Friday 30 July 2010

COMEDY 365 AT EDINBURGH 2008 - PROGRAMME 5

On today’s show, in order of appearance:

PAUL RICKETTS
I seriously have no idea whether England’s sad and wholly predictable demise in this year’s World Cup is going to help or hinder Paul’s 2010 Edinburgh show. Or, indeed, whether it’s possible for a show about being English to get any sympathy from the city's natives. If you want to find out, go see Kiss the Badge, Fly the Flag (Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 22.40, Aug 5th-29th, not 13th or 16th). It should be one heck of a night out.

TOM WATERACRE
See Programme 1.

JON BRITTAIN
See Programme 2.

HAYLEY JAYNE STANDING (as Vonny Lee Lucas)
Hayley hasn’t returned to Edinburgh since her whistle-stop 2008 appearance, which itself was cut short by her having to return back to London for an audition. A year later, she was starring as Mel in what we think was the best TV comedy of 2009, BBC2’s Home Time. Sadly, the show has not been re-commissioned, there are no plans for a repeat, and a DVD probably won’t see the light of day until Hell freezes over or someone at the BBC realizes they’ve made a HUGE mistake. Not sure which of those will happen first, mind you. Hayley hopes to finally make it to Edinburgh next year or the year after, whereas Vonny can occasionally be found at London’s Café Koha, co-hosting Vonny, Dot & Mo’s Knockers and Knobs Knight.

JAMES SHAKESHAFT
See Programme 1.

JAKE YAPP
See Programme 1.

DOUG FAULKNER
See Programme 2.

DELETE THE BANJAX
Sometimes you can just tell who’s got a future in this business, and we certainly noticed with DTB in 2008. By 2009, they were the hottest ticket…even though the show was free and there weren’t any tickets on sale. And by festival’s end, they were becoming the critics’ favourite too. 2010 is DTB’s third Edinburgh but their first in a major venue for a paying audience. By this time next year, they might be coming to you through your wireless or goggle box, so if you’re in Edinburgh in August be sure to see them in the flesh in Delete the Banjax…and You (Pleasance Attic, 17.45, Aug 4th-30th, not 17th) before it's too ruddy late.

ERIC KIRCHBERGER
There is a joyous irony in Eric’s 2008 routine when he says he always gets mistaken for store managers when shopping, in that he has just filmed a role in a movie, Lucky, in which he features as…wait for it…a store clerk. The movie looks as though it will be on general release in the US around the turn of the year. Check press for details, as they say. In the meantime, listen once again to Eric’s pronunciation of the word “Cookies?” in his routine – gets us every time.

JAY FOREMAN
See Programme 1.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/funny404/EDINBURGH2008edit5.mp3

All acts recorded live at Sex Tips for Pandas, which was hosted by and co-produced with Sowerby & Luff, at Dragonfly, West Port.

Thursday 29 July 2010

COMEDY 365 AT EDINBURGH 2008 - PROGRAMME 4

On today’s show, in order of appearance:

PAUL CONNEELY
As Programme 1.

DOUG FALKNER
As Programme 2.

LORCAN McGRANE
Has informed us that he will be replicating the Edinburgh experience at home this year by drinking heavily, eating badly, reading scathing Chortle reviews and sitting fully clothed under a shower.

TOM WATERACRE
As Programme 1.

SIMON LILLEY
Will be at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe, appearing in the tantalizingly-titled The Dog That Ate Your Birthday Cake (Base Nightclub, 17.00, Aug 7th-28th).

JAMES SHAKESHAFT & DAVID LE DAVIS
As Programme 1.

CHRIS MARTIN
If Chris schedules in an appearance at Edinburgh this year, it’ll probably be a flying one at very short notice, if his gig list is anything to go by. August sees appearances in the north-east of England, Brighton, Eastbourne, and London. And if that’s not enough, there are further podcasts with fellow comedian Carl Donnelly to look forward to (only 18 episodes and already #160 in the iTunes UK Audio Comedy chart, the jammy buggers). Anyway, it’s all accessible via Chris’s website.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/funny404/EDINBURGH2008edit4.mp3

All acts recorded live at Sex Tips for Pandas, which was hosted by and co-produced with Sowerby & Luff, at Dragonfly, West Port.

Wednesday 28 July 2010

COMEDY 365 AT EDINBURGH 2008 - PROGRAMME 3

On today’s show, in order of appearance:

THE SCARLET PIMPS
Another act on infinite hiatus (the British fringe circuit does that to people), Liam has just made a short film entitled The Secret Life of a Stapler and Rob has made a little baby daughter.

DAN McKEE
Is bringing a little bit of Norfolk to Edinburgh this summer, appearing in Great Yarmouth Social Club (Laughing Horse @ Edinburgh City Football Club, 20.30, Aug 7th-29th, not 9th, 16th, or 23rd). He will then return to Saltbox Comedy Club in Norwich to a hero’s welcome, no doubt.

BRENDAN NAUGHTON
We have it on good authority that Brendan is still alive and well, and will be gigging in London during August, including a date at Downstairs at the King’s Head on August 15th as part of the Comedy Variety Cabaret. Our good friend Mary Bourke is also on the bill and the compere is the frankly legendary Nick Revell.

