FL
That sounds like a good idea in principle, but maybe something to try as a separate celebration of live performance once packed audiences are allowed in one packed space again? Live comedy and standup with no audience tends to fall very flat and may have reflected unfairly on the performers, so just putting together a more straightforward "show" probably makes more sense in this instance.
Surely with most comedians not having the opportunity to perform over the last year concentrating on live comedy in the late night slot would have been a better use of the time.
That sounds like a good idea in principle, but maybe something to try as a separate celebration of live performance once packed audiences are allowed in one packed space again? Live comedy and standup with no audience tends to fall very flat and may have reflected unfairly on the performers, so just putting together a more straightforward "show" probably makes more sense in this instance.
BA
Yes, it was 2017:
That was quite the technical-problem filled year.
Be that as it may, I am interested to see what they can pull out of the bag for this.
I remember the car crash one...was it a couple of times ago when they recorded it near the O2 with really bad acoustics and Lenny snapped at the audience for chatting?
Yes, it was 2017:
And Lenny Henry has told the audience to shut up, just as I was about to tweet BBC One, to tell them to shut up. The Graham Norton Show should always have a great audience.
That was quite the technical-problem filled year.
Lenny Henry is garbage.
Be that as it may, I am interested to see what they can pull out of the bag for this.
AN
That sounds like a good idea in principle, but maybe something to try as a separate celebration of live performance once packed audiences are allowed in one packed space again? Live comedy and standup with no audience tends to fall very flat and may have reflected unfairly on the performers, so just putting together a more straightforward "show" probably makes more sense in this instance.
I think you often get audiences at these sorts of things who are mainly there for one guest, so get bored at other times
They'll be there to see Little Mix perform of something along those lines, so won't be interested in Lenny Henry doing some gags
I imagine these telethons aren't the most exciting things to watch in person, most of it will be watching VTs and then presenters doing earnest links reading out the phone number in between. Very occasionally someone performs live.
Andrew
Founding member
Surely with most comedians not having the opportunity to perform over the last year concentrating on live comedy in the late night slot would have been a better use of the time.
That sounds like a good idea in principle, but maybe something to try as a separate celebration of live performance once packed audiences are allowed in one packed space again? Live comedy and standup with no audience tends to fall very flat and may have reflected unfairly on the performers, so just putting together a more straightforward "show" probably makes more sense in this instance.
I think you often get audiences at these sorts of things who are mainly there for one guest, so get bored at other times
They'll be there to see Little Mix perform of something along those lines, so won't be interested in Lenny Henry doing some gags
I imagine these telethons aren't the most exciting things to watch in person, most of it will be watching VTs and then presenters doing earnest links reading out the phone number in between. Very occasionally someone performs live.
LL
The year with The King's Speech opening was one that left a very sour taste in my mouth.
I typed out everything you're about to read and wondered if it was worth posting after all. To most it'll seem petty. So apologies in advance.
I've been battling a stammer all my life and, for the most part, I have it under control. It's helped making sure I'm not too uptight about it and I'm not afraid to make fun of myself. As such I've taught myself to see the funny side when it's a subject of comedy, especially as it'd be hypocritical to take issue with that but laugh at the subject of other conditions.
The Comic Relief sketch was little more than "people with stammers take ages to talk". A joke as old as assuming someone who swears a lot has Tourette's. Subjectively offensive depending on who you are, but objectively lazy. IIRC it carried on when Lenny opened the show in the studio, saying the directors cut was "n-n-n-nine hours". He really seemed to have it in for stammerers that night, despite trying to raise money for, and I quote, "disadvantaged people".
It just felt really cold for a telethon to open by poking fun in the way it did. Unapologetically punching down with no rhyme or reason. I know a lot of charities and support communities were angry about it, with comments about it fuelling bullying in schools, and some saying Lenny should know a thing or two about prejudice. Richard Curtis would eventually apologise during a radio interview, but Lenny doubled down, refusing to apologise and insisting it was a very funny sketch.
I know it's a non issue for the majority of you, and I know I'm in a minority here. But it felt like such a bitter and unjustified take for a charity event all about helping those less fortunate. There was a time and place to make jokes like that. The very start of Comic Relief wasn't it, in my opinion.
