Unbelievably Funny

You may remember last year I wrote about a new radio comedy panel game called The Unbelievable Truth. Well, it’s back! The new series began yesterday on Radio 4. I’d managed to get to two of the three recordings (again), but I got distracted from writing about them, so thought I’d post something now.

The first one was great fun. I arrived nice and early, so as to be able to get good seats and waited for Cand Wackywales (from GROK) to arrive. The recording was at the Shaw Theatre, which I like as a venue, although it would be better if there were more seats to sit on whilst waiting – it’s a long time to stand, especially when it gets crowded. While we were waiting I spotted Tim Vine arriving and a little later C spotted Adam Buxton, so we suspected that it was going to be a good panel. They were joined by Ed Byrne and Lee Mack and all four of them seemed to be on the same wavelength for both the shows they recorded – there was some great banter between them, some of which I suspect won’t make the final edit.

I won’t say much about the content of either of the recordings, as the shows have yet to be broadcast, suffice to say they were all very funny and I was laughing a lot. I think the show seems to be improving with each series (of two – yes I know there’s not a lot to go on, but I think it’s definitely a grower) and I hope there’s some more to come.

The second recording I went to was the final one of the three. C was there again, but we also met up with two of The Giddies. Much chatting and giggling was done before the show – spotting Fred Macaulay arriving, discussing iphones and trying to see what was going on in the theatre through some tiny windows. The most we got to see was that one on the panelists was wearing a pink shirt (now who do we know who wears shirts that colour??). After what seemed like years of waiting we were finally let in to the theatre and managed to grab four front row seats.

The producer, Jon Naismith, surprised us all in his usual intoduction by telling a new ‘genuinely funny joke’. Well, I say new, but I had heard him tell it before (I suppose it was less ‘new’, more ‘different’), but it made a pleasant change from the one he’s been telling recently (I still prefer the goldfish one though). Then the panel was brought on – Michael McIntyre, Fred Macaulay, Lucy Porter and Graeme Garden. They were all very good and very funny, although they didn’t seem to have quite the same rapport between them as the previous week’s. And I’m not sure Michael McIntyre did himself any favours beginning the evening by saying that he didn’t understand why anyone would listen to the radio! At the recording of a radio programme, in front of an audience probably made up of radio listeners, I’m not sure this was a good idea. But generally much fun was had and I surprised myself as to how much I knew about a couple of the subjects, spotting the truths myself and waiting to see if anyone else did.

I can’t wait to hear how both recordings turn out on their broadcasts. I’m sure they’ll be very funny and highly recommend listening if you haven’t already.