Radio Ha Ha

Episode 2:Dave Jory, Judy Carter,Spike Milligan, John Bird, John Fortune

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PREAMBLE

The editorial process for Episode 2 began with encouragement to submit a new version of the opening theme somewhat early, in order to ensure that it had been cut from the cumbersome ninety seconds for which it lasts at the beginning of Episode 1. The reduction to a more manageable thirty seconds had taken place soon after Episode 1 had gone to air.

For Episode 2, Tammy conducted an excellent interview with Judy Carter, a comedian turned giver-of-comedy-workshops. Although he didn’t admit it at the time, Dom was running scared: his big, indulgent interviews were impressive on the surface, but Tammy seemingly tossed this off with little effort and little experience, so she was clearly a natural. Imagine how good she’ll be when she decides to give this interviewing lark a proper go!

Episode 2 went to air Friday 2nd December.



OPENING THEME

Frank Zappa (?): The way I see it, Barry, this should be a very dynamite show.

This line is sample from ‘Lumpy Gravy Pt 1’, from the Frank Zappa album Lumpy Gravy, and plays over the wow and flutter of bad radio reception sampled from ‘Reception’, from the Paul McCartney & wings album Back to the Egg. It is followed by the static and noise of a radio tuner being spun through various stations, and then gives way to ‘Holiday for Strings’ by Spike Jones and his City Slickers, until:

Deep ‘Announcer’ Voice: And now it’s time for Radio Ha Ha with Tammy Tantschev and Dom Romeo.

LAUGHTER [1]

sampled from ‘Slush’ from the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band album Let’s Make Up And Be Friendly.


INTRODUCTION

Dom Romeo: Hello and welcome to the second episode of Radio Ha Ha. How are ya, Tammy?

Tammy Tantschev: I’m awesome, Dom, how’re ya doing?

Dom Romeo: I’m not quite as awesome, but I’m doin’ okay.

Tammy Tantschev: Oh, okay. Good.

Dom Romeo: Now I’ve got to tell you that this week we’ve got some comedy from Dave Jory up front.

Tammy Tantschev: Fantastic, and I’m going to talk about the Judy Carter workshop that I did on the weekend and have a chat with her.

Dom Romeo: Well then we’ll have some classic comedy from the vaults;

Tammy Tantschev: Excellent. And I’m going to tell you what’s on in Sydney, with the gig guide.

Dom Romeo: But right now, let’s hear from Dave Jory, who’s a Sydney stand-up comic, who’s been around for a couple of years now. He’s a little bit dark and he wears a suit and he’s quite foreboding with his bald head; he looks like he could be — not an extra, but — a main character from one of those Guy Ritchie crime flicks from a couple of years ago.

Tammy Tantschev: He does, he does. He comes off a little morose sometimes, but I think deep down Dave Jory’s a pussycat.


LIVE STAND-UP

Stand-up: Dave Jory, recorded live at Sydney’s Original Comedy Store

a great set that ends rather abruptly when Dave Jory hears the second bell after a good audience response, and announces:

That’s a good one to go on! Good night!

Dom Romeo: Now Tammy, there are two things I want to talk about at the end of that little snippet of Dave Jory’s stand-up.

Tammy Tantschev: Yes.

Dom Romeo: As soon as that second bell went, he was off like a flash! Now, look, you do stand-up. You tell me about it: is it understood that if you’ve got five minutes, you do five minutes and if you step a moment over, they take your soul?

Tammy Tantschev: It’s a lot like that. It does depend a lot on what venue you’re at, and that particular recording was from the Sydney Comedy Store, and they will switch the mic off on you and leave you in the dark talking to nobody if you go over the time limit. Especially if you get to five minutes, you hear the bell go and you get a laugh, then leave on a laugh, my friend, don’t dig yourself a hole with the fifteen seconds you might have left.

Dom Romeo: Interesting. Now the other thing I want to say is that Dave Jory appears on that Sydney Underground Comedy DVD… [2]

Tammy Tantschev: That’s correct, yes.

Dom Romeo: … that we played a bit of last week, but of course, to be honest to the punters at home listening…

Tammy Tantschev: Yes.

Dom Romeo: … he does do a bit of ‘effin’ and blindin’’ on the DVD which he graciously chose not to do when we told him we might record him to play [on air].

Tammy Tantschev: Which was very, very nice of him

Dom Romeo: That’s the mark of a great stand-up comic.

Tammy Tantschev: You need to be versatile and you don’t know who your audience is going to be, and you have to be able to tailor to that, and if you want to do corporate gigs and things like that too, it’s essential that you have a clean set. So it’s certainly very telling if you can do good comedy without all the swearing and all the rude references.

Dom Romeo: Now Tammy, be honest: you know a little bit about this, don’t you?

Tammy Tantschev: Uh… rude references?

Dom Romeo: No, no. About what it takes to be a good comic.

Tammy Tantschev: I… look, I… I think I’m always learning what it takes to be a good comic, and sometimes I think I’ve got a good idea, and then I’ll have a gig that makes me think that maybe I don’t know so much.

Dom Romeo: But of course, Tammy, we both know that you know a lot more now because on the weekend, you did the Judy Carter comedy course, and I also know that you caught up with her. So I want to hear your conversation with Judy Carter for Radio Ha Ha.

Sation ID:

This is Radio Ha Ha on 2GB Plus.

INTERVIEW WITH JUDY CARTER

Tammy Tantschev: Judy Carter is a master teacher, an author, a comedian, a humorous speaker; she appeared on over one hundred television shows, formed Comedy Workshop Productions — a school for wannabe comics — ten years ago, and also produces the annual Californian Comedy Conference. Judy is also the author of Stand-Up Comedy, the book, which has sold over 150,000 copies, and her latest book, The Comedy Bible, is the definitive guide to making a career out of making people laugh.

Judy Carter, a very warm welcome to Radio Ha Ha.

Judy Carter: Great! Wow, I was thinking, “is that me?” I have to say thank you, that was a great intro!

Tammy Tantschev: I had to cut it short; you’ve done a hell of a lot.

Judy Carter: Well, the best part is that my book is being published in Australia. That’s quite an honour. It’s so weird; they had to translate it into Australian.

Tammy Tantschev: Oh right, with the spelling…

Judy Carter: Yeah. The word ‘humour’ itself, in America, doesn’t have a ‘u’ in it. In Australia it does. In America, we don’t care about ‘u’, it’s all ‘me, me, me’. Maybe that’s one of the differences.

Tammy Tantschev: And this is the second time you’ve come to Australia to teach your workshop. Is it just the demand here that brought you back or do you actually have a soft spot for us Aussies?

Judy Carter: Oh, I do! I love it here. You just walk down the street and you don’t need therapy, because everybody says, ‘No worries…’ Twelve times a day people say to me, ‘No worries… no worries, mate. No worries.”

Tammy Tantschev: No worries!

Judy Carter: Everybody says that, and it’s very comforting.

Tammy Tantschev: It’s nice, isn’t it? Yes, I’ve been to the States once and I found it a little bit hectic.

Judy Carter: Yeah.

