A hot porky roast Thursday of comedy and entertainment, served in slices by a menacing man in a cardigan.
16:00 – Second City Television (audio)
\ SCTV was a 1976-84 Canadian sketch show, written and performed by a troupe of soon-to-be comedy stars. Here Josh Weinstein (comedy writer and ex-showrunner of golden-era The Simpsons) enthuses about SCTV and its heavy influence on The Simpsons, in the Rule Of Three podcast. The debut episode of SCTV will be shown later.
17:10 – Lucky Ladders
\ A decent word game format is infested by grinning golfing oleaginous sincerity-vacuum Lennie Bennett, and at the ungodly hour of 9:25am. Look out for one of the most disgusting quiz sets ever seen, which is a bloody tightly-contested title.
17:35 – Bad Influence!
\ Andy Crane fails to become the first-ever person to plug in a SCART lead only by touch, while Zee Wright pointlessly stands in front of a video wall and says ‘megabytes’. This week’s Amiga game is Piss Castle
17:55 – SCTV
\ Episode 1 of the late night Canadian sketch comedy show (discussed in our opening item). From 1976, it features John Candy, Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara amongst its ensemble cast. SCTV is a spoof TV channel, broadcasting to the fictional town of Melonville. Think SNL but not shit.
18:20 – Continuity & adverts
\ To maintain the quota of CABTV Xmas content that gets shown nowhere near Xmas, here’s some telly pres from Boxing Day 1984. Sale now on!
18:30 – The Smell Of Reeves & Mortimer
\ The 35 minute versions of series 1 from its VHS release. Episode 2: The bloke from Go West loses his Top Cat video, the debut of Mulligan & O’Hare, and BOIT REYNOLDS stops by for an interview.
19:05 – More Auntie’s Bloomers
\ The second instalment of the BBC’s Johnny-come-lately bloopers format. Wogan presides over a credible 1992 selection, which hasn’t yet degenerated into endless clips of downhill skiers falling over a bit.
19:55 – Top Of The Pops
\ A lively line-up of Korg M1 botherers, from the 1991 Summer of arsing about in a field and trying to escape Bryan Adams. Bonus SH-101 wankhandle action!
20:25 – Room 101
\ A solid edition from the Paul Merton era. Johnny Vegas elects some pet hates, and memorably delves into a deep dissection of an online chatroom, which is probably the most esoteric thing served up in this phase of the show.
20:50 – Building Sights
\ Bite-size show appraising slabs of 20th Century architecture. Current poet laureate Simon Armitage acclaims the Humber Bridge in all its suspendy glory.
21:00 – The Thick Of It
\ Dan Miller is ushered in as opposition leader in the wake of Nicola Murray being ousted onto her arse. But attempts to capitalise on the enquiry that she called for make it expand massively, and the whole of Westminster is about to get sucked in.
21:35 – FILM: The Wrong Guy (1997)
\ Hilarious comedy caper (honestly) starring Dave Foley of Kids In The Hall fame. A spurned company executive believes he is the prime suspect in the murder of his boss, and utterly pointlessly goes on the run – unaware that the police are already on the trail of the real culprit. Also starring Jennifer Tilly.
23:05 – Bobby Fingers
\ Comedy webseries. Visual effects artiste Bobby Fingers painstakingly sculpts another diorama depicting a moment in pop culture infamy, taking us down stupendous rabbit-holes as he goes. I haven’t yet seen this newest instalment – but it’s titled ‘Who Crapped on Johnny Depp’s Bed?’, so will surely hold something for ua all to enjoy.
Timings to be adjusted, bonus items of Real Value For Money throughout
