THE 404 SPECIAL - PROGRAMME 23 - TRACKLISTING

There are some very strange people about...and they all seem to be on board the final 404 Special of the year.

As a precaution, we strongly advise you avoid direct eye contact with other passengers as you listen to:

CARLA ULBRICH Swamp Thing
FLAT 29 A Warm Country Welcome
PAUL & STORM Me Make Fire
JAY FOREMAN Magnus is on Fire
TONY GOLDMARK Burn
MORNING SIDEKICK Renaissance Fair
ERIC COLEMAN Inner Voice
TVs KYLE Grumbledy
BALDBOX FEAT. POSSIBLE OSCAR USfnA
ROB PARAVONIAN I Love America

In case of emergency, pull the communication cord. (There is a penalty for misuse, but we've been told we can't advertise it because it contravenes current guidelines...and a fair chunk of human rights legislation as well.)

Given today's passenger list, don't be at all surprised if Old Father Time arrives at your place in a taxi tonight.

Happy New Year! (i.e., let's hope it's not as shit as the old one...)

http://traffic.libsyn.com/funny404/404special23_eq.mp3

THE 404 SPECIAL - PROGRAMME 22 - TRACKLISTING

The 404 Special is making two further journeys to see out 2011 and the first of these is available right now, taking the music business and the art of songwriting as its subject.

Subscribers to Country Music Television, as well as fans of Li'l Wayne, Jason Derulo, Lady Gaga, Nirvana, The Carpenters, and Nickelback may wish to look away now, as Richard Cray presents for your delectation:

WORM QUARTET What Your Parents Think All Your Music Sounds Like
MATT GRIFFO This is a Generic Country Song
DEVO SPICE How to Sing
DINO-MIKE All the Same
CONSCRIPTED North Shore Rapper
MORNING SIDEKICK Meds - My Story
PROJECT SISYPHUS I’ve Got Garage Band
MONEYSHOT COSMONAUTS Smells Like Karen Carpenter
BOB RICCI The New Song

http://traffic.libsyn.com/funny404/404special22_eq.mp3

For more singer/songwriter-themed shenanigans, may we also recommend you listen to programme 6 from May 2010:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/funny404/404special06_eq.mp3

And don't forget to come back for the final show of the year on New Year's Eve!

THE 404 SPECIAL CHRISTMAS EVE DEPARTURE 2011 TRACKLISTING

Richard Cray could have gone Christmas shopping today. But he didn't.

Instead, he made you all a brand spanking new 404 Special Christmas Eve Departure for 2011. Which is a bit fortunate, as he has no money and is spending Christmas on his tod watching that Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy DVD. (That's right: just like the last eight years.)

Praise be for the abundance of chuckles forthcoming from:

ROBERT LUND & SPAFF Fun to Fly with the Fat Guy
CRANKSHAFT & THE GEAR GRINDERS Louisiana Bayou Santa
ROB PARAVONIAN Breaking Up for the Holidays
MONEYSHOT COSMONAUTS Red and Green
STEVE GOODIE Shall We Burn a Book for Jesus?
MIND MAP THAT Please Don’t Wish Me a Merry Christmas
JACOB HALLER Dear Santa
NICE PETER Santa is a Gangsta

http://traffic.libsyn.com/funny404/404specialxmas2011_eq.mp3

BUT - in true Ronco style - that's not all.

Want even more festive frivolity? (Please say yes or otherwise we'll have to come up with more aliterative balls like that.)

Then why not transport yourself back to 2009's hour-long Christmas Eve Depature show featuring:

THE LIMEYBIRDS The Limeybirds Christmas Song
MONEYSHOT COSMONAUTS Pink Christmas
THE MYDOLS Merry Freakin’ Christmas
ROBERT LUND Nuttin’ but Spam
TWO DRUNKS & A GUITAR Christmas is Over
JAY FOREMAN No Christmas
THE GREAT LUKE SKI Black Friday
SEAMONKEY There’s No Santa Claus
TOM WATERACRE While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night
CONSORTIUM OF GENIUS Winter Slay Ride
THE BANANA SESSIONS Don’t Lose Your Mind
TV’S KYLE Auto Christmas
THE HOT RODS Santa’s Too Drunk to Drive
NICE PETER All I Got
THE KNUCKLE KIDS I Got Syphilis for Christmas
JENNY JUSSELL & COUNTRY SUNSHINE Maximum Security Christmas
POWER SALAD Santa’s Gonna Telecommute This Christmas
BILL KAHLER Christmas Eve in the Trailer Park
TRACES OF NUTS I’m not Santa Claus, I’ve Come to Rob Your House
PEEPER RADIO THEATRE The 12 Days of Christmas

http://traffic.libsyn.com/funny404/404special1xmas09_eq.mp3

Merry Christmas, wherever you may be...