Tammy Tantschev: So you’re teaching your comedy workshops in Sydney and in Melbourne while you’re out here. Now, can anybody learn to be funny, or do you have to have been born with a natural ability?

Judy Carter: Well, yeah! You know, there are people who will never be funny. But if you are funny I can show you how to take your ‘funny’ and really learn to rock a room and put it to good use in your life and on stage. But if you don’t have a sense of humour whatsoever, please don’t come to my classes this weekend in Melbourne. Listen, please don’t. Make it easier on yourself, make it easier on me,

But there are a lot of people who sit watching the telly, going, “I’m funnier than him!…”

Tammy Tantschev: Yes.

Judy Carter: “…Why is he on TV?”

Tammy Tantschev: There are a lot of people who are funny among their friends, who can’t do stand-up, just as there are a lot of stand-up comics who aren’t known as ‘the funny one’ socially; what do you think the difference is between a funny idea and good stand-up material?

Judy Carter: Well, first of all, it’s shorter. And also, when you tell a funny story at a party and everybody laughs, that’s a pretty good indication that you have a skill. So what we do is, first of all, when you perform for a stand-up audience, they don’t all know you. And also, your friends at a party, when you tell a joke, aren’t all gonna go, “You suck!” They’re going to be polite and laugh.

Tammy Tantschev: Some of my friends do…

Judy Carter: Oh, change those friends!

Also, people have what I call a ‘remote control’ mentality: you’re watching the TV, you’ve got the remote control in your hand — we get bored so quickly and just go, change — change— change — so when you’re a stand-up comic, you have to set up your humour; you have to set up your jokes. Soak in the audience and keep their attention. That’s the hardest part. So, obviously, you have to get to your laughs very quickly. So these stories that go, “All right, twenty-five guys walk into a bar…” We professionals call that ‘laying too much pipe’ for the punch line. It’s too long. You have to get to it, get to it — that’s the craft. If you already are funny, great. I can show you how to make money from being funny, have a career, and show you how to express yourself and help you get over the fear of standing in front of people.

Tammy Tantschev: During the course, and in your book, you really emphasise the importance of having a ‘comedy buddy’. What’s so beneficial about doing that?

Judy Carter: Well, we have people who come to the course who just sit in a room and type up funny stuff and they don’t mingle with a lot of people. They find that when you stand up in front of people and you’re doing it, it’s just funny to you and maybe your cat. And people go, “you know, Judy, I don’t know how to just sit down and write funny material”. Well who says you have to sit down and write funny material? In the class, we don’t do that. You get a comedy buddy and we do these ranting and raving comedy exercises into a tape recorder. Your comedy buddy will write down what you say that could possibly be a joke.

Tammy Tantschev: So they’re things that you could miss from a personal perspective, that someone with a fresh perspective will actually pick up, as a joke.

Judy Carter: Yeah, exactly. Have you ever been talking to someone and they laugh, and you went, “well, I wasn’t trying to be funny!”

Tammy Tantschev: Yes.

Judy Carter: Or, “what’s so funny, everybody?”

Tammy Tantschev: Yes.

Judy Carter: You know, it’s like the person who slips on a banana peel and everybody laughs: it’s not very funny to the person who’s sitting there with a sore butt! So we need somebody else to look at our life and help us find those nuggets of pain and humiliation that we’re going to turn into comedy gold. So that’s really how my workshop works. This Saturday and Sunday we’re spending two days, from 9am to 5pm, really focusing on people’s lives: what can they take from their lives and turn it into comedy — and turn into stand-up comedy, specifically — and make an audience laugh?

Tammy Tantschev: Did you ever actually have a regular day job, or did you go straight into entertainment and comedy?

Judy Carter: I was a high school teacher just from when I was twenty to twenty-two — two years of my life! — but I had to quit: I couldn’t handle all that money and prestige. That was the only job I had.

Tammy Tantschev: And you actually went from teaching to comedy, and now you teach comedy. There’s a saying that ‘those who can’t do, teach’, but it’s pretty fair to say that you’ve blown that stereotype right out of the water. Do you prefer teaching comedy now, or performing?

Judy Carter: Well, I was on the road for eighteen years and that can get old, you know, I mean, every day! And I just went, “You know what? I wanna try something else”. So I got as successful as you could possibly be…

Tammy Tantschev: You were on the road for eighteen years?

Judy Carter: Yes, and I wanted to do something else and that’s when I wrote my book. And then no-one wanted to publish this book but I found one person — and those of your listeners who have a dream of doing stand-up or writing a book and people tell you, “no, you can’t do it,” don’t listen to them because it just takes one person to make your dream come true. So this one person helped me publish my book. Every publisher rejected it except one. And then when it was published, Oprah Winfrey put it on her show. She loved my book and the book just sold like crazy. Everybody was wrong. So then I started teaching, and then I got a little bored with that, so now I’m back to doing comedy but now I do corporate comedy. So I’ve had a lot of career shifts in my life.

Tammy Tantschev: You actually specialise in that now and you’re going to organisations and entertaining and motivating staff. For Fortune 500 companies like Boeing and FedEx, what kind of reaction do you get from people when you entertain them? As an organisation, how does someone react to someone taking the mickey out of their company?

Judy Carter: I don’t know about Australia, but in America corporations are humour-impaired.

Tammy Tantschev: Oh, we get a lot of that over here, too.

Judy Carter: You know, it’s like “Oh, is that politically correct? I might lose my job. Oh, if you tell a joke about a woman’s breasts, you might lose your job.” They’re so uptight! And, personally, we sue too much, so if some guy is talking to me and looking at my breasts, I’m just gonna say, “Hey buddy, if they talk back, you can have ’em!”

I felt that corporate America needed me, and so I just found that when I go in, they say to me, “Judy, we want you to lighten people up because people are quitting because we changed their policy about their bonuses, and we want you to talk about how change is a good thing, and make it funny.” So then I customise what I do. You get out there and you see that everybody looks really gloomy; it’s 8 am, so I’ll just come out and say something like, “Well, they want me to talk about change and I feel perfectly qualified to talk about it because I used to be a man. And you see everyone wake up and go, “Okay, this is going to be something different!” That’s what I do: I’m a wake-up call for corporations: waking them up to their sense of humour and helping them deal with stress and change, using their sense of humour. That’s specifically what I speak about.

Tammy Tantschev: Apart from people reading your book The Comedy Bible or taking your workshop, what advice would you give to people trying comedy for the first time?

Judy Carter: Keep it short. Get to the laughs really quickly; you don’t have a lot of time. People aren’t all smoking pot like they were in the 70s and 80s; now people are on Starbucks double latés. Boom, boom, boom! They don’t have patience. Get to the joke.

Two: Joke about something you know something about. Don’t talk about politics when you’re first starting out; that’s a little trickier. Joke about yourself, your family, something in your life.

Number three: don’t do blue material. People think comedy is just talking about their body parts.

Tammy Tantschev: You see a lot of first-timers do that; I definitely have.

