The Now Show
Encyclopedia
The Now Show is a British
radio comedy
broadcast on BBC Radio 4
, which satirises
the week's news. The show is a mixture of stand-up, sketches and songs presented by Steve Punt
and Hugh Dennis
. The show also features skits from Jon Holmes
, Laura Shavin (earlier series had Emma Kennedy
, or occasionally Sue Perkins
, for the female voices), a monologue by Marcus Brigstocke
, and music by Mitch Benn
. Past series have also featured Robin Ince
, Dave Gorman
, Simon Munnery
, Al Murray
, Andy Zaltzman
, Paul Sinha, Richard Stilgoe
, Dr Phil Hammond
and Barry Cryer
. Jon Culshaw
has featured on the 2004 and 2005 Christmas
editions and also starred in the 2008 Christmas
edition. Rory Bremner
also pops up in a guest role from time to time. Guests have also stood in for absent cast members.
The series is a successor to the early 1990s topical comedy show The Mary Whitehouse Experience
, in which Punt and Dennis were a key part, although its origins lie with the short-lived Live on Arrival
from 1988. The programme first aired on 26 September 1998. Repeats of The Now Show can be heard on BBC Radio 4 Extra.
. The show's then regular venue, The Drill Hall
was close to the site of one of the failed bomb attacks and had been cordoned off by police; as such the show had to be recorded in the Radio 4 studios at Broadcasting House
. Hugh Dennis opened the show with the words "with us are Laura Shavin, Jon Holmes, Marcus Brigstocke and Mitch Benn... and no audience".
The eighteenth series, April-May 2006, was the first Radio 4 comedy series to be made available on podcast
, as part of a trial, or to be downloaded directly from the BBC Radio 4 web page, both for seven days after broadcast. The podcast had some of the music (from outside sources) cut because of restrictions due to artist royalties (although a new joke was inserted in place of the music, such as "Don't worry, it'll be over in a minute", or rants about the BBC's lawyers), although the complete show could still be heard for 7 days after the broadcast on the BBC's listen again feature. This podcast was the fourth most popular podcast in August 2006, according to Schott's Almanac
. However, due to the end of the trial, the twenty-second series, June-August 2007, was not available for download. The podcast has returned, as part of the "Friday Night Comedy" podcast, alternating with The News Quiz
.
In the runup to the 2010 UK General Election, a version of the show - entitled "The Vote Now Show" - was broadcast. The format was broadly the same, incorporating many of the show's regular performers and an additional political guest whom Punt & Dennis would interview.
A collection of four episodes of the series from 2002 were released on CD and Audio Cassette on 29 July 2002. A further collection of highlights from the 2004-5 series was released for download through Audible.com
and iTunes
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
radio comedy
Radio comedy
Radio comedy, or comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve sitcom elements, sketches and various types of comedy found on other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be conveyed on a small budget with just a few sound effects or some...
broadcast on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, which satirises
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
the week's news. The show is a mixture of stand-up, sketches and songs presented by Steve Punt
Steve Punt
Stephen Punt is a British writer, comedian and actor, best known for his long-time comedy partnership with Hugh Dennis. Punt lives in Wimbledon with his girlfriend and two children.-Life and career:...
and Hugh Dennis
Hugh Dennis
Peter Hugh Dennis is an English actor, comedian, writer, impressionist and voice-over artist, best known for his work with comedy partner Steve Punt. He is also known for his position as a permanent panelist on the TV comedy show Mock The Week...
. The show also features skits from Jon Holmes
Jon Holmes
Jon Holmes is a seven time Sony award-winning and double Bafta winning British writer, comedian and broadcaster.-Early life:...
, Laura Shavin (earlier series had Emma Kennedy
Emma Kennedy
Emma Kennedy is an English actress, writer and television presenter....
, or occasionally Sue Perkins
Sue Perkins
Sue Perkins is an English comedienne, broadcaster, actress, and writer.-Education:Perkins was educated at Croham Hurst School, an independent school for girls in Croydon in South London, at the same time as the BBC Breakfast News presenter Susanna Reid...
, for the female voices), a monologue by Marcus Brigstocke
Marcus Brigstocke
Marcus Alexander Brigstocke is an English comedian, actor and satirist who has worked extensively in stand-up comedy, television, radio and in 2010-2011 musical theatre. He is particularly associated with the 6.30pm comedy slot on BBC Radio 4, having frequently appeared on several of its shows...
, and music by Mitch Benn
Mitch Benn
Mitch Benn is a British musician and stand-up comedian known for his humorous songs performed on BBC radio. He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's satirical programme The Now Show, and has hosted other radio shows.Benn has performed at several music festivals, and at the Edinburgh Festival...
. Past series have also featured Robin Ince
Robin Ince
Robin Ince is an English stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is best known for presenting the BBC radio show The Infinite Monkey Cage .-Stand-up comedy:...
, Dave Gorman
Dave Gorman
David James Gorman is an English author, stand-up comedian and presenter. He has performed comedy shows on stage in which he tells stories of extreme adventures and presents the evidence to the audience in order to prove to them that they are true stories...
, Simon Munnery
Simon Munnery
Simon Munnery, also known by his stagenames of Alan Parker: Urban Warrior and The League Against Tedium, is an English comedy writer and experimental standup comedian...
, Al Murray
Al Murray
Alastair James Hay "Al" Murray , is a British comedian best known for his stand-up persona, The Pub Landlord, a stereotypical xenophobic public house licensee. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy...
, Andy Zaltzman
Andy Zaltzman
Andrew "Andy" Zaltzman is a British comedian and author who largely focuses on political material. He has worked extensively with John Oliver; their work together includes Political Animal, The Department and The Bugle.-Early life:...
