Gigglebox Weekly #68 – My Comedy Awards 2012
This week saw Jonathan Ross take his fawning to a whole new level as the British Comedy Awards were presented on Channel 4.
For once I thought that the awards generally went to the right people. Jack Whitehall’s a worthy King of Comedy – though admittedly I was rooting for Sarah Millican – and it was great to see The Thick Of It given the credit it deserves.
There just aren’t enough categories for my liking, though, and like last year, I’m using this week’s Gigglebox Weekly to honouring the comedies/comedians that didn’t get a mention. Here goes…
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Best Radio Comedy (Narrative): Party, the sitcom about a tiny political party starring Tom Basden, Tim Key, Jonny Sweet, Anna Crilly and Katy Wix. Not only is it satirical, but each half-hour episode is set in just one scene. I hugely admire the writing.
Best Radio Comedy (Non-Narrative): Like last year, I want to nominate John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme, and again it’s for the quality of the writing and the ideas. Highlights included a sketch about what The Archers sounds like to people who don’t listen to The Archers.
Best Stand Up: The best stand-up performance I saw this year was by Lee Ridley / Lost Voice Guy. As someone who’s disabled myself, I felt a bit of a connection with the performance – however, there’s more to it than that. There were comedy shows on the telly this year featuring disabled performers that totally failed in my view, (see I’m Spazticus), but Lee manages to get it right.
Most Surprisingly Good Comedy of the Year: Impractical Jokers. When I first heard the idea, a BBC Three comedy about four comedians trying to make each other do embarrassing stunts before hidden cameras, I thought this was going to bomb – but it worked really well. Credit goes to Marek Larwood, Roisin Conaty, Joel Dommett and Paul McCaffrey.
Best Effort: A mention to a show that wasn’t great, but tried its best in awkward circumstances. Take a bow, Switch. It wasn’t the greatest supernatural comedy drama thing ever made – and perhaps it’s not surprising it’s been axed – but given that it was on ITV2. Switch is probably the best thing the channel’s produced in years.
Top tip for 2013: Comedy Central is going to broadcast The Alternative Comedy Experience hosted by Stewart Lee, a twelve-part stand-up show from Edinburgh’s branch of The Stand. Featuring comedians including Josie Long, Henning Wehn and Kevin Eldon, as well as interviews with the acts, it should make for an interesting and hopefully funny show.
