An interview with Danny Robins

Danny Robins is a comedian, presenter, writer and journalist...

Danny Robins: Newsnight's Party Anthems

Sick of the election? I have the perfect antidote to the stuffy policy discussions and political bickering. BBC Two's Newsnight have sent me on a mission to turn the election musical. I'm coming up with anthems for each of the three main parties - think 2010's equivalent of Things Can Only Get Better.

Danny Robins' Music Therapy is a new show described as a sort of Top of the Tops meets Trisha. Here was an opportunity for Robins, along with guests Isy Suttie and beatbox champion Beardyman, to solve both listener and world problems through the therapeutic qualities of music. 'Think of me as a melodic Jeremy Kyle,' suggested Robins, but without 'the latent sense of evil'.

Some of the most amusing sections in this, the first of four programmes, occurred when Robins went out and about hoping to administer his particular style of musical medicine to hard done by members of the community. These included abused traffic wardens and fishmongers feeling the effect of the credit crunch - for the latter, Robins set himself up as an in-store DJ presenting Radio Fish Shop. Suttie's clever song 50 Ways to Sack Your Cleaner, aimed at middle-class housewives who could not bring themselves to let the 'help' go, was another highlight.

Robins' personable style and natural comic talent, paired with a good script, created some genuine laugh out loud moments.

Danny Robins Music Therapy is a new Radio 4 series in which our host combines music and jokes to help solve people's difficulties; 'Like Top of the Pops meets Trisha,' trilled the jingle. Last week, Danny came to the aid of those most loathed of citizens, traffic wardens. Though some gags were lame - having James Blunt as your punch line is like having your mother-in-law as a set-up - I enjoyed his interviews with real wardens. 'My music taste is pretty eclectic,' said one. 'Duran Duran, Gary Numan...'

So, Danny and his friends constructed a rap that included a sample of Numan's 'Cars'. Oh, and (groan) MC Hammer. The rap went on too long. Later in the show, listeners' problems were considered. 'My cat doesn't love me,' informed one, which provoked the great line: 'The very fact that she's got a cat suggests that she fears love anyway.' This is a hit-and-miss show for the moment. It needs more mad gags per minute, à la Milton Jones.

Described by one of the many jingles that stud the show as 'Top of the Pops meets Trisha', the premise is that music can be used to sort out problems. Actually, what it really does during a highly entertaining half-hour is illustrate them. So traffic wardens get a reworking of MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This (it's 'You can't park there'), while a reworking of Paul Simon's 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover becomes a list of ways for timid middle-class people to fire their cleaner. And so on. Robbins is aided by the musical comedian Isy Suttie and the remarkable beatboxer Beardyman. It's worth tuning in for him alone.