Radio Programmes (by genre) > Comedy

Advantages: Many and Varied
Disadvantages: Are you kidding??

For anyone who hasn't listened to Clue I have no hesitation in recommending it highly. Comedy and Radio 4 were not two words I would have put together until a couple of years ago when I started listening to BBC7 and found that shows were funny and then sought them out to hear when 'new'. The show is subtitled as the Antidote to Panel Games despite having two panels of guests. Regulars are Humphrey Lyttelton (Chairman) and panelists Tim Brooke-Taylor, ...
...(with voice of an angel), Sandi Toksvig (infectious laugh), Stephen Fry (wit) and Rob Brydon (Tom Jones or what). The show consists of various rounds which are either self explanatory like one song to the tune of another through to the baffling Mornington Crescent. For those who enjoy quick witted programmes then this is for you as well as those who aren't averse to innuendo whether thinly veiled or otherwise. I hav eattended 3 recordings of the ... Read review

Advantages: Hilarious comedians whose surreal humour, wit and word play has influenced many famous comedians since
Disadvantages: Goon but not forgotten

The Goon's are gone forever. Spike Milligan, the last surviving Goon died on 27th February 2002 of liver failure at the age of eighty-three. He left British comedy all the richer for his presence, with many modern comedians giving tribute to him. With his death came the end of an era. I'd just like to take a moment to remember the Goons (although I am far too young - I'll explain that all to you a little later...,) because even heroes of comedy run ...
...from 1951 to 1960 (although the last actual show was broadcast in 1972) with more than 240 programmes. Their humour was irreverent and surreal, and appealed to a whole generation of young people. The comedy they produced inspired generations of comedians including Monty Python's Flying Circus, and more modern comedians like Eddie Izzard. Their legacy is modern comedy (er... the good stuff!!) and has stretched further than Britain (I found a few American ... Read review

Advantages: Some very skillful soundalikes
Disadvantages: A lot of rather obvious humour

...say I just don't find Dead Ringers that funny, I hope you believe that it isn't because I've had my humour-buds surgically removed or have suddenly come over all morose. I just find much of the humour rather obvious and unsubtle. There are funny touches - the spoof phone calls are the main reason I keep listening to the programme and the Charlotte Green voice-alikes are amusing; while their George Dubya Bush impersonations strike just the right ...
...But sorry, the rest you can keep. The voices are right but the scripts they deliver are frequently, for me at any rate, lacking the required degree of subtlety that makes The News Quiz, for instance, such compelling listening. The humour is, purely and simply, too obvious. I know the programme has won awards and has a huge and enthusiastic following which is why I give it a recommendation; but for myself I have to keep asking: Am I missing the point? ... Read review

Advantages: The second half hour
Disadvantages: The first half hour

The comedy hour is a regular slot on Radio 2 at 13:00 on Saturday. The slot consists of two programmes, each lasting half an hour. The quality of the programmes can vary. The first programme of the two usually involves a selection of clips from comedy archives, linked by a common theme, and is often analytical of comedy, perhaps having interviews with certain comedians. The second programme (currently The News Huddlines), usually the funnier of ...
...guest. Some of the programmes, such as The News Huddlines and It's Been a Bad Week are based on fact, while others, such as the Gryff-Rhys Jones Show, are entirely fictional comedy sketch shows. The first half is sometimes worth listening two, and the second half usually is. ... Read review

Advantages: Spontaneous, up-to-date and funny.
Disadvantages: None, unless you are right-wing.

...there who hasn't yet discovered The News Quiz (BBC Radio 4, Fridays 6.30pm repeated Saturday, 12.30pm) then tune in at the next opportunity. If you are interested in current affairs it helps add a bit extra to your enjoyment but if even you couldn't care less about personalities in the news it should still amuse you. The programme isn't what most of us would call a quiz: the points awarded are a token gesture. The programme is really an opportunity ...
...what is happening min the world and to comment in as partisan way as they like on it - sometimes to the point where you wonder how they get away with it, especially as it goes out at a time when children may be listening. The humour is usually spontaneous (apart from the Chairman's script) and often very funny. When Andy Hamilton and Linda Smith are on the show it is downright hilarious. Good listening is to be had too from Jeremy Hardy and Ian ... Read review