WHATEVER HAPPENED TO 404 FUNNY...?

Click me, then read on...

Hullo, there. Remember us?

[WAITS AS LONG AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE, THEN CONTINUES REGARDLESS.]

We used to offer a variety of comedy podcasts on a regular basis up until 2013 and then stopped all of a sudden, only for almost everyone else in the world to wise up to the podcasting wheeze while our backs were turned. But were we ever actually away? Well, no, not really. Having said that, there may be one or two million of you out there who are still totally unaware of what has been going on since then, so grab a cup of Twitley Tea (...bags...make tea...bags...) and allow us to fill you in on the lurid details.

After publishing the second series of the John Dredge Nothing to Do with Anything Show in 2013, we were approached by the British Comedy Guide with an offer to syndicate the show and reach a wider audience than the 404 Funny feed could ever reasonably offer. (This has since proven itself several thousand times over.) While recording the third series (yes, there was a third series), we decided to offer it to them on an initial exclusive basis, with a view to making it available on the 404 Funny feed a few months down the line. We subsequently forgot about that last bit – but with good reason.

Published in 2014, Series 3 was a bit of a game-changer, in that it finally got us noticed. So much so, in fact, that John was called in to see the comedy controllers at Radio 4, who said they really liked what he did…before asking him whether he’d ever thought of writing for Newsjack. We were approached by a well-known TV production company that floated the concept of animating some sketches from the series…before telling us to go off and do a couple of series on radio first, which, in all fairness, we'd been trying to do since the Dark Ages (Newsjack was implied but not directly mentioned). We were then approached by another production company who gave us a working title and asked us to write a treatment that turned out to be a completely different idea to the one they actually wanted. (Newsjack didn’t come up in conversation but did appear written in red crayon on the back of John's bedroom door one morning, which was a little bit weird.)

We then wrote a few things for Newsjack on a sporadic basis but none of them made it to air. But it wasn’t all Newsjack. Oh, no.

We had already produced an insert for the pilot edition of Lewis Macleod’s Wired News on BBC Radio Scotland the previous October, and when we were approached to contribute to a further one-off edition timed to coincide with the 2014 Commonwealth Games we jumped at the chance. In fact, we jumped so high we set a new world record. This was followed by further writing duties on a full series of four episodes, aired in January 2016, to fill the gap vacated by Breaking the News, which was taking a short winter break. Despite only being available for a limited period on the iPlayer Radio (as was), we were told it was one of the top-rated programmes across the whole of the BBC Radio network on that platform during its run. Sadly, this was not a good enough reason for the show to be recommissioned by BBC Radio Scotland, who decided that there was simply not enough room for two topical comedy shows on the station, even if one was effectively standing in for the other. Lewis can now, of course, be heard on Radio 4’s Dead Ringers – and has also been heard on Breaking the News. (And a lot more Newsjack too, as it happens.) We here at 404 Funny particularly enjoyed his turn as Stanley Kubrick on Toast of London.

In between all this wiring of the news agenda, there was a Series 4 of the Nothing to Do with Anything Show (yes, there was a fourth series we didn’t tell you about as well), which the British Comedy Guide unleashed on a largely unsuspecting and somewhat unprepared public in the summer of 2015. We completely neglected to upload this series to the 404 Funny feed as well, although we were approached by several other online entities to syndicate all four series.

In addition, hour-long versions with music selections were made available as radio programmes, first to Resonance FM, who humbled us no end by including the show in a list of the ten best programmes aired during its first decade, and later to other broadcasters including Soundart in Totnes, Miskin Radio in Dartford and several other smaller online stations. They remain available on Mixcloud.

However, despite Series 4 being a massive step up from the previous three series and receiving much praise from the show’s loyal followers (many of whom thankfully continue to elude the authorities), offers of work similar to those received in the aftermath of the previous series failed to materialize and we went away to scratch our collective heads.

SO WHAT THE HECK HAS JOHN DREDGE BEEN DOING SINCE THEN?

Loads, if we’re honest.

...or nearest offer

For a kick-off, there’s DredgeLand, his comedy double act with Andy Harland. Together they presented a live and largely incoherent radio show on Riverside Radio (formerly Wandsworth Radio) for over three years, all of which are collected at http://dredgeland.com. They’ve also appeared at the Brighton and Camden Fringes, and have just participated in their second Southampton Superpod, raising money for Sport Relief.