MERRY NON-XMAS FROM JOHN DREDGE

Today, inimitable radiophonic holdall consultant John Dredge (not pictured above) invites you and your team of aardvarks into his cubic audio realm for his Nothing To Do With Xmas Show, featuring some 34 minutes of continuous weirdness involving comedic hi-jinks and peculiar yet odd skits direct from somewhere including:

• At Home With The Human League (pictured above)
• The Adventures of Basil the Cylinder
• An exclusive Open University lecture on cutlery
• Partly-acclaimed avant-garde film director David Lynch showcasing an awful track from his new album

So download this mollusc-packed show to your family's wireless replacement device of choice today by clicking HERE!

Picture posed by models

And remember: never put a washing machine inside another washing machine on Christmas Day, as it gets confusing. (I speak from personal experience.)

JOHN DREDGE: HE'S STILL HERE

Subscribe to 404 Funny for the last of four brand new Programme Shows in colour from your Master of Ceramics, John 'Teacups' Dredge to:

• HEAR! unusual sounds the like of which have never been hearded before (probably)
• SEE! very little, as this is an audio-only podcast
• MARVEL! as radiophonic personage John Dredge takes you through an alarming series of odd features that cannot be described on this blog without a special licence costing £9.99 and nine-pence
• BAULK! as many inexplicable things occur
• STOP BAULKING! as they stop occurring as quickly as they started occuring 
• TRY TO WORK OUT! if that is indeed how to spell the word 'Baulk'

This week’s guests do not include:

• Barry Lurgons!
• Frank Twiggtonby!
• Ralph McMac!
• Simon!
• Pat Coombs!
• Arthur Mullard!
• John Conteh!
• John Inman!
• Willie Rushton!

All joining Bob in the big box game, Celebrity Squares! And here he is, the starmaster of celebs, the big square himself, Bob Monkhouse!!!

Yes, it’s all happening on 404 Funny - listen in HERE or subscribe HERE and win nothing at all TODAY!

Easy, tiger.

ZENCAST ANNOUNCEMENT

It has come to our attention that Creative Labs discontinued their ZenCast podcast organizer on October 1st. Unfortunately, Creative chose not to inform any of the podcast producers whose content has helped make their products and software so popular over the last five years, particularly among those who've given up on Apple and/or iTunes. To this end, we've removed the dead link to subscribe to 404 Funny via ZenCast and would encourage any former ZenCast users wishing to re-subscribe to use one of the alternatives provided in the right-hand gutter of this blog page.

We have no intention of charging for our content and we have absolutely no desire to ask for donations to meet our running costs. The financial side we can handle. Just. But the operational difficulties, lack of communication, and poor customer service both we and our subscribers have had to endure with some podcatchers (iTunes and ZenCast included), along with almost contant tinkering with social networking sites such as Facebook (which many podcasters use as their sole promotional avenue) and the complete failure of Twitter to handle its own success, have all contributed to make 2011 a terrible year for independent podcasters like ourselves. With specific regard to 404 Funny, this has meant that we've had less time and energy to spend on bringing you new content than we would have liked.

With some of the more reputable online directories not accepting new entries over the last couple of years and other directories establishing and discontinuing themselves within the blink of an eye, it has become incredibly difficult to know exactly which of these "service providers" deserves an investment of both our time and our trust. But we're always on the lookout for new ways to build our audience, and would encourage anyone with any views on the matter to email us at 404funny@googlemail.com. Hopefully, that will enable us to start 2012 in a more commanding position. Because we have plans. Oh, yes, we have plans...

In the meantime, we'll keep on producing content as long as we can guarantee a way for you to download it somewhere, anywhere, as well as doing our best to let you know as soon as we know of any hinderances to providing you with our service.

