Homepage News Reviews - Acts - Shows - Screen - Radio - Books - Clubs Interviews Awards 2006 Edinburgh 2005 - Reviews - Blog - Previews Features Archive Awards 2005 Edinburgh 2004: - Previews - Shows - Diary Guestbook Forum © Emporium Of Mirth 2004 Editor: Lauren Murphy Reporters: Fiona Wilkie Natalie Joanne	Emporium of Mirth The Now Show It’s back, and it’s as strong as ever. Those news monkeys Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis don the gloves of satire resulting in some sort of glove-wearing topical monkey. Or something. Anyway, it’s funny. News-based comedy has a danger of being predictable (after all, you know what happens!), but The Now Show’s fantastically written sketches and scathing monologues, not to mention top musical comedy, keep you listening and laughing right up until its climax. I think I would even go as far as to say this is the best show on the radio at the moment, and has been for a good few years. The first episode of the new series, quite frankly, makes the best of a bad news week, with jokes about the resignation of Greg Dyke et al. (“News just in... the BBC has resigned.”), as well as mocking pop culture with cutting mentions of I’m a Celebrity..., David Blaine (yes, the Git Wizard himself), and a fantastic sketch about The Passion of Christ (how do we know they’re really speaking Aramaic? They could have just hired Stanley Unwin, had he not been dead for at least 30 years...). The Now Show’s Radio 4 roots remain strong though, evident in Steve Punt’s diatribe about ITV’s inability to handle coverage of next year’s Boat Race, due in no small part to them misunderstanding the concept of “university”. What next? Jim Rosenthal commentates on polo? The star of the series opener is Marcus Brigstocke, whose rant about the exaggerated immigration problem manages to simultaneously wander into the realm of fantasy and slag off Daily Mail and Daily Express readers with one effortless sketch. What more could a self-respecting Radio Four listener want? Mitch Benn’s regular musical input meets its normal high standard, with a tongue-in-cheek ditty about how shocked the nation is about the appearance of an unsolicited breast at the superbowl, and an impression of Justin Hawkins from the Darkness, who complains that the perpetuators of the current trend for heavy metal should apologise to true metal fans for their faddy attitudes. It’s funny. It’s now. It’s on Fridays, 6:30pm, Radio 4 (repeated Saturdays, 12:30pm). Make sure you don’t get left behind. For more information, join the mailing list: groups.yahoo.com/group/punt_dennis_mitchbenn Reviewed by Nat, queen of the radio waves. RSS  Printable version	Visit our Siamese Twin Sister Site!