The duet of Alex Owen and Ben Ashenden return to Radio 4 with their short form, slightly surreal comedy. They take the literal approach