DOUG FAULKNER
See Programme 2.

ALYSSA KYRIA (as Ariadne the Greek WAG)
Giving Edinburgh a miss this year, Alyssa is on the bill at London’s Comedy Pub on August 9th. The show starts at 20:30. Who knows, if she ever returns from her holiday, Ariadne might even return for another season of her Comedy Bag show sometime soon – that is, as long as her footballer husband’s transfer to a London side goes through before the deadline.

TOM WATERACRE
See Programme 1.

LIAM McENEANEY
Is in New York, hosting his weekly show Tell Your Friends (Lolita, 266 Broome St., at the corner of Allen St., 20.00 every Monday) and a specially-filmed version is currently in the post-production stage. Which leads us nicely onto…

ROB PARAVONIAN
…who not only appears in the aforementioned movie, but has just opened for Lily Tomlin. When not being captured for posterity or hobnobbing with comedy legends, Rob tours the US and has gigs in New York, Virginia, and Hawaii to look forward to in the next couple of months. His first CD in eight years, Songs from the Second Floor, is also available, and we’ll be featuring some tracks on The 404 Special when it returns in September.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/funny404/EDINBURGH2008edit3.mp3

All acts recorded live at Sex Tips for Pandas, which was hosted by and co-produced with Sowerby & Luff, at Dragonfly, West Port, except The Scarlet Pimps, who were recorded at the semi-finals of So You Think You’re Funny 2008 at the Gilded Balloon and introduced by Paul Tonkinson.

Tuesday 27 July 2010

COMEDY 365 AT EDINBURGH 2008 - PROGRAMME 2

On today’s show, in order of appearance:

ALFIE MOORE
Sadly, prior commitments prohibit Alfie from doing his third Edinburgh in a row, but he has been touring his 2009 show, The Laughter Police, in the few moments he’s had spare from the day job and will also be taking it to the Hull Comedy Festival this coming October.

DOUG FAULKNER
Will be spending his summer writing the bitchier bits of the script for the fourth (yes, fourth) series of BBC Three’s Snog, Marry, Avoid and shamelessly plugging the You Tube channel where you can see video versions of the sketches from his 2009 Edinburgh solo debut that you meant to see but were probably too hungover to crawl out of your bed early enough…

JON BRITTAIN
Will be at Edinburgh this year but has wisely decided against doing six open spots a night in order to appear in his play The Wake (Bedlam Theatre, 20.00, Aug 6th-28th).

TOM WATERACRE
See Programme 1.

ROSIE WILBY
Will be appearing both at the ever-growing Camden Fringe in Rosie’s Pop Diary (Camden Head, 17.45, Aug 2nd & 3rd) and at Edinburgh with Further Science of Sex (Underbelly Delhi Belly, 16.15, Aug 5th-29th, not 16th).

JAMES SHAKESHAFT & DAVID LE DAVIS
See Programme 1.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/funny404/EDINBURGH2008edit2.mp3

All acts recorded live at Sex Tips for Pandas, which was hosted by and co-produced with Sowerby & Luff, at Dragonfly, West Port.

Monday 26 July 2010

COMEDY 365 AT EDINBURGH 2008 - PROGRAMME 1

Ah, Edinburgh in August: warm audiences, damp weather, cheap alcohol, full bellies, empty houses, expensive accommodation, invisible producers, all-too-visible promoters, camaraderie, break-ups, breakdowns, crippling debt, and enough flyers left in boxes and bins at the very end to make an environmentalist weep.

It’s time for Fringe and, deep down, we all love it. And, although 404 Funny isn’t up there doing a show this year, we do have some fantastic performances in the archive from Comedy 365’s two years at the planet’s biggest arts festival.

All this week, we’re back in 2008, when Comedy 365 was part of PBH’s Free Fringe at Dragonfly, a bar just west of Grassmarket, halfway up West Port.

On today’s show, in order of appearance:

STE PORTER
Ste will be MCing at The Slaughterhouse and Lenny's Bar and Smoke Grill in Liverpool on Friday and Saturday nights throughout August 2010. For details of these and other show dates, plus ticket availability, click here.

TOM WATERACRE
Pegabovine are on infinite hiatus and Tom himself has been fairly quiet of late, which probably means he’s up to something. Be the first on your block to know by clicking here.

GIRL & DEAN
Sarah (Dean) won’t be at Edinburgh this year – the reason behind this may be because she “hates downhill more than uphill” or it may just because she’s up to something with her significant other, who just happens to be that aforementioned Wateracre chap. Jessica Ransom, however, will be, with her one-woman show Ransom’s Million (Pleasance Cellar, 16.45, Aug 4th-30th, not 16th or 23rd).

JAY FOREMAN
Fresh from two consecutive appearances in the Musical Comedy Awards final, Jay will be showcasing some of the material from his second CD in Pretend You’re Happy (Underbelly Delhi Belly, 13.40, Aug 5th-29th, not 18th).

PAUL CONNEELY
Continues to appear as a guest compere at The Funny Side…of Covent Garden.