Judy Carter: Yeah. That’s really funny when you’re eight, you know, but you’re a grown-up now, so you’ve got to be a little bit cleverer than that. You’re gonna see every open mic comic doing doo-doo ca-ca kind of things…

Number four: don’t talk about anything coming out of holes — farting, pooping, whatever it is — nothing coming out of holes. People are eating nachos and pizza and they don’t want your graphic pictures in their head.

And five: don’t plan a lot of material. Start with three minutes. Maybe you’ve got eight jokes — just start with that because it’s better to keep it short and memorable than long and boring.

Tammy Tantschev: I definitely recommend, anyone who’s thinking of trying comedy, get out there and buy Judy Carter’s The Comedy Bible. There is the Australian version, and I think you’ve also got information in there about Australian agents and venues.

Judy Carter: Yes, and clubs and places to work. We’ve done a lot of research and they really worked hard making the Australian book really relevant to Australia.

Tammy Tantschev: And if people didn’t get a chance to get along to your workshops this time, will we be seeing Judy out here again in the future?

Judy Carter: Well they want me to! I mean, we did the Sydney workshop and everybody was so happy with it and we have a lot of speakers, we have people who are lawyers — they just want to learn how to speak in front of people.

Tammy Tantschev: So it’s really for anyone!

Judy Carter: Yeah.

Tammy Tantschev: Excellent. Judy, thank you so much for talking to us at Radio Ha Ha and I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Australia.

Judy Carter: This is Judy Carter, and you’re listening to Radio Ha Ha! Ha ha! Ha ha? Ha ha. Bye.

Dom Romeo: So that was Judy Carter!

Tammy Tantschev: Yes.

Dom Romeo: I almost wish I’d been there. Tell me, what was it like for you?

Tammy Tantschev: It was fantastic. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and like a lot of people, you’re never really sure if someone can teach you comedy or not. But what Judy does in her lessons is, she teaches you a method that makes it very easy to find the humour in a situation in your life — she refers to a lot of personal circumstances — where you can draw inspiration from, and apply her method — or a method; she claims it’s not hers but a universal method — you apply it to the material and you actually end up with a joke; good content. It was incredible, because there was such a mixed group of people in the class — there were about thirty of us at the Sydney Comedy Store — and there were comedians that I recognised who are working and are successful right now, there were speakers, there were people who were just looking to get out of their shell a little bit, people who wanted to have good comebacks when they found themselves facing those kinds of situations, people from all walks of life and, I have to admit, some that I looked at and thought, ‘goodness me, there’s a challenge for Judy’ to put it nicely, who actually got on stage and killed. I couldn’t believe how in just two days’ time, she managed to turn ordinary people into stand-up comedians.


Station ID:

Laugh out loud: it’s okay. This is Radio Ha Ha on 2GB Plus.

CLASSIC COMEDY


Dom Romeo: Now, Tammy, I’ve got to tell you that when I first met you, I thought you were a little bit weird. Whereas I say things like ‘dance’ and ‘France’… [3]

Tammy Tantschev: I would say ‘dance’ and I would say ‘France’, [4] because that’s how they’re correctly pronounced.

Dom Romeo: And, whereas I would say ‘lego’ [5], you say…

Tammy Tantschev: ‘Lego’. [6]

Dom Romeo: And where I’d say ‘devon’, you say…

Tammy Tantschev: It’s ‘fritz’; what’s ‘devon’?

Dom Romeo: Okay, so, ‘lego’…

Tammy Tantschev: … ‘fritz’…

Much laughter since, even though Tammy is from Adelaide and talks funny, she doesn’t actually say ‘fritz’ for ‘lego’…

Dom Romeo: ‘Leh-go’…

Tammy Tantschev: ‘Lay-go’…

Dom Romeo: ‘Devon’…

Tammy Tantschev: ‘Fritz’…

Dom Romeo: Let’s call the whole thing off!

Dom Romeo: I know that sound’s awful, but that’s the best introduction I can give you to this piece called ‘The Audition’ which dates back to the mid-70s, [7] is performed by John Bird and John Fortune, [8] and is from one of the Amnesty International gigs from the 1970s. I think it’s from A Poke In The Eye With A Sharp Stick. [9].

Soundbite: ‘The Audition’ by John Bird and John Fortune, from the various artists charity compilation album A Poke In The Eye With A Sharp Stick.

An audition takes place in which the song ‘Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off’ is sight-read; not knowing the joke, the auditionee pronounces ‘tomato’ and ‘pajamas’ the same way both times. The punch line, therefore, becomes…

I’m sorry, I fail to see what’s wrong with this relationship…

Dom Romeo: It’s so silly, but I love it!

Tammy Tantschev: I love it too.

Dom Romeo: And uh, yes. If I ever come to visit you in Adelaide, I will play with your lay-go and I will try your fritz.

Tammy Tantschev: And you’ll have to have some Woody’s.

Dom Romeo: Woody’s?

Tammy Tantschev: That’s a softdrink.

Dom Romeo: Okay.

Tammy Tantschev: Okay.

Dom Romeo: Well done.

Apart from in this studio, Tammy, why don’t you tell us where else we can laugh in Sydney this week.

Tammy Tantschev: Absolutely!



GIG GUIDE

Soundbite: ‘Vamp Until Ready’ by Spike Milligan, from the album Spike Milligan — A Collection of Spikes

the track loops to underscore the entire gig guide until it ends with a chord, as the gig guide ends.

Tammy Tantschev: Here is what’s funny in Sydney this week, with your gig guide.

At the Sydney Comedy Store, in the Entertainment Quarter at Moore Park, Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd, Jackie Loeb headlines, and is supported by Mickie G and Sean Baxter.

From Tuesday 6th, of course, you’ll find the amazing Anthony Mir.

At the Laugh Garage in Parramatta, on Friday 2nd, you’ll find Gary Who as well as Peter Egner, and on Saturday 3rd Akmal’s headlining.

The Comedy Hole at the Sandringham Hotel in Newtown features bloke, Chris Franklin on Monday 5th December.

Also Monday 5th, if you’re up north, get to the Old Manly Boatshed to catch Brett Nichols.

And the Fringe Bar in Paddington again offers comedy on a Monday night. So get down there to see Anh Do, Jackie Loeb and The Dickster on Monday 5th December.

Wednesday 7th December, Blacktown RSL features Michael Hilder and Sean Flag.

And also Wednesday 7th, the Statement Bar in the city features Steady Eddie and Chris Franklin.

On Thursday 8th of December catch again Steady Eddie and Steve Philp at the Epping Hotel.

The Friend in Hand Hotel in Glebe hosts the Mic In Hand comedy night each Thursday night, and on Thursday 8th December your headline act is Tommy Dean and your MC is Kent Valentine. And the Mic In Hand features an open mic section every week, so that’s where you need to go if you want to try new comedy, or get down and support someone trying new comedy.

Other open mic nights around Sydney are at Pear Shaped — that’s held at the East Village Hotel every Monday.

Tuesday nights you’ll find open mic at the Sydney Comedy Store.

And you should also get yourself down to Paddy Maguires in the city on Wednesday nights with the very talented Mr Nick Johns.

Soundbite: ‘Vamp Until Ready’ by Spike Milligan, from the album Spike Milligan — Comedy Collection

Big final note fades up after gig guide, to end the track and the gig guide.