, Paul Sinha, Richard Stilgoe
Richard Stilgoe
Richard Henry Simpson Stilgoe OBE is a British songwriter, lyricist and musician. He is noted for clever wordplay as much as for his music....
, Dr Phil Hammond
Phil Hammond (comedian)
Dr Philip Hammond is a general practitioner who has become noted as a comedian and commentator on health issues in the United Kingdom. Hammond was educated at Marlborough Grammar School, St John's Comprehensive, Marlborough, and Marlborough College...
and Barry Cryer
Barry Cryer
Barry Charles Cryer OBE is a British writer and comedian. Cryer has written for many noted performers, including Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory Bremner, George Burns, Jasper Carrott, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Dick Emery, Kenny Everett, Bruce Forsyth, David Frost, Bob Hope, Frankie...
. Jon Culshaw
Jon Culshaw
Jonathan Peter Culshaw is an English impressionist and comedian. He was educated at St Bede's RC High School, Ormskirk and St John Rigby College, in Orrell, Wigan....
has featured on the 2004 and 2005 Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
editions and also starred in the 2008 Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
edition. Rory Bremner
Rory Bremner
Roderick "Rory" Keith Ogilvy Bremner, FKC is a Scottish impressionist, playwright and comedian, noted for his work in political satire...
also pops up in a guest role from time to time. Guests have also stood in for absent cast members.
The series is a successor to the early 1990s topical comedy show The Mary Whitehouse Experience
The Mary Whitehouse Experience
The Mary Whitehouse Experience was a British topical sketch comedy show produced by the BBC in association with Spitting Image Productions. It starred two comedy double acts - David Baddiel and Rob Newman, and also Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis, all of whom had graduated from Cambridge University...
, in which Punt and Dennis were a key part, although its origins lie with the short-lived Live on Arrival
Live on Arrival
Live on Arrival was a BBC Radio 4 series of six episodes aired in 1988. It was written by Steve Punt and featured Punt together with Hugh Dennis, Flip Webster and Guy Jackson. The format was narrative-based and featured surreal parodies and topical comment, broadcast live-to-air from the Paris...
from 1988. The programme first aired on 26 September 1998. Repeats of The Now Show can be heard on BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Broadcast and podcast
The programme is recorded in front of a studio audience on the Thursday evening before the Friday broadcast. On Friday 22 July 2005, The Now Show was broadcast without a studio audience due to the attempted 21 July 2005 London Bombings21 July 2005 London bombings
On 21 July 2005, four attempted bomb attacks disrupted part of London's public transport system two weeks after the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The explosions occurred around midday at Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval stations on London Underground, and on a bus in Shoreditch...
. The show's then regular venue, The Drill Hall
The Drill Hall
The Drill Hall is a theatrical venue in Bloomsbury in the London Borough of Camden, just to the east of Tottenham Court Road. It contains rehearsal rooms and meeting rooms, and two small theatres - the 200-seat Drill Hall 1 and a 50-seat studio space, known as Drill Hall 2. Its name derives from...
was close to the site of one of the failed bomb attacks and had been cordoned off by police; as such the show had to be recorded in the Radio 4 studios at Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House is the headquarters and registered office of the BBC in Portland Place and Langham Place, London.The building includes the BBC Radio Theatre from where music and speech programmes are recorded in front of a studio audience...
. Hugh Dennis opened the show with the words "with us are Laura Shavin, Jon Holmes, Marcus Brigstocke and Mitch Benn... and no audience".
The eighteenth series, April-May 2006, was the first Radio 4 comedy series to be made available on podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
, as part of a trial, or to be downloaded directly from the BBC Radio 4 web page, both for seven days after broadcast. The podcast had some of the music (from outside sources) cut because of restrictions due to artist royalties (although a new joke was inserted in place of the music, such as "Don't worry, it'll be over in a minute", or rants about the BBC's lawyers), although the complete show could still be heard for 7 days after the broadcast on the BBC's listen again feature. This podcast was the fourth most popular podcast in August 2006, according to Schott's Almanac
Schott's Almanac
Schott's Almanac was a best-selling UK reference book, published annually in the United Kingdom between 2006 and 2010. The book was compiled by Ben Schott and published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc....
. However, due to the end of the trial, the twenty-second series, June-August 2007, was not available for download. The podcast has returned, as part of the "Friday Night Comedy" podcast, alternating with The News Quiz
The News Quiz
The News Quiz is a topical panel game broadcast on British radio BBC Radio 4.-History:It was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman as chairman. Subsequently it was chaired by Simon Hoggart, Barry Took , and then again by Simon Hoggart until March 2006. Hoggart was replaced by Sandi Toksvig in...
.
In the runup to the 2010 UK General Election, a version of the show - entitled "The Vote Now Show" - was broadcast. The format was broadly the same, incorporating many of the show's regular performers and an additional political guest whom Punt & Dennis would interview.
A collection of four episodes of the series from 2002 were released on CD and Audio Cassette on 29 July 2002. A further collection of highlights from the 2004-5 series was released for download through Audible.com
Audible.com
Audible.com is an Internet provider of spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming.Audible sells digital audiobooks, radio and TV programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers....
and iTunes
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
.
Awards
The Now Show was voted as the "Best British Radio Panel Show/Satire" for 2008 in The Comedy.co.uk Awards.Controversy
- In March 2009, Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis were criticised for comparing the planned comeback of 80s pop star Michael JacksonMichael JacksonMichael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
with that of the IRAIrish Republican ArmyThe Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
.