Presenting one sketch first made public in November 2020, and one BRAND NEW sketch (April 2021): Marriott Frinton continues to find that with friends like Patacake Moore, no insurance company in the world would look at him. Characters and sketches © 2020-21 Paul Cromford (me); the author (me again) hereby asserts his moral rights to ownership of same.
It used to be that the spectacle of a grown man in shorts, when not doing something sporty, was ridiculous. Roderick Spode (in Wodehouse's Jeeves stories) is a figure of fun not least because of his costume. How did things get so topsy-turvy? This episode is a rant about the infantilisation of the adult human male.
Presenting two sketches that were first made public in May and July 2020: Patacake Moore and the Twelve-and-a-Half-Inch Reflectors strut their musical stuff, and Mr Moore demonstrates to Marriott Frinton that a TV isn't necessarily all it seems. Characters and sketches © 2020-21 Paul Cromford (me); the author (me again) hereby asserts his moral rights to ownership of same.
Or: how the dazzling array of processing-effects now available to any spare-bedroom studio musician is a mixed blessing. Also, is it time for someone to blow the whistle on Messrs Lennon & McCartney?
Presenting two sketches that were first made public in April and May 2020. Join Marriott Frinton, the world's most accident-prone practitioner of applied origami, and his xylophone-playing astronomer friend Mr Moore, who might remind you queerly of someone else... Characters and sketches © 2020-21 Paul Cromford (me); the author (me again) hereby asserts his moral rights to ownership of same.
Do you often feel, when you're addressing people face to face, that nobody's listening and you might as well talk to a brick wall? You're right, and here's how I know...
Presenting three sketches that were first made public in December 2020 and January & February '21. Arthur Pendragon starts rebuilding his old squad, 'Round Table Wanderers', to field against 'Forces Of Darkness Disunited' in the coming re-match. Characters and sketches © 2020-21 Paul Cromford (me); the author (me again) hereby asserts his moral rights to ownership of same.
Or... how 'The Road Not Taken' is all about "Making Your Flippin' Mind Up"! A brief tour of one of the best-known poems by Robert Frost, asking how well we *really* know it.
Presenting two audio sketches that were first made public in August and October 2020. He's back, and he's looking for his old Round Table chums: someone had better start pulling the dust-sheets off the Camelot furniture! Characters and sketches © 2020-21 Paul Cromford (me); the author (me again) hereby asserts his moral rights to ownership of same.
Are you lucky enough to be paid for doing the thing you enjoy the most? Conversely, does the prospect of that situation fill you with anxiety? It just goes to show that one person's Incentive is another person's Daunting Prospect of Pressure. Are you a reluctant talent, or do you know one? Then give ear to this episode...
Presenting two audio sketches that were first made public in December 2020 and January 2021. Meet the cast of the minisub series 'Forever Blowing Bubbles', and hear their most recent adventure, a liquorice-dark black comedy. Characters and sketches © 2020-21 Paul Cromford (me); the author (me again) hereby asserts his moral rights to ownership of same.
Is life really (as Homer Simpson famously remarked) "just a buncha stuff that happens", or can a weird-enough coincidence sometimes be called fate? Listen to this anecdote and decide for yourself...!
Presenting three audio sketches that were first made public in July and September 2020. Join the crew of the minisub 'Skipjack' (enigmatic Commander Hassock, stolid Talfryn and nervy Phobes) in their, um, ineffable adventures. Characters and sketches © 2020-21 Paul Cromford (me); the author (me again) hereby asserts his moral rights to ownership of same.
You might be tempted to think it's a fairy-tale, an impossibility... unless you happen to be Swiss! The Guardian article mentioned in this episode can be found here (if the link isn't broken yet): https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/12/lobbying-10-ways-corprations-influence-government
Presenting two audio sketches that were first made public in September and November 2020. Pity poor Clint Eastworth, our harassed little chap from episode 2; he's not making an easy life for himself in these sketches. What kind of cruel swine would inflict such misfortune on him? Ah, that'll be me then. Characters and sketches © 2020-21 Paul Cromford (me); the author (me again) hereby asserts his moral rights to ownership of same.
In praise of the comic genius Jerome K Jerome, the best literary mind to come out of the West Midlands. Of course you're familiar with 'Three Men In A Boat', but how well do you know its sequel?
Presenting two audio sketches that were first made public in April and June 2020: for the want of a croissant (or several), a stroppy little shopper brings a heap of trouble on his head... Characters and sketches © 2020-21 Paul Cromford (me); the author (me again) hereby asserts his moral rights to ownership of same.
New season! Tighter, brasher, funkier, and twice a week; dammit, this podcast will be essential! The opening episode explains all...
The last episode of this tentative First Season: bucket lists are all very well, but have you got a barge-pole list? What sort of things do you never intend to do in your whole life?
Considering our strange tendency to seek anonymity in the crowd: to do what it does, think as little as it does, go where it goes. Don't let yourself become a lemming!
To go with your robot Ringo, why not bolt together a bogus bass-player? One that plays the right lines, and doesn't need plying with constant cups of your best coffee!
The dancing gene, discussed and analysed; was my father the first Grandad-Dancer? And why do I need a wardrobe around my neck before I'll sway?
Was it Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Or was it Snow White and the Magnificent Seven? The subtleties of casting for film or TV.
Welcome to the Linguistic Pedantry Club: please knock for admittance. That's 'Admittance' NOT 'Admission'; not around here, anyway...
How I slipped into the warm, cosy habit of making my own drum-patterns and drums tracks for music. Having limitless patience helps, of course.
Wondering aloud: is it only fear that keeps us under a bully's thumb?
If your performance is going wrong you might be heckled; if you're doing everything right you might be heckled. You can't please the hecklers so just please yourself!
If something's worth knowing, it's worth memorising -- that's what most of those gazillions of brain cells are for!
Proving that no skill is too basic to completely forget, and that the humble egg has subtle depths...
It's not as tricky as it seems, to make the kind of music you'll never hear playing in supermarkets while you're buying your aubergines. Let's find out how!