Tammy Tantschev: Okay, so, Dom, we’re at the end of our show, which is a shame, but before we go there are two things I want to ask you. Firstly, your book launch was on Wednesday night.

Dom Romeo: Yes it was.

Tammy Tantschev: How did that go?

Dom Romeo: Well it went really well. For me it went particularly well because we taped everyone. So, over the next few weeks, you’ll be hearing stand-up comics at the Comedy Store, just doing their thing but occasionally slipping in a joke from a joke book that I happened to compile.

Tammy Tantschev: So, even at your own launch, you’re still working for Radio Ha Ha. I love this.

Dom Romeo: Well, that’s one way of looking at it. On the other hand, even when I’m working at Radio Ha Ha, I’m still plugging my book — so it’s much of a muchness, really.

Tammy Tantschev: And, on the book, Dom, before we go, we’ve got to have you leave us with a joke.

Dom Romeo: Okay. Here’s one of my favourite dumb jokes from the book Have You Heard The One About…. Here we go:

Dom Romeo: Why did the Southern gentleman wear a tuxedo to his vasectomy?

Tammy Tantschev: I don’t know — why did the Southern gentleman where a tuxedo to his vasectomy?

Dom Romeo: Because he figured:

If Ah’s goin’ ta be impotent, Ah’s goin’ ta look impo’tant!

Tammy Tantschev: Oh, thank you so much! Dom, as always, a pleasure!

Dom Romeo: Well, Tammy, same here.

Tammy Tantschev: And, everyone listening, don’t forget: you can go to the 2GB Plus website, www.2gbplus.com.au to get a subscription to Radio Ha Ha, or you can find us in iTunes.

Dom Romeo: And why not send us an e-mail? Send us a joke, talk to us, tell us what you want to hear.

Tammy Tantschev: Thanks everyone for listening to Radio Ha Ha.

Dom Romeo: Bye now.

Tammy Tantschev: Bye.

CLOSING THEME

Soundbite: Last segment of ‘Holiday for Strings’ by Spike Jones and His City Slickers.


FOOTNOTES

1. For this episode we inaugurated the new Radio Ha Ha tradition of sampling a different laugh at the front end of every episode. At one stage I imagined having a competition on the website, where you could click a button and hear a laugh, and have to match it to a name. But instead, over-telling the joke as usual, I prefer to just list the laughers and point people to the source.
2. That we of course discussed in Episode 1.
3. Pronounced, for the purposes of the cumbersome gag I am in the process of perpetrating, as “dants” and “frants”.
4. Pronounced, although I’ve failed to explain it, because Tammy’s from Adelaide, as “dahns” and “frahns”.
5. Pronounced “leh-go”.
6. Pronounced “lay-go”.
7. It probably dates back to the early 60s satire boom, if not university revue, as do John Bird and John Fortune. [8]
8. John Bird and John Fortune were both Cambridge University alumni who were involved with the Cambridge Footlights Dramatic Club, although Bird, a little older, was a postgraduate student while Fortune was still an undergraduate. They collaborated frequently, coming to the fore as satirists when it was all the rage as part of the so-called 60s ‘satire boom’ in England, that gave rise to the likes of The Frost Report and That Was The Week That Was. In more recent times, John Fortune turned up as the acupuncturist in Ben Elton’s (disappointing) feature film debut Maybe Baby, while John Bird starred opposite Stephen Fry in the BBC comedy Absolute Power
9. A Poke In The Eye With A Sharp Stick was the first in a series of all-star fundraising comedy galas. It took place in 1976, and was filmed for television (and retitled Pleasure at He Majesties). Subsequent Amnesty International comedy fundraisers include Mermaid Frolics, The Secret Policeman’s Ball, The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball and The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball.

Episode 1:Rob McHugh, Tim Brooke-Taylorand Stan Freberg

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PREAMBLE


After serving a kind of apprenticeship doing numerous comedy and music interviews, dedicated comedy nerd Dom Romeo was recruited to help devise and create a dedicated comedy show for the Macquarie Radio Network’s soon-to-be-launched digital station by the gorgeous and hilarious stand-up comic Tammy Tantschev at the recommendation of her stand-up comedy peers. Tammy was already employed by the network, and Dom had been doing a similar sort of interview-with-soundbites package, so they seemed to click early on.

Acknowledgement and praise must go to Tammy for devising the show’s title, and designing the logo. Everything else seemed to fall in place quite quickly and easily.

For all its faults, Episode 1 is an excellent effort, even if its opening theme goes on a bit too long. The same could also be said for its massive interview with Tim Brooke-Taylor conducted in honour of the Goodies’ return visit to Australia (it’s a companion piece to an interview with Graeme Garden which took place prior to the Goodies’ first Australian tour).

Episode 1 went to air Friday 1st December 2005.



OPENING THEME [1]

Over the buzz, wow and flutter of bad radio reception — courtesy of Paul McCartney and Wings’ ‘Reception’ from the album Back to the Egg, a voice sampled from Frank Zappa’s ‘Lumpy Gravy Pt 1’, from the album Lumpy Gravy, says:

The way I see it, Barry, this should be a very dynamite show.

The static and noise of a radio tuner being spun through various stations gives way to ‘Holiday for Strings’ by Spike Jones and his City Slickers. The lyrics mainly consist of the words ‘ha ha ha ha ha’. Get it?! Over the top of this, an announcer proclaims:

And now it’s time for Radio Ha Ha with Tammy Tantschev and Dom Romeo.

INTRODUCTION

Dom Romeo: Well, Tammy, here we are, back again for Episode 1. [2]

Tammy Tantschev: That’s correct, we are back again for Episode 1.

Dom Romeo: A bit of deja vu…

Tammy Tantschev: It is a little bit.

Dom Romeo: What have we got to kick off this first episode of Radio Ha Ha?

Tammy Tantschev: There’s actually heaps in the first episode of Radio Ha Ha. We’re going to talk a little bit about Rob McHugh and the Sydney Underground Comedy DVD. You’ve got a fabulous interview with Tim Brooke-Taylor, of The Goodies…

Dom Romeo: We’ve got some classic comedy that we’ll talk about later as well…

Tammy Tantschev: … Which I heard from you for the first time the other night and I loved it. A bit of Stan Freberg there. And we’ll also talk about what’s on in comedy in Sydney.

Dom Romeo: Okay. Well let’s start with Rob McHugh. I don’t know Rob McHugh at all.

Tammy Tantschev: I’ve met Rob McHugh from doing comedy around Sydney quite a few times and I had the pleasure of seeing him at the Sandringham Hotel in Newtown — at the Comedy Hole every Monday night — he headlined there recently and absolutely nailed it. We’re playing some of his comedy from the Sydney Underground Comedy DVD. So here’s Rod McHugh.

LIVE STAND-UP

Live stand-up: Rob McHugh, recorded at the Mic In Hand, at the Friend in Hand Hotel, as released on the Sydney Underground Comedy DVD.

material includes a gag about how we could have our own ‘Marilyn Manson’: ‘Kylie Millat’! This is quoted here to make sense of the piss-weak back announce… [footnote]

Dom Romeo: ‘Kylie Millat’! How about that? Love that one.

