Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section

Pilot

Next Monday, 09:00 on BBC Radio 4 Extra
Synopsis

Comedian Alex Horne (from BBC 4's We Need Answers) brings his 5 piece jazz band to Radio 4 in this one-off audience show that combines comedy, improvisation, storytelling and music. Alex and the band explore the fantasies of a computer programmer; try combat aerobics for the over 60s; learn to speak 'jazz' and journey into space. Meanwhile special guest, the explorer Benedict Allen, finds out if music can enhance his rumble in the jungle.

Alex Horne - Host
Joe Auckland - Trumpet
Mark Brown - Saxophone
Will Collier - Bass
Ben Reynolds - Drums and percussion
Joe Stilgoe - Keyboards and piano

Producer - Julia McKenzie.

Duration
30 minutes

sounds great!

But what ever happened to the series showstopper Now THAT*S a series the BBC should put back on the air!

[Corporal Nobbs had been disqualified from the human race for shoving. Sir Terry Pratchett]

[www.showstopperthemusical.com]

This programme seemed like a sustained demonstration that pure undiluted irony can be completely unfunny. I switched off after 20 minutes, having felt not even the faintest hint of amusement throughout, only a mild but growing annoyance. Is this just a blind spot of mine? Did anyone else find it funny, even a little bit?

Hi Mat. I tried with this, but was under-inspired. I didn't say anything as I felt that it might have been me at fault. I prefer Alan Marion Davies in Instant Sunshine.

. Ivor



The original and real cat with the swishy tail.
Accept no imitations.

It is also my usual policy, when I don't like something, to say nothing about it. I make occasional exceptions to that rule, and I don't know if there is any rule which covers all those exceptions; probably not. I'm not sure what provoked me in this particular case. I think it may have been my impression that what I found so utterly unfunny was the product of a very deliberate, conscious, calculated policy, and of a reasoned belief that in order to be funny, it is sufficient (even if not necessary) just to distance yourself from a subject, and comment on it, as if it had nothing to do with you. Hence my remark about "pure undiluted irony". Something like that. It just seemed completely cold and calculated - and misconceived. So I suppose I wondered if this impression of mine were a mistake. Usually when I don't like something, I don't have such a simple, or simplistic, idea of why I don't like it. In this case I am reminded of my dislike of atonal music, or most conceptual art, which seems to me to be a product more of theory than of any genuine human aesthetic impulse. This programme seemed very much like humour gone to seed. Dare I say it, it seemed decadent. I really disliked it. I've disliked other comedy programmes much more strongly (Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps comes to mind), but that dislike is usually similar to disliking a person, which is a very complex experience; this was more like disliking a theory, which is simpler. (Only now I'm making it sound complicated!)

As last week's programme was the pilot, I listened to today's first episode. I appreciate that I am talking R4X timings and that it has already been on 4 recently. While not side-splittingly funny, I felt that it was an improvement. Perhaps this was due to the presence of David O'Doherty, a more accomplished comedian.

. Ivor



The original and real cat with the swishy tail.
Accept no imitations.