But anyway, it certainly seemed to coincide with an all-round decline in the quality of sketches and specials etc. None of what I've read about Friday's show makes me think, "ooh, I have to watch that." Maybe it's reflective of comedy in general nowadays. David Baddiel said recently that unless you're willing to offend, comedy is going to be incredibly bland.
A personal favourite was from 2003 (I think) when French and Saunders did their Harry Potter parody. A lot of time and effort went into it, and the quality didn't seem to be compromised for the sake of it being for charity. But that was also during a time when mainstream comedy was still pushing boundaries, for better or worse.
I think I've typed enough now. Thank you for reading x
I typed out everything you're about to read and wondered if it was worth posting after all. To most it'll seem petty. So apologies in advance.
I've been battling a stammer all my life and, for the most part, I have it under control. It's helped making sure I'm not too uptight about it and I'm not afraid to make fun of myself. As such I've taught myself to see the funny side when it's a subject of comedy, especially as it'd be hypocritical to take issue with that but laugh at the subject of other conditions.
The Comic Relief sketch was little more than "people with stammers take ages to talk". A joke as old as assuming someone who swears a lot has Tourette's. Subjectively offensive depending on who you are, but objectively lazy. IIRC it carried on when Lenny opened the show in the studio, saying the directors cut was "n-n-n-nine hours". He really seemed to have it in for stammerers that night, despite trying to raise money for, and I quote, "disadvantaged people".
It just felt really cold for a telethon to open by poking fun in the way it did. Unapologetically punching down with no rhyme or reason. I know a lot of charities and support communities were angry about it, with comments about it fuelling bullying in schools, and some saying Lenny should know a thing or two about prejudice. Richard Curtis would eventually apologise during a radio interview, but Lenny doubled down, refusing to apologise and insisting it was a very funny sketch.
I know it's a non issue for the majority of you, and I know I'm in a minority here. But it felt like such a bitter and unjustified take for a charity event all about helping those less fortunate. There was a time and place to make jokes like that. The very start of Comic Relief wasn't it, in my opinion.
But anyway, it certainly seemed to coincide with an all-round decline in the quality of sketches and specials etc. None of what I've read about Friday's show makes me think, "ooh, I have to watch that." Maybe it's reflective of comedy in general nowadays. David Baddiel said recently that unless you're willing to offend, comedy is going to be incredibly bland.
A personal favourite was from 2003 (I think) when French and Saunders did their Harry Potter parody. A lot of time and effort went into it, and the quality didn't seem to be compromised for the sake of it being for charity. But that was also during a time when mainstream comedy was still pushing boundaries, for better or worse.
I think I've typed enough now. Thank you for reading x
Last edited by Larry the Loafer on 16 March 2021 3:52pm - 2 times in total
BR
That sounds like a good idea in principle, but maybe something to try as a separate celebration of live performance once packed audiences are allowed in one packed space again? Live comedy and standup with no audience tends to fall very flat and may have reflected unfairly on the performers, so just putting together a more straightforward "show" probably makes more sense in this instance.
Yes, that's the trouble. Obviously you could have the comics being each others audience but how that would work in practice I'm not sure.
The alternative would be a load of sketches but that would be significantly more expensive.
Surely with most comedians not having the opportunity to perform over the last year concentrating on live comedy in the late night slot would have been a better use of the time.
That sounds like a good idea in principle, but maybe something to try as a separate celebration of live performance once packed audiences are allowed in one packed space again? Live comedy and standup with no audience tends to fall very flat and may have reflected unfairly on the performers, so just putting together a more straightforward "show" probably makes more sense in this instance.
Yes, that's the trouble. Obviously you could have the comics being each others audience but how that would work in practice I'm not sure.
The alternative would be a load of sketches but that would be significantly more expensive.