Tammy Tantschev: I know, that was very clever, that one got me.

Dom Romeo: I wish I’d thought of that first! Anyway…

Tammy Tantschev: That goes for a lot of the stuff on that DVD, I must say.

Dom Romeo: Fantastic. Now I know a bit about this DVD. These are all the up-and-coming comedians that not everyone has necessarily heard of but, let’s face it, will hear about soon.

Tammy Tantschev: Absolutely. A lot of people on the DVD are already doing amazing stuff. There are some very fabulous-looking people there — I’m not thinking about anyone in particular…

Dom Romeo: What, not the one called Tammy Tantschev at all…?

Tammy Tantschev: Ah, yeah, she goes allright, actually; maybe that’swho I was thinking of… but the DVD is out now, it’s basically twenty-four of Australia’s funniest comedians at their best.

Dom Romeo: Now I notice that they’re all taped at the same venue — a place called The Friend In Hand hotel…

Tammy Tantschev: That’s right, The Friend In Hand in Glebe. That’s run by Sam Bowring and Kent Valentine, and that’s been going for a while now. And that’s every Thursday night. ‘The Mic In Hand’, they call it, on Thursday nights for comedy.

Dom Romeo: So the Comedy Hole in Newtown, the Mic In Hand in Glebe… are these places you go to a lot?

Tammy Tantschev: I go there far too often. I can’t go there enough. These are great venues that are regular events in Sydney and they also give new comics an opportunity to get out there and try some new stuff, which is awesome.

Station ID

This is Radio Ha Ha on 2GB Plus.

TIM BROOKE-TAYLOR INTERVIEW [3]

Dom Romeo: Well now, look, The Goodies [4] have just toured Australia for the second time and they did fabulously, even though Bill Oddie didn’t come out with them this time.

Tammy Tantschev: Yeah, that’s right, but we went along and enjoyed the show very much and I’ve never seen The Goodies live before…

Dom Romeo: Well, I only had earlier this year, so before then I was only going from the memory of the shows that I had seen a million times in my youth, in the 70s.

Tammy Tantschev: That’s right, and it really did take me back. I kind of forgot how much I enjoyed it as a kid, because, for us, it was on the ABC at the 6:30 pm time-slot, so it was really aimed at the young generation.

Dom Romeo: It’s an interesting thing, because in England it was an adult show, and in Australia we actually had censored versions — there were bits cut out. And in some instances, there are some episodes that only still exist in their cut version in Australia.

Tammy Tantschev: Oh right. Well they showed some of the stuff that they couldn’t show in Australia on the ABC, in their live performance, which was quite funny.

Dom Romeo: Yes, that bit from the episode ‘Scoutrageous’ was quite naughty; I could understand why Aunty would get a little bit upset in the 70s.

Tammy Tantschev: Yeah, they had some cheeky senses of humour, those guys, and still do!

Dom Romeo: And still do! And the interesting thing about Tim Brooke-Taylor, who went to uni at Cambridge with the other Goodies, and also with a lot of people from Monty Python [5], and he almost became a Python. We discuss that in the interview…

Tammy Tantschev: Oh, wow.

Dom Romeo: … so I think, without any further ado, here’s Tim Brooke-Taylor of the Goodies.

Soundbite: Theme to The Goodies

Goodies… goody, goody, yum, yum!

Dom Romeo: I’d like to start at the beginning, if I may, Tim.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: What, at the beginning of the world?

Dom Romeo: Well, a little more recent than that, but in the bigger scheme of things, still quite early.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: Yes…

Dom Romeo: Performing at university… How did you get into it?

Tim Brooke-Taylor: It’s a good question because in England at that time you had to go to get a grant for university, and you had to convince them why you could get a grant. They asked me the question I wasn’t expecting. I was expecting a question like, “How hard are you going to work?” but they said, “What are you going to do when you’re not working?” That threw me, because, what I intended to do when I wasn’t working would not have got me a grant — ‘drinking’ and ‘women’ and things like that, as only an eighteen year-old can think — and I sort of blurted out, “Oh, I’m going to join the Footlights!” [6] I didn’t even know what it was, really; I knew it was comedy, and I never acted at school or anything.

When I got there they so frightened me, they were all so smart and clever that I auditioned for a college play, and it’s actually a long story, but it was a bad start when there were thirty-two parts; thirty-three auditioned and I actually failed to get a part. So I thought, “well, I’ve done my bit”.

And then I met Bill Oddie and we sort of had a giggle, and we did a sort of ‘charity sketch’ and that led to my getting into the Footlights where I met the people I was to work with for the next goodness knows how long: John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Graeme Garden, Eric Idle, Bill Oddie. We were lucky to have been in a college that Peter Cook had just left, so there was a good inheritance of comedy. So it was a stroke of luck, really.

Soundbite: Excerpt from ‘The Day After Tomorrow’s World’ from the self-titled I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again album. [7]

Interviewer: Can you hear me Doctor Brooke-Ferret?

Dr Brooke-Ferret (Tim Brooke-Taylor): No, I can’t hear you.

Interviewer: Oh, well, I can’t hear you either.

Dr Brooke-Ferret (Tim Brooke-Taylor): You’ll have to speak up a little…

Interviewer: I said, ‘I can’t hear you either…’

Dr Brooke-Ferret: Neither can I.

Interviewer: Well, we seem to be having a little trouble, so I’ll just say goodbye, Dr Brooke-Ferret.

Dr Brooke-Ferret: Hello!

Tim Brooke-Taylor: They produced a DVD this year of a show that I did with John Cleese, Marty Feldman and Graham Chapman, called At Last, The 1948 Show [8], and it’s extraordinary to look at it. It looks as though it was made in about 1880 with a few candles in the background.

Dom Romeo: At Last, The 1948 Show is very important; there are sketches in that that a lot of us attribute to Monty Python that actually pre-dated Python, like the ‘Four Yorkshiremen’ sketch.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: Yes, in fact, for many years, I used to bleat in the wilderness and say, “I wrote that sketch!” — I helped, I part-wrote that sketch — and people used to sneer and say, “no, it’s Monty Python”, but now I’ve got proof.

Soundbite: excerpt from ‘Four Yorkshiremen’ sketch from At Last the 1948 Show.

Yorkshireman 1 (Tim Brooke-Taylor): We had it tough: I used to ’ave to get out of shoebox at midnight, lick road clean, eat a couple of bits of cold gravel, work twenty-three hours a day at mill for a penny every four years, and when we got ’ome, dad used to slice in ’alf with a bread knife!

Dom Romeo: In a way, you came very close to being a Python. Surely it was a role of the dice whether you became a Goody or a Python at some stage.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: Yeah, it could have gone either way. I think I’d have probably not gone with Python because, although they were all friends, I think they were better writers than I was. But I think it’s good it went the way it did. You’re absolutely right, yes.

Dom Romeo: That’s interesting that you should say that as well, because I notice that there are early Goodies episodes that you don’t write…

Tim Brooke-Taylor: That was more to do with the fact that I was doing other things, as well as the fact that you can’t really have three people writing a storyline, I think. Bill and Graeme were able to write much quicker than I did, so it was probably best for all of us that they took over the writing.