JAMES SHAKESHAFT
Has, along with David LE Davis, written and appeared in Hung Out for Channel Four’s Comedy Lab, and the first six Dr Answers podcasts are still available for download right here at 404 Funny.

NICK HELM
After two years of appearing in mixed-bill shows, Nick will this year be making his solo debut at Edinburgh in a show entitled Keep Hold of the Gold (Downstairs at the Tron, 15.40, Aug 5th-29th, not 18th).

JAKE YAPP
Jake’s not at Edinburgh this year but, thanks to the BBC Trust, has been given a stay of execution on 6 Music, where he continues to contribute to Sean Keaveney’s breakfast show. We’re also betting he’ll be approached to be a talking head on those Morons of 2010 round-up shows on TV towards the end of the year that will probably be repeated nightly through until April 2011. He'll hopefully find some time to do some more podcasts for 404 Funny too – but for the time being have a listen to the best of his previous two series, The Jake Yapp Podcast and Jake Yapp’s Little Bits.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/funny404/EDINBURGH2008edit1.mp3

All acts recorded live at Sex Tips for Pandas, which was hosted by and co-produced with Sowerby & Luff, except Paul Conneely, who was recorded as part of his Edinburgh 2008 one-man show A Beginner’s Guide to Happiness at Holyrood Too@Faith.

Thursday 22 July 2010

THE 404 SPECIAL - PROGRAMME 16 - TRACKS

Today sees the last edition of The 404 Special before the programme takes a well-oiled summer break – but rest assured, it will be back in September.

For the time being, please be assured that we’ve saved the very worst until last.

Your culprits, in descending order:

ROB BALDER FEATURING JANNY It Had to Be You
RAYMOND & SCUM The Classiest Song In The World
TI TRA LI MEDIA The Toilet Song
STUCKEY & MURRAY Taking a Dump at Work
ROBERT LUND I Peed in the Pool
JEFF KORNBERG Damn
CHUB CREEK MUSIC In Barefeet We Slid
STEVE GOODIE Brown Booger
KEN TURETZKY Her Shit Don’t Stink
BOB RICCI Little Poop Scoop
MUSICOLOR Pumps on Parade

http://media.libsyn.com/media/funny404/404special16_eq.mp3

Got a favourite track from this or the previous 15 shows? Email us.

Got a track you’d like us to play? Email us.

Know someone whose music would fit nicely into the show? Email us.

Or are you a very sick and twisted composer of comedy songs yourself, utterly bitter at the lack of respect your art has received from the mainstream media? We feel your pain. Email us links to some of your tracks and if we like ‘em, we’ll stick ‘em out on the show and put you on the 404 Special Passenger List. You’ll feel at home here.

Monday 19 July 2010

THE 404 SPECIAL - PROGRAMME 15 - TRACKS

404 Funny would like to sincerely apologise for the lack of last week's edition of The 404 Special. This was due to the show's host, Richard Cray, being jailed for seven days for knocking off a policeman's helmet. But let's face it, it could have been a lot worse...like that time when he was held in contempt of Courts. Quite how a chain of furniture stores that was going into administration could ever have prosecuted him under human rights law in the first place, nobody knows...

Anyway, in addition to the seven-day sentence, Richard had to undertake 30 minutes of community service, so here it is: an edition of The 404 Special that takes a look at crime, law-breaking, and other deviant behaviour.

RAYMOND & SCUM My Neighbor
MATT GRIFFO Neighbor
PAUL & STORM Nun Fight
POWER SALAD Wasted Space Oddity
MONEYSHOT COSMONAUTS Hookin’ for Drugs in All the Wrong Places
JONNI MUSIC Palaver in Ramsbottom
TOM SMITH Smash the Frickin’ Fairies
ROBERT LUND Jail
JAY FOREMAN Stealing Food
ROB BALDER Needlessly Noir

http://media.libsyn.com/media/funny404/404special15_eq.mp3

To make up for the later-than-usual posting of this episode, there'll be another 404 Special later this week. But if you can't live without some funny music in the meantime, why not click through some of the links in our Passenger List on the right-hand side and buy some CDs.

Monday 5 July 2010

THE 404 SPECIAL - PROGRAMME 14 - TRACKS

This week's edition of The 404 Special is for all you animal lovers out there. Trust me, by the end of the show you'll be well into writing your letters of complaint and gathering together all the unused red paint in the house to throw at us when we collect an award for the show in several months' time.

Unlikely to be approached to strip off as part of a global advertising campaign for PETA for some time are:

PINK STEEL Cock Fight
SEAMONKEY Moo Moo Cow
STUCKEY & MURRAY Unicorn in C Major
TV’s KYLE Sheep in the Morning
LITTLE THOM The Dog Song
JEFF KORNBERG Something That is Fun
POWERED BY SATAN The Scrotum Frog of Lake Titicaca
CHUB CREEK MUSIC Bock Bock I’m A Chicken
ROBERT LUND Hooked Up With a Bigfoot

Seriously, though, be kind to all animals. (Apart from pigeons. They're just a bunch of filthy bastards.)

http://media.libsyn.com/media/funny404/404special14_eq.mp3