Thanks for reading.

NAR DEN...

Coming to 404 Funny for the next few Wednesdays, a brand new holdall-packed series of short-ish podcasts recorded in special Sound-o-Noise.

Yes, it’s The Programme Show - featuring Frinton’s answer to somebody else, John 'Frinton's answer to somebody else' Dredge!

Listen in a not-dissimilar manner to the trio of fun-loving anarchists in the serving suggestion above to:

• LEARN! all about the significance of the mungbean storage unit
• THRILL! to the guest appearances of a man called Clive*
• DISCOVER! exactly how many types of cube there are in YOUR town

Produced by producers of productions, this never-to-be-ironed series comes free*** with an unusual hoist.

The Programme Show will keep YOU in loam for literally years to come.

Listen to it – before IT listens to YOU!

Here be link: http://traffic.libsyn.com/funny404/DREDGEprogrammeshow1final.mp3

*Clive appears by kind permission of Ronald.**

**Who Ronald appears by kind permission of we simply don't know.

***£74bn postage and packaging fee applies.

THERE'S SOMETHING NOT QUITE RIGHT ABOUT MARY...

Today, 404 Funny kicks off its third year with a new addition to its roster of artistes: the delectable Ms Mary Christmas.

For the next six Sundays, the sexiest siren ever to come out of Steeple Bumstead (if you discount that April 1st when the village fire engine blasted Donna Summer's Love to Love You Baby on its way to a spate of local arson attacks) presents a fearless insight into her world.

Hear what happened when Mary tagged along with Russell Brand on a pub crawl, co-produced a celebrity version of MacBeth with Alan Sugar (complete with a female lead), and was whisked away on a yacht by Brad Pitt. [WARNING: Contains delusions of grandeur and unsubstantiated gossip those with a nervous disposition and/or an aversion to Closer magazine may find distressing.]

Listen to the first instalment here: http://traffic.libsyn.com/funny404/STEEPLEbumstead1.mp3 or subscribe to our feed using one of the links at the top of the gutter on the right-hand side of this blog to hear each episode as soon as it appears on our feed.

You can also follow Mary's exploits online at:
twitter.com/MaryChristmasxx
http://marychristmasxx.wordpress.com/
www.facebook.com/MaryChristmas
www.youtube.com/MaryChristmasxx

Mary would like it to be known that Maggie Gordon-Walker is her sole owner but is willing to sell some of her shares to the right bidder.

EDINBURGH 2011: PAUL HARRY ALLEN

Genial Welshman Paul Harry Allen has been performing comedy for eight years, making the final of the Hackney New Act Of The Year competition in 2006.

In addition to his many appearances on the circuit, Paul has also written for children's television, appeared in an educational programme as a frog, and shared a festival bill with those other laugh-a-minute comedians Bob Dylan and Van Morrison.

2011 sees his second solo show, Stuff and Nonsense (Laughing Horse @ Finnegan's Wake, 16:45, August 15th-26th, not 21st, free entry), in which Paul continues to follow his now well-established formula of exploiting the untapped comedy potential of second-hand goods he's found in jumble sales and junk shops. Among other things this year, we are promised "camp ceramic cats". The mind boggles. More here: http://www.laughinghorsecomedy.co.uk/dynamic/show.asp?ShowID=425

For a flavour of his act, here's a ten-minute set featuring some of his vinyl delights (his words, not mine) that bears a few similarities to the set he performed for Comedy 365 in Edinburgh 2009 but comes with the added benefit of being able to see the album covers.

EDINBURGH 2011: JAY FOREMAN

Regular downloaders of The 404 Special will already be familiar with Jay Foreman's songs, as indeed will readers of this blog, so there's very little we can add to what we've said before, apart from:

1. His show at the Underbelly, We're Living in the Future, is on every day until August 28th except the 16th at the very sensible time of 14:30. Tickets are priced £9 or £10, depending on the date of performance. More info here: https://www.underbelly.co.uk/node/20389.


2. He's recently updated his website.


3. This is a track about John Lennon from his second album. Don't shoot the messenger (as it were).
   
   

Finally, an update on Monday's post: we've heard that Mary Bourke's show has been selling out all week, so if you want to see her, get to the venue well in advance of show time.