Dom Romeo: Because of that work, you also worked on Marty Feldman’s solo show.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: Yes. They were good fun, those Marty shows. [9]

Soundbite: Excerpt from the ‘Bishop of No Fixed Abode’ sketch, from either the comedy show It’s Marty or Marty Amok

Bishop (Marty Feldman): God bless you all; any unbelievers here?

Passenger 1: Pardon?

Bishop: I said, ‘Any unbelievers here?’ Atheists, agnostics, ’Indus, that lot… you know what I mean.

Passenger 1&2: No, no.

Bishop: What are you then, son?

Passenger 1: Church of England.

Bishop: Good for you, mate! Yeah, good for you, son. What about you, mate?

Passenger 2: Roman Catholic.

Bishop: Roman Catholic, yeah? That’s one to them, one to us! Well it’s all down to ’im, then, innit? I say, it’s all down to ’im. ’Alf a crown says he’s C of E, right?

Passenger 2: Well, I don’t actually indulge…

Bishop: I’ll tell you what I’ll do, I’ll tell you what I’ll do: six to four on, he’s C of E; Jew, no bet; and I’ll throw in a couple of indulges for free, there you are! I can’t say fairer than that, all right?

Passenger 2: All right.

Bishop: Are you on?

Passenger 2: Yes.

Bishop: Right, what are ya, son?

Passenger 3 (Tim Brooke-Taylor): I’m an agnostic.

Bishop: You what?

Passenger 3: I’m an agnostic.

Bishop: You stupid git!

Passenger 3: I’m sorry, Your Grace.

Bishop: You stupid git! You get up there, mate, tell ’Im you’re an agnostic; ’E’ll smash your teeth in… in his infinite mercy.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: That was the reason; that was actually — if I’m perfectly honest — the reason why I wasn’t a Python, because it would have been awkward for me to have done both.

Dom Romeo: But you did live with Cleese and Chapman for a while, you did share a flat.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: Yes. And in all that period, John and I were performing in I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again. In fact, when we were doing At Last, The 1948 Show, we’d both been working on The Frost Programme — as researchers, basically. Not very good ones.

Dom Romeo: I thought the whole point of the Frost Programme was, everyone wrote it, but got a ‘with…’ credit after David Frost’s name.

Tim Brooke-Taylor (laughing): That’s The Frost Report; The Frost Programme was more of an interview-type thing. But you’re right, yes. That’s actually how we met up with Marty Feldman, was on The Frost Report.

Dom Romeo: Now, your Goodies character, with the hyphenated surname, the Union Jack waistcoat, standing to attention to recite patriotic words while ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ or ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ — whichever way you want to label it — plays in the background…

Tim Brooke-Taylor: Yes…

Dom Romeo: Where did that come from?

Tim Brooke-Taylor: Well, if you think about it, if you’re trying to get three characters who represent everybody, you’ve got to have a right-wing neo-con loony, you’ve got to have a boffin technocrat liberal-ish wishy-washy middle and you’ve got to have a bloody revolutionary. And if I’m going to be cast, with a name like mine, I don’t think I can be the revolutionary. So that’s how that started. So basically we took up those roles. I really disliked my character in many ways. The only thing I had in common was, we were both incredible cowards. You remember, he may make those patriotic speeches, but he usually used to go and hide in the cupboard afterwards — which is the way quite a lot of rightwing people are, anyway. It’s just awful because a lot of people do assume that that’s exactly how you feel, and the awful thing is, that they’re the ones who like the character because he says the right things.

Dom Romeo: Another role you played in those early days is that cameo in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: Yes. It’s extraordinary, isn’t it? I did it and it was the last shot of the whole movie, actually, and everybody wanted to leave because they’d been working on it for too long, and they all hated the director, and so it was almost sort of a ‘throw-away’. At the time, I enjoyed it, obviously. I didn’t see much of the rest of the film, and when it opened in England, it didn’t even really go on release. It was only later, at Christmases, it was shown. I think it’s a great film. I can say that, only having a small part, but I get quite young people who recognise me from that, which is very flattering — I know I don’t look like that — but it is great. It’s a very small bit, but, I don’t know, the fact that I’m not credited on the film makes it even better, somehow.

Soundbite: Tim Brooke-Taylor as [uncredited] computer operator, in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: Gentlemen, I know how anxious you have been in these last few days, but I think I can safely say, that your time and money have been well spent. We’re about to witness the greatest revolution of the machine age. Based on the revolutionary computonian law of probability, this machine will tell us the precise location of the three remaining golden tickets.

Machine whirs to life, spitting out a card with the ting of a bell.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: It says, “I won’t tell; that would be cheating.”

Dom Romeo: How did you get the role in the film? How did it come about?

Tim Brooke-Taylor: It was straight-forward audition. I haven’t auditioned many times in my life. That isn’t a grand thing to say — I’ve gone down routes where you don’t audition. But that was one when… in fact, I was going to be several other parts and because of the filming schedule, it changed and I suddenly got landed with that one. I think they got one or two of what they would call ‘English character actors’ given to this American director who seemed a bit of a lunatic, as far as I was concerned. I remember climbing over his sofa and showing off madly and got a part. But that was how it was. I mean, it was just like cattle, really: pick that one, put a stamp on it and send it off to Munich, where the whole thing was filmed.

Soundbite: Tim Brooke-Taylor as [uncredited] computer operator, in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Tim Brooke-Taylor: I am now telling the computer that if it will tell me the correct answer, I will gladly share with it the grand prize.

Machine whirs to life again, spitting out a card with the ting of a bell.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: He says, “what would a computer do with a lifetime supply of chocolate?”

I am now telling the computer exactly what he can do with a lifetime supply of chocolate!

Dom Romeo: It’s always felt that we were the crazier fans, and part of the reason for that is because your show got repeated a lot at a very child-friendly timeslot here [in Australia]. How do you find it, that you are so well loved on the other side of the planet?

Tim Brooke-Taylor: Well you can imagine, it’s really good news. It’s like going to the moon and finding that people know you. We’ve always been very proud of The Goodies and we’re really angry that they’ve never been repeated here [in Britain]. In fact, they’re about to do something about it now. They’re doing a two-hour Goodies special at Christmas with a sort of documentary and showing one of the shows, so we’re hoping that it will take off at last and England will be following Australia’s lead. But in fact, think that the point you make about ‘early in the evening’ is very important because people watch it when they’re kids, and they enjoy it at a certain level, and then when they watch it when they’re older and they discover that there’s another level to it, and that makes them even more enthusiastic — as it should be, really. So they’re the best audiences we could possibly have, having been indoctrinated as children.

The Head of BBC Worldwide recently retired, and he said, “you get one or two really odd tings that you can’t bargain for, like The Goodies selling so well in Australia…” Well, if he had bothered to ask us we would have told him that that was going to be a very good market. The big surprise is that they’ve also sold very well here [in England] too, because all the children here haven’t been forcibly brought up on The Goodies as they should be.

