Hardy appeared on Barry Cryer's team opposing Tim Brooke-Taylor and Hawks and Jack Dee on fine form as host. It's Barry Cryer that I'm most impressed with to be honest, 80 years old he is still working as hard as ever and remains one of the funniest comedians around. As a comedy writer he has worked for pretty much everyone across generational styles from the old school to the cool kids on the block and is respected by all. It was he who (according to Les Dennis who recalled the incident in his autobiography) at a BBC party where one camp of comics stood separately from another, introduced everyone and found that they all actually got along so the likes of Rik Mayall and Ben Elton mixed with Little and Large, what a show that would have been.

Listen to this week's edition of The Sunday Alternative here.

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March housekeeping 

To purchase my audio books, albums, and books, please visit my Shop & Donations page.

I am trying to raise the money to extend The Sunday Alternative, read about it here.

We also need to fund a pilot episode of a new music and cookery show, read about it here.

Every penny that I receive via the PayPal button will be used to fund future projects such as podcasts, short films, comedy sketches, documentaries, and more. They will be made available for free online and I will not personally benefit financially. All help is greatly appreciated.

steveEoliver@gmail.com

@SteveOliver76