JK
1993 Red Nose Day had the following on Friday 12th March 1993 on BBC One:
Mr Bean on Blind Date
Casualty does a Comic Relief special
Smashie and Nicey
Right Said Fred sing live in a viewer's street
Game for a Game, where Jonathan Ross involves every game show from Family Fortunes to Mastermind
The BBC Banned Audition Tapes
Have I Got Sports News For You
One Foot in the Grave special featuring Victor pondering life whilst in his bath
Friday Night Live Lives Again! with Ben Elton and regulars from the original Channel 4 series
The Red Nose Day song, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody featuring a host of celebrities from various TV shows back then, the link to the song is below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzLzuB4Wq2M
WHAT A NIGHT!!
Mr Bean on Blind Date
Casualty does a Comic Relief special
Smashie and Nicey
Right Said Fred sing live in a viewer's street
Game for a Game, where Jonathan Ross involves every game show from Family Fortunes to Mastermind
The BBC Banned Audition Tapes
Have I Got Sports News For You
One Foot in the Grave special featuring Victor pondering life whilst in his bath
Friday Night Live Lives Again! with Ben Elton and regulars from the original Channel 4 series
The Red Nose Day song, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody featuring a host of celebrities from various TV shows back then, the link to the song is below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzLzuB4Wq2M
WHAT A NIGHT!!
JL
One's I remember as the best are 2003, 05 and 07 (probably due to my age). 2009 was the first year I remember the quality starting to drop, and probably around the same time with CiN.
I know it's unlikely, but personally I'd have put on a "Best of Comic Relief" after the news, featuring the best sketches from the past.
I know it's unlikely, but personally I'd have put on a "Best of Comic Relief" after the news, featuring the best sketches from the past.
JK
In 1993 Comic Relief after midnight used to delve into the comedy archives, as written here from the 1993 Radio Times description -
"Comic Relief's Old, New, Borrowed and Blue!
Lenny Henry , Griff Rhys Jones and Jonathan Ross present an hour of mirth and mayhem, featuring gems plucked from the comedy archives: stay awake for Groucho Marx, Steve Martin, Morecambe and Wise and Loyd Grossman. And a most unladylike moment from the House of Eliott."
One's I remember as the best are 2003, 05 and 07 (probably due to my age). 2009 was the first year I remember the quality starting to drop, and probably around the same time with CiN.
I know it's unlikely, but personally I'd have put on a "Best of Comic Relief" after the news, featuring the best sketches from the past.
I know it's unlikely, but personally I'd have put on a "Best of Comic Relief" after the news, featuring the best sketches from the past.
In 1993 Comic Relief after midnight used to delve into the comedy archives, as written here from the 1993 Radio Times description -
"Comic Relief's Old, New, Borrowed and Blue!
Lenny Henry , Griff Rhys Jones and Jonathan Ross present an hour of mirth and mayhem, featuring gems plucked from the comedy archives: stay awake for Groucho Marx, Steve Martin, Morecambe and Wise and Loyd Grossman. And a most unladylike moment from the House of Eliott."
SW
I think it's a bit premature to be suggesting anything Comic Relief is doing this year, like Children in Need, is a permanent change. There are obvious reasons why the shows might be a bit shorter this year, not least because it's so hard to get people into the studio, so there's less they can do on the night, and also fewer people involved behind the scenes. I would think they're probably pushing things to the absolute limit to get three hours out of it.
On a basic level, the best Red Nose Day is the one that raised the most money, which is the entire point of the whole thing.
I think at the time 1999 was considered a bit of a low point for Comic Relief, I think it started looking a bit old hat - not helped by the post-news bit being based around a TFI Friday special, when that was careering down the dumper and totally unfashionable, it made Comic Relief look a bit like yesterday's news. It didn't seem to make much of a splash, although that wasn't entirely it's fault because it was also the week ITV moved the news to eleven and so they were churning out big shows, including Millionaire on Red Nose Day itself, so it got a bit overshadowed. But I think Comic Relief spotted that because 2001 seemed like a bit of a relaunch, and they had things like Celebrity Big Brother and Ali G interviewing the Beckhams, which got loads of column inches and it revitalised it a bit.
For my generation, nothing can top those first three Red Nose Days, because it was so exciting to see a programme that seemed like it was never going to end, and was so shambolic it felt like they were making it up as they were going along and it involved alternative comedians infiltrating the proper telly. But that's obviously not going to be sustainable in the long run as it gets more professional, and of course as it went on all the regulars were now familiar faces on primetime BBC1. But that's the way it has to be these days, it needs big names and big shows to get bums on seats and hands in pockets.
