THE APE THAT GOT LUCKY and CHRIS ADDISON'S CIVILIZATION

Two series of comedy lectures for Radio 4 presented by stand-up and 'middle class ponce' Chris Addison, springing out of his Perrier-nominated Edinburgh shows.

In The Ape That Got Lucky, Chris asked what really seperates us from the apes, while Civilization looked at the entirety of history. In four parts. Chris was joined by renowned polymath Professor Austin Herring (Geoffrey McGivern), Jo Enright and myself. The shows were written by Chris with Carl Cooper.

The Ape That Got Lucky won the Gold Comedy Award at the 2006 Sonys and is currently being developed for BBC2 as Lab Rats.

Both TATGL and Civilization are available to buy on CD.

 
ARMANDO IANNUCCI'S CHARM OFFENSIVE

A weekly topical drop-in centre for lonely panellists, Charm Offensive combined chat, lists, jokes and some fake interviews. Guests on the first series included John Sessions, David Mitchell, Will Smith, Clive Anderson, Chris Langham and Jo Brand.

SPACE HACKS

Written by Ian Sumner and Stuart Simons, Space Hacks covered the adventures of two hapless intergalactic journalists (played by Tim Key and Dan Mersh) and their onboard computer, Mother (Prunella Scales). As well as various robots, pirates and postmen, I played the monstrous editor of Intergalactic News Network, Korg. 

MASTERING THE UNIVERSE

Starring Dawn French and written by Chris Douglas and Nick Newman, Mastering The Universe explored the joys of living with passive aggression.

THE WAY IT IS

A satirical look at the week's news in the form of a spoof news show hosted by fictional anchors Richard Richard and Lolly Swain. The Way It Is ran for seven series, of which Danny Robins and I wrote for six. Starred Simon Evans, Laura Shavin, Dave Lamb and Chris Pavlo and, in early series, the Queen Vic's taxi driver-revenging Tracy Ann Obermann.

We ended up creating a few long-running characters for the show, including Royal Corresspondent and pederast Quentin Rumpleteaser, Brian Sternm the fascistic government spokesman and all-action weather man and love god, Kent Clarke.

To paraphrase the now legendary 'dream-ending' of the final show - not as good as On The Hour but much better than Weekending.

THAT WAS THEN THIS IS NOW

Radio 2's premier comedy historical retrospective show. Standing at the microphone next to Richard Herring (who said 'sidekicks'?) Danny and I helped put a mildly topical and satirical slant on the events from that week in history. Mainly by pretending, in the first series, to be a nerdy pub quiz champion and Richard's old history teacher with a failed marriage. TWTTIN, as the kids call it, also starred TV's Emma Kennedy and rock's answer to Dudley Moore, Christian Reilly.

DEAD RINGERS

Yikes, Scoob, it's Middle England's favourite impressions show. Ideas that Danny and I didn;t get on include: One-Man-Band of Brothers; Rabbi Lionel NYPD Blue; Dennis Potter and The Philosopher's Stone; Chris Eubank singing Thomething Thtupid; and that moving tale of a fin de siecle literary genius and his car-dealing, cigar-smoking lover, Oscar and Boycie. One idea that did get on was Simon Bates' History of England - "There was a king, I guess you could call him Harold".

HEY HEY WE'RE THE MONKS

Gary Woodcroft is 35 and congenitally unemployed. The local cider-making abbey is running short of monks. When the Abbot places an advert in the local job centre, Gary's restart officer forces him to take the job.

My first foray into sitcom writing with Danny Robins. This was broadcast on Radio 2 as part of a series of pilots. A series was commissioned but sadly never made. Hey Hey We're The Monks starred Bill Bailey, Catherine Tate, Hilda Braid, Graham Crowden, Osian Barnes, Paul Brooke and Howard Lew Lewis. A TV version is currently in development.

THE HUDSON AND PEPPERDINE SHOW

A sketch show disguised as a sitcom, starring the very funny double act Mel Hudson and Vicki Pepperdine with Jim North and Martin Hyder. Danny and I provided lots of additional material for series 2 and a couple of episodes for series 3 and 4.

PARSONS AND NAYLOR'S PULL-OUT SECTIONS

Another satirical look at the week's news for Radio 2, and loosely based on all the differnt sections that fall out of your Sunday paper. Starring Andy Parsons and Henry Naylor with help from Richie Webb and a variety of guest ladies (including Lucy Porter, Jenni Eclair, Sarah Kendall and Melinda Messenger).

YES SIR, I CAN BOOGIE

Did for the disabled community what Goodness Gracious Me did for the Asian community. Just not as successfully. Which is why you never saw 'The Hawkings At No 42'. We were responsible for several characters including a child possessed by the devil (stretching the definition of disability there) and a man who uses his wheelchair to get sympathy sex. The show starred Emma Kennedy, Simon Greenall, Kevin Eldon, Leila Hackett and Matt Fraser and ran for two series.

2000 YEARS OF RADIO

A six part series that imagined what the programmes would have been like had radio existed since the Roman invasion. I wrote and performed on Series 1, as did Danny Robins, Marcus Brigstocke, Stu Lane, Al Holloway and Claire Downes.

 

Listen to a few episodes of my radio work with this chamrmingly retro-looking mp3 jukebox...