  

Close friends get to call him JD, providing it's with dignity

Andy also plays drums in John’s latest music project, John Dredge and the Plinths, alongside guitarist MJ Hibbett and mystery man Bob Burgons on bass. They’ve picked up much press and radio play for their two EPs (Emergency and Plinthsmania) and single (Pancake Day), as well as an obligatory festive compilation offering (Christmas Time Is Here), all of which can be downloaded from reputable sites including iTunes and Amazon, as well as directly from the band at http://johndredgetheplinths.bandcamp.com.

And to think it all started with a wrong number

John also contributed a distinctive cover version of The Day We Fall in Love to the Monkees tribute CD Listen to the Bands – one of several collaborations with award-winning broadcaster Iain Lee, which have also included a short film entitled Car Trouble and an appearance at Iain’s live Performance Ring event, where he pushed a wheelbarrow across a stage for ten minutes. (This experiment has not been repeated.) John continues to call up Iain’s Late-Night Alternative show on Talkradio on a regular basis and also contributed the preface to Here’s the Thing…, a book of transcripts from the show’s first few years. You can catch up with Iain here: https://play.acast.com/s/latenightswithiainlee

Shirley Bassey theme tune not included

And, as if all that’s not enough to keep one man busy, John has recently joined Rebecca Diez and Paul Creasy to form comedy sketch group The Three People, making regular appearances at Sketch Off, Tryouts for the Human Race and Do the Right Scene, as well as part of the Hoopla Theatre collective. Their next live appearance is on April 13th, 2020 at The Aeronaut in Acton.

AND WHAT IN THE NAME OF ERIC CLAPTON HAVE YOU BEEN DOING WITH YOURSELF IN THIS TIME, DICK?

Comparatively very little, thanks for asking.

WHAT ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE ON 404 FUNNY?  WHAT ARE THEY UP TO, EH?  NO GOOD, I’LL BET.

Actually, you’ll be pleased to know that several of our contributors have enjoyed - and are enjoying - much success. (Subtitle: Curate a podcast channel and, who knows, within a decade you too could be a small rung on the ladder.) But in all seriousness, though, some of their achievements are mighty impressive.

Jake Yapp’s been all over the place.  His 2015 Camden Fringe show One-derland, a satirical and musical examination of a day in the life of BBC One, was followed the next year by a return to the Edinburgh Fringe with his stand-up debut One in a Million. His knack for summarizing virtually anything into four minutes or less led to appearances on shows as varied as Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe, Newsnight and Brexitcast. He hosted the Sunday breakfast show on Talkradio for just over a year and narrated the somewhat post-modern comedy clip show The Hurting for Dave. 2018 saw his acclaimed four-part satirical series Jake Yapp’s Media Circus interrupt regular programming on Radio 4, where he can still be heard occasionally contributing to The Now Show. In addition, he regularly hosts Radio 4 Extra’s nightly Comedy Club strand. He still has time to fit in podcasts too, having co-hosted the frankly filthy Old Sex Podcast (with Lizzie Roper and Robin Morgan) in 2018, and is currently boldly pushing out two podcasts a day: Not Today, Thank You (an antidote to Radio Four’s Today programme) and Date Fight! (with Natt Tapley).

Now firmly resident in the UK, Will Franken regularly performs his unique and visionary brand of absurdism at free-thinking clubs up and down the country, most notably at Comedy Unleashed at the Backyard Comedy Club in Bethnal Green. He writes opinion pieces for a variety of publications and occasionally gets invited to appear on TV and radio to comment on current affairs - or just to spike the next day’s newspapers. His acclaimed documentary film, a labour of love on the mythology of William Blake entitled Red, White and Blake is available on Amazon Prime, and comes highly recommended by both us and the Blake Society.

Taylor Glenn has written for television and film, with a movie screenplay currently in pre-production. She has continued to issue podcasts, including the intriguingly-titled Drunk Women Solving Crime (with Hannah George and Catie Wilkins).

After a couple of years of regular gigging as a stand-up, Doctor Answers’ James Shakeshaft has returned to podcasting, co-hosting The Loremen Podcast with Alasdair Beckett-King, which is now on its third series.

Simulacrum host Chris Skinner is the producer of the Bugle and Richie Firth: Travel Hacker podcasts, plus the odd radio show. Injury seems to have curtailed a promising side career as a triathlete, though.