They always used archive stuff, in the early days they would quite frequently do votes for which archive comedy you'd like to see, and they would often show the first half of a programme - I remember them doing it with Dad's Army - and then refuse to show the second half until the donations had reached a certain total. And most shows over the year followed the live show with an hour or so of achivery, Iike here in 2001 - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/2001-03-16#at-22.35
Shame that like Children in Need the main show it cut to just three hours, though unlike CiN it does continue with a Later special on BBC2 and content after the news on BBC1.
Surely with most comedians not having the opportunity to perform over the last year concentrating on live comedy in the late night slot would have been a better use of the time.
Surely with most comedians not having the opportunity to perform over the last year concentrating on live comedy in the late night slot would have been a better use of the time.
I think it's a bit premature to be suggesting anything Comic Relief is doing this year, like Children in Need, is a permanent change. There are obvious reasons why the shows might be a bit shorter this year, not least because it's so hard to get people into the studio, so there's less they can do on the night, and also fewer people involved behind the scenes. I would think they're probably pushing things to the absolute limit to get three hours out of it.
What was the best Red Nose Day? I'd probably go for something between 1993 and 1999. I remember after about 2005 or so it started to decline in quality.
On a basic level, the best Red Nose Day is the one that raised the most money, which is the entire point of the whole thing.
I think at the time 1999 was considered a bit of a low point for Comic Relief, I think it started looking a bit old hat - not helped by the post-news bit being based around a TFI Friday special, when that was careering down the dumper and totally unfashionable, it made Comic Relief look a bit like yesterday's news. It didn't seem to make much of a splash, although that wasn't entirely it's fault because it was also the week ITV moved the news to eleven and so they were churning out big shows, including Millionaire on Red Nose Day itself, so it got a bit overshadowed. But I think Comic Relief spotted that because 2001 seemed like a bit of a relaunch, and they had things like Celebrity Big Brother and Ali G interviewing the Beckhams, which got loads of column inches and it revitalised it a bit.
For my generation, nothing can top those first three Red Nose Days, because it was so exciting to see a programme that seemed like it was never going to end, and was so shambolic it felt like they were making it up as they were going along and it involved alternative comedians infiltrating the proper telly. But that's obviously not going to be sustainable in the long run as it gets more professional, and of course as it went on all the regulars were now familiar faces on primetime BBC1. But that's the way it has to be these days, it needs big names and big shows to get bums on seats and hands in pockets.
In 1993 Comic Relief after midnight used to delve into the comedy archives, as written here from the 1993 Radio Times description
They always used archive stuff, in the early days they would quite frequently do votes for which archive comedy you'd like to see, and they would often show the first half of a programme - I remember them doing it with Dad's Army - and then refuse to show the second half until the donations had reached a certain total. And most shows over the year followed the live show with an hour or so of achivery, Iike here in 2001 - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/2001-03-16#at-22.35
BH
BillyH
Founding member
1993 is one of my earliest TV memories, particularly the Casualty special featuring someone who’d been run over by a steamroller which made quite the impression to four year old me.
It was always a fun challenge to try and stay awake for the whole night and every year I’d get a little closer but always fall asleep near the end, I think 2003 was the first year I achieved it and it all seemed a bit anticlimactic as the live stuff had long ended and instead it fizzled out with an old clip show repeat from a few years earlier. 2005 had a big live ending at least which gave more of a reason to stick to the end.
2011 was the last time I bothered with it and even then it was just something on in the background I occasionally glanced at.
It was always a fun challenge to try and stay awake for the whole night and every year I’d get a little closer but always fall asleep near the end, I think 2003 was the first year I achieved it and it all seemed a bit anticlimactic as the live stuff had long ended and instead it fizzled out with an old clip show repeat from a few years earlier. 2005 had a big live ending at least which gave more of a reason to stick to the end.
2011 was the last time I bothered with it and even then it was just something on in the background I occasionally glanced at.