Newsjack - Spread The Love

Think about the spread of your jokes. The straight man / funny man paradigm is as old as sketch comedy itself. Also, remember the show's cast is two men and two women. Sketches where three men talk and then are joined by a fourth man (and we get a lot of those) are not much use to us.

Puppets, it would seem, can get away with pretty much anything. Under normal circumstances all comic references to Anne Frank are subject to a blanket prohibition, but Mongrels extracted guilty laughs by suggesting that it was an overzealous game of Yahtzee, not Dutch collaborators, that gave away her whereabouts to the Nazis.

Mongrels features a menagerie of endearing fluffy animals, with occasional support from a passing live actor, the star of which is a sensitive, confrontation-phobic, urbane urban fox called Nelson. Other characters include a snooty Afghan Hound bitch, a kleptomaniac pigeon, a latino cat and several rats. Episode one opened with a houseful of cats dining on the rotting corpse of their elderly owner, moved swiftly on to embrace the twin themes of defecation and castration, paused briefly for a musical number extolling the virtues of prejudice, before climaxing in a Saw style torture scene involving the use of microwave ovens.

Somewhere in the frantic mix sweet natured Nelson found time to embark upon a doomed romance with a chicken, prompting several oddly touching moments, before the show, and the fox, reverted to their true 'red in tooth and claw' natures.

Mongrels sets out to be offensive, but does so with an irresistible combination of wit, imagination and gleeful enthusiasm. I laughed out loud several times, I sniggered childishly throughout and on at least one occasion I felt sick, which counts as a ringing endorsement.

To borrow a gruesome Americanism, the show features the "vocal talents" of Lucy Montgomery, Dan Tetsell, Rufus Jones and Katy Brand, all of whom sounded as though they were having more fun than is decent.

New comedy about a group of urban animal puppets voiced by Katy Brand, Lucy Montgomery, Dan Tetsell and Rufus Jones. It calls to mind Top Cat and Basil Brush but with added adult content. Tonight, a fox goes on an internet date with a chicken and they encounter a familiar problem on a boating lake. Meanwhile, our feline hero goes in search of a new owner when his elderly one drops dead and gets partially eaten by her other cats. The bad taste stuff is nicely judged and the jokes are good - it might just have furry little legs.

Newsjack 3

Hello. How's everyone been? Just a quick heads up that Newsjack (Radio 7's open door topical sketch show) is returning for a third series, starting in June.

Newsjack: Comedy Jazz

I've said elsewhere that a sketch is one idea. It can have as many twists and turns, as many opposing viewpoints and (must have) as many jokes as you like, but at heart it is one single idea.

Newsjack: Special Guests

Hello. Apologies for missing a week - I was off in Bristol doing some acting and then I lost the email with my login details. Also, I'm only half way through series one of Mad Men so something had to give. Anyway, to make up for my absence, I promise my next blog will contain at least 75% more bullish opinion.

Explosion In A Clown Factory

So, the sketch deadline for Newsjack show 3 has passed. Did you send anything in? Slow news week, isn't it? And where it's not slow, it's grim.

Script Smart of Smart Scripts?

I think taking the time to get your formatting right for radio will actually help the writing shine all the brighter.

Newsjack Uncut (Actually no)

So, the first show of the new series has been written, re-written, collated, re-written again, rehearsed, performed, edited and broadcast so this seems as good a time as any to start this series of blogs aimed at giving you an insider's view of the ravening script-hungry beast that is Newsjack. You can tell I'm an insider through my use of hipster, cutting-edge industry jargon like 'show' and 'series'.

Writing for Newsjack

Dan Tetsell, script editor for Newsjack, talks about what happens in his average week.