Dom Romeo: Your visit to Australia earlier this year was clearly successful; so much fun, indeed, that you’re coming back for a return visit. But Bill’s not coming with you this time.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: He was; unfortunately, he’s been too successful in his other area. He did this series after we came back from Australia called Bill Oddie’s Spring Watch. It was basically live every evening, four days a week for three weeks, and they got places around the country where, literally, there cameras on birds being born and badgers coming out at night. It was a very good program and it was so successful that they want Autumn Watch. So, unfortunately, he was coming with us but he made the wrong decision and he did his Autumn Watch. But in many ways, this is a bonus, because we’re going to use all different sorts of devices to have Bill on stage, and the good thing is Graeme and I have total control over them. Don’t tell Bill that!

Dom Romeo: Again, what was it like coming to Australia and receiving the mass adulation of the audiences who grew up with during the 70s?

Tim Brooke-Taylor: I was very nervous about the whole thing because although I knew people were on our side, there’s a big difference between them being on our side and paying money and coming and seeing us. The show worked out far better than I dared hope, but it got to the stage — and this is what I explain to people here — I got to the stage where it was so good that I found myself sounding like a real crackpot, saying ‘Thank you, Sydney!’ and things like that. I just laughed at myself, basically, and the extraordinary thing is that people didn’t laugh at me for doing that. The bit I cannot explain enough to people is how bright the audience were; they were the type of audience that you would like to have coming to your show. I can’t remember that ever happening before. That’s how I felt. I think we all felt that.

Soundbite: Introduction to Bananaman.[10]

Narrator (Tim Brooke-Taylor): This is 29 Acacia Road, and this is Eric, the schoolboy who leads an amazing double life. For when Eric eats a banana, an amazing transformation occurs: Eric is Banana Man, ever alert for the call to action.

Dom Romeo: One last thing: I know, officially, you can’t be admitting to doing this, but Bananaman’s not been released out here on DVD yet. Can’t you smuggle a few into the country and sell them surreptitiously after the show?

Tim Brooke-Taylor: That sounds a good idea. Yes, don’t tell anybody.

Dom Romeo: I won’t.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: Nobody will suspect because their wrappers will say Asian Babes or something like that, so nobody will be worried by them.

Dom Romeo: Or, you can just put a stack of them on stage, put ’em in a loud shirt and a hairy beard, and call it ‘Bill’.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: This is a very good idea. Yep, a good idea. You can have a third of the profits.

Dom Romeo: Excellent! Tim Brooke-Taylor, thank you very much.

Tim Brooke-Taylor: Cheers, thank you!

Soundbite: Closing theme to The Goodies.

Goodies…
Goody, goody, yum, yum!
Goodies…
repeated ad infinitum

Dom Romeo: I do wish they’d release the Bananaman DVD in this country.

Tammy Tantschev: Absolutely. I can remember Bananaman and I used to love that cartoon.

Station ID

Dom Romeo and Tammy Tantschev on Radio Ha Ha.

THE GIG GUIDE

Soundbite: ‘The World Is Waiting For A Sunrise’ by Stan Freberg, from the album Capitol Collector’s Series

note: the gig guide went on longer than anticipated, so the song begins a little way in, in order to build to its climax at the end of the gig guide

Dom Romeo: Now, Tammy, you mentioned a couple of venues at the top end of the show. Now you’re going to give us the gig guide of what’s on in Sydney, in comedy.

Tammy Tantschev: That’s right. We’re going to try and bring you every week — well, not ‘try and bring you’; we’re going to bring to you every week on Radio Ha Ha what’s happening in the city in terms of comedy. There’s actually a lot more going on than a lot of the public realise. There’s heaps of rooms running, so we want to keep you updated every week on where you can go and see something funny and we’ll also have links to that on the website with dates and things like that. So all you have to do is, if you want to go out and get entertained during the week, download the gig guide and you can find out where you can go for your laughs.

Dom Romeo: Okay, so you're either listening to this now — this gig guide – and hopefully you’re listening to it early enough to get to everything, or you can download it on www.2gbplus.com [11]

Tammy Tantschev: Yes, that’s right, that’s our digital site and you’ll find Radio Ha Ha and all our information there.

So, here’s what’s going on in Sydney in comedy:

At the Comedy Store, in the Sydney Entertainment Quarter at Moore Park, Friday 25th to Sunday 27th, Frank Woodley of ‘Lano & Woodley’ fame headlines, and he’s supported by Sydney comics Dave Jory and Daniel Townes. And then at the Comedy Store from Tuesday 29th to Sunday 4th of December, you’ll find the fabulous Jackie Loeb.

I hear that on November 30th there’s a special event at the Comedy Store… a Dom Romeo is launching his new joke book.

Dom Romeo: Sounds familiar, sounds familiar… yeah.

Tammy Tantschev: And what’s it called?

Dom Romeo: It’s a book called Have You Heard The One About……

Tammy Tantschev: Ah!

Dom Romeo: … Subtitled ‘Over five hundred jokes’, because I know that discerning jokebook buyers want value for money.

Tammy Tantschev: Five hundred jokes? That’s heaps. How long did that take you to put all that together?

Dom Romeo: Well, only a few months. I must admit, I’m a bit of a sponge for gags, so I could draw back from my early youth…

Tammy Tantschev: Excellent. Maybe we can convince you to give us a few gags in the show.

Dom Romeo: ‘Convince’ me? Like it’s going to be some sort of trouble for to flog my book by cracking a couple a gags? We’ll see how we go.

Tammy Tantschev: Excellent! Moving on:

At the Laugh Garage at Parramatta Friday 25th or Saturday 26th you can find Dan Willis from the UK as well as Mark McConville and get down there every Sunday for Sunday Comedy Jam. Akmal is also going to be there from Thursday 1st December.

The Comedy Hole, as we mentioned before, at the Sandringham Hotel in Newtown features Peter Green on Monday 28th November.

Also Monday 28th, if you’re up north, get to the Old Manly Boatshed to catch Brett Nichols.

On Wednesday November 30th, Blacktown RSL features Kieran Butler and Williams & Clare.

Still on Wednesday 30th, you’ll find the hilarious Dave Jory and Adam Richmond at the Oatley Hotel.

And still on Wednesday 30th, the Statement Bar in the city features Tommy Dean and Steve Philp.

Then on Thursday 1st December catch Gary Bradbury and Kirk McKenzie at the Epping Hotel.

The Friend In Hand, as we mentioned earlier, in Glebe, presents ‘Mic in Hand’ every Thursday, and on Thursday 1st December your headline act is Michael Chamberlin, of skitHouse and MC there is Sam Bowring.

And the Mic in Hand also features an ‘open mic’ section every week, so if you want to support new comedy or if you want to try it out yourself, get down there and check it out.

Other open mic nights around the city of Sydney are at:

Pear Shaped, held at the East Village Hotel every Monday.

Tuesdays, open mic is at the Sydney Comedy Store and often Wil Anderson gets down there to MC the night.

And you should also definitely get yourself to Paddy McGuires in the city on Wednesday nights, with the very funny Nick Johns.

