I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue

This week I went to another show. You probably don't know it, but it's pretty legendary over here. It's a radio show that's been playing for 38 years called "I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue". I assume the name is deliberately similar to it's predecessor "I'm Sorry, I'll Read that Again". Is this starting to sound familiar? ISIRTA was also a predecessor of Monty Python and the Goodies.

"I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue" is a parady game show. It was created by Graeme Garden of the Goodies as a project that wouldn't require so much preparation, but since the whole thing is extremely scripted, I'm not sure how it would've helped. Until recently, the host was the awesome Humphrey Lyttelton, but he passed away last year. This year they've done a tribute tour with guest hosts including Stephen Fry and Victoria Wood. We had Jack Dee, who is one of the most popular standups here at the moment. The 3 regular players are Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Barry Cryer.

Their most famous game is called "Mornington Crescent", which is a game where the contestants compete by naming tube stations until one can get to Mornington Crescent. The gag is that while they argue over which arcane rule book they'll follow, there are no actual rules. They're just randomly naming stations and squabbling.

Anyway, it was pretty funny, but they mostly repeated material that I've heard them do before. And some of it wasn't all that topical any more. But it was funny, and I got to see a couple of comedians who were the funniest people in the world when I was 8 years old. Ironically, I was sitting so far from the stage that I could see into Tori Amos's back garden.

On a different note, I had 2 emails today asking if I'm sick of England and heading home soon. I'm rather surprised at that - I didn't know I had that many readers. The answer to both parts would be emphatically "No".