Maggie Gordon-Walker founded Mothers Uncovered, a creative support network for mothers, and co-edited a book, The Secret Life of Mothers. Her 404 Funny character Mary Christmas still regularly stalks the internet's darkest crannies, so consider yourselves forewarned.

Pegabovine’s Tom Wateracre continues to write for the stage and drops the occasional song. (That’s “drops” as in the youth vernacular.)

After a brief period acting and manhandling firearms in Strike Back, Blue Pepper’s Liam J Stratton became Head Writer on the SABC soap Isidingo. He then returned to Blighty to script edit Casualty and Doctors for the BBC, before taking up his current role as a Senior Script Editor at Lime Pictures, makers of Hollyoaks. (NOTE TO SELF: Dust off that fringe musical / Muppet hybrid Rock Fozzies for future pitch asap.)

The other 50% of Blue Pepper, Miles Eady, has a proper job but still lends his voice to the occasional audio project. Speaking of which…

GET TO THE BLOODY POINT!

After an abandoned Christmas Special in 2016, and two false starts in the summers of 2017 and 2018, we are pleased to announce that Series 5 of the John Dredge Nothing to Do with Anything Show will be made available via the British Comedy Guide from March 24th, 2020. If you don’t believe us, here’s Joseph Champniss’ lovely artwork.

It's a-happenin'!

Appearing alongside John and I are regular cohorts Greg Haiste (who, since the previous series, has appeared on stage in The 39 Steps, Nell Gwynn and Quiz, and has just joined the RSC for its forthcoming production of The Comedy of Errors), actor / comedian / impressionist Max Dowler (Line of Duty, Alan Rickman Karaoke, Parris & Dowler) and actress Katy Slater (The Milligan Papers, Dick Pickering's Cookery Show), plus the aforementioned James Shakeshaft and Miles Eady. They are joined by newbie Paul Creasy from John’s sketch trio The Three People. We thank them for their time and effort, and wish them all a speedy recovery.

In case you’ve forgotten what to expect since your ears were last assaulted, we’ve assembled a handy compilation of some of the best bits from the first four series to whet your appetite, available exclusively on the 404 Funny feed. Either download direct or use the podcatcher of your choice.

(NOTE: Recently, we’ve observed that our feed – and that of many other content providers, both featured and lesser-known – can become dormant on iTunes / Apple Podcasts, even if you’re still an active subscriber and are regularly refreshing the feed. Having failed to get any sort of a coherent answer from Apple ourselves as both providers and end users, our only suggestion if this should happen to you is to delete our shows, unsubscribe, then re-subscribe and download individual episodes / shows to your liking. Yes, we know we would suggest this because it adds extra downloads to our stats – which are, of course, always handy – but it seems to be the only efficient solution to this recurring problem, sadly.)

By way of a profuse apology for having kept you waiting for nearly five years, we’re also in the process of editing a couple of “added-value” shows, which we hope to make available on the 404 Funny feed after the final episode of the series has premiered. One is a writers’ commentary that may or may not answer your most burning questions about the series; the other is a Making Of video, which will probably ruin all your preconceptions about how professional our recording sessions are. They’re both shaping up to be a hoot.

In addition, all four previous series of the Nothing to Do with Anything Show remain available to stream and download in full via the British Comedy Guide, although the original 2011 Christmas pilot can only be found on the 404 Funny feed at present. And it’s a very fine place to start.

We also hope to have transmission dates for five 60-minute re-edited versions of this fifth series on Resonance FM very, very soon. Watch this space for further updates.

So, to recap, your tasks for the next couple of weeks, should you wish to accept them, are:

1) Download the Best of Series 1-4 and remind yourselves who we are, what we do, what we look and sound like, warn the kids, etc.

2) Bookmark the dedicated Nothing to Do with Anything Show feed at the British Comedy Guide and choose your preferred means of download.

3) Go bat-shit-ding-dong with anticipation.

4) Listen to the new series from March 24th.

5) Keep ‘em peeled here for updates and more information about our end-of-series specials. (NOTE: Rewrite this bit later and make it sound less like a DFS commercial.)

And thanks for still being there for us after all these years.  We hope the new series proves worth the wait.

Yours,

Dick 'n' John

They live.