CLASSIC COMEDY

‘The World Is Waiting For A Sunrise’ by Stan Freberg, from the album Capitol Collector’s Series

Wait a minute! Look out! The equipment is smoking — run for your life!

cartoon explosion sound effects

Tammy Tantschev: Dom, I know this was your call — the background music for the guide here, and it’s really very interesting — what are we listening to?

Dom Romeo: This is in fact Stan Freberg. It’s a send-up of what was a hit, originally, for a guy called Les Paul, and his partner Mary Ford; it’s ‘The World Is Waiting For A Sunrise’.

Tammy Tantschev: Uh-huh.

Dom Romeo: And Stan Freberg was a guy who was into advertising — did very well — and decided to try his hand at parody and did very well at that as well.

Tammy Tantschev: I was listening to some of the stuff you were playing me the other night, and something in particular that I hope we can have on here in the next few weeks is the ‘Banana Boat Song’. That was hilarious! That cracked me up. I went home and I played it over and over again. It was so funny.

Dom Romeo: I will drag that out, but before that, I think we need to listen to a send-up of a great 50s television show, Dragnet. Here’s Stan Freberg’s first send-up of Dragnet, it’s called ‘St George and the Dragonet’.

Soundbite: ‘St George and the Dragonet’ from the Stan Freberg album Capitol Collector’s Series

Dom Romeo: Oh my goodness, Tammy, we got through that one all right!

Tammy Tantschev: We actually did. That was fun.

Dom Romeo: Almost felt too easy, that first one.

Tammy Tantschev:Don’t say that just yet — it’s not over!

But thank you everyone for listening in to Radio Ha Ha. It’ll be available on the 2GB Plus website, as we mentioned earlier.

Dom Romeo: Now, is that ‘2GB, plus sign, dot com’, or… ?

Tammy Tantschev:That’s actually ‘p’, ‘l’, ‘u’, ‘s’. Just spell that out.

Dom Romeo: And ‘2GB’ is spelt as it sounds…

Tammy Tantschev:Yes, that’s right — numeral ‘2’, ‘G’, ‘B’.

Thanks very much, Dom.

Dom Romeo: Thank you, Tammy!

Tammy Tantschev: And I’m not going to let you go just yet, because I want to, before you leave us today, I want to hear a joke from the joke book Have You Heard The One About…. Now there are five hundred jokes in there, so I figure if we do one in every show, we’re guaranteed at least five hundred shows.

Dom Romeo: Well, no, not actually, because some of them I just couldn’t get away with broadcasting. Quite frankly, I should make that announcement up front: it’s an adult book — don’t go buying it for the kiddies.

Tammy Tantschev: Oh. Okay.

Dom Romeo: So — this is the first joke I ever learnt, from a Monty Python record that my brother brought home. It goes:

What’s brown and sounds like a bell?
DUNG!

CLOSING THEME

Soundbite: Last segment of ‘Holiday for Strings’ by Spike Jones and His City Slickers.


FOOTNOTES

1. Okay, so clocking in at a minute and a half, this opening theme is clearly too long. Not bad for a first go, though, you must admit. We get it right from Episode 2 onwards.
2. We’re not just trying to be ‘zany’; we were in fact “back again for Episode 1” because our first recording session, conducted on the Tuesday, somehow failed to burn to the recordable CD; I didn’t realise this until I finally sat down to edit the episode on Wednesday evening, necessitating another recording session on the Thursday. We still got the episode to air on the Friday, clever us!
3. Although recorded prior to the Goodies’ return visit to Australia, the interview was not broadcast until after, hence the cumbersome change in perspective from the introduction — we’d been to see the Goodies at Parramatta Riverside Theatre the week before — and the interview itself. The interview is very long and self-indulgent — then again, how often do you get to talk about the origins of some of the most historically important, and funny, English television comedy with one of the blokes who made it? Exactly.
4. Do I really have to explain this one? Essentially, trio of comic writer-performers — Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie — who made the leap from university revue to television as part of the mid-60s’ so-called ‘satire boom’, and the successful nine-season series they made. The show is kind of like a live-action cartoon, where the trio — a staunch but cowardly conservative royalist, a brilliant scientist and a rough-and-tumble hippie — run a concern that hires itself out to ‘do anything, anywhere, any time’ — the broad parametres therefore allowing any flight of fancy imaginable as the plot of an episode. The show enjoyed great success in Australia where it was repeated endlessly in the child-friendly pre-news time-slot on the ABC throughout the 70s and early 80s.
5. Of the six-man team of writer-performers that was Monty Python’s Flying Circus, three of them — John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Eric Idle — were Cambridge graduates. Two — Michael Palin and Terry Jones — were from Oxford. Terry Gilliam, who primarily worked on animations before going on to co-direct the Python films, was from the United States.

6. The Cambridge Footlights Dramatic Club — so-named for the kind of stage lighting that lines the edge of a stage — was an undergraduate performance society founded in the 1880s whose most visible activity was the annual revue during May Week each year (hence the title of one of the volumes of memoirs by former Footlights president Clive James: May Week Was In June). For whatever reason, postwar England saw the success of many university wits whose extra-curricular activities included the Footlights: in addition to the Goodies and Monty Python, members of Beyond the Fringe and Smith & Jones, plus all of Fry & Laurie and Parsons & Naylor, not to mention Germaine Greer, Michael Frayn, David Frost and Douglas Adams cut their teeth in Footlights revue. The Footlights motto: ars celare artem: ‘The art is to conceal the art’.
7. I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again was a long-running BBC radio show written by and featuring John Cleese, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, Jo Kendall and David Hatch, that grew out of the 1963 Cambridge Footlights revue, entitled Cambridge Circus. (It’s original title, A Clump of Plinths, was rightfully jettisoned prior to its season at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1963). I'm Sorry I’ll Read That Again ran for eight seasons, from 1963 to 1972, and so effectively co-existed with both Monty Python’s Flying Circus and The Goodies.
8. There are two television shows that pre-existed and proved to be the direct antecedents of Monty Python’s Flying Circus (which came into existence in 1969). The first was a children’s show entitled Do Not Adjust Your Set, which began production in 1967 and whose cast, featuring Denise Coffey, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle and David Jason (the latter was Granville opposite Ronnie Barker in Open All Hours and Del-boy Trotter in Only Fools And Horses, before becoming Inspector Frost in his later years) expanded to include a young animator newly arrived from the United States, Terry Gilliam. The second was At Last the 1948 Show (the title refers to how forward-thinking high-ranking BBC employees seemed to be), which began in 1968. Both shows displayed a kind of absurdist and hitherto unseen humour that was to become known as ‘Pythonesque’. Most of the cast members had worked with each other writing sketches for The Frost Report, a satirical program that had replaced That Was The Week That Was when TW3 (as it was known) had over-stayed its welcome by tweaking one nose too many.
9. It’s Marty (1968) and Marty Amok (1970)
10. Bananaman began as a comic strip, but became a BBC cartoon in 1983 and was voiced by The Goodies.
11. The website is now freedigitalcontent.com and the downloadable gig guide is the audio variety. We’ll work towards having a written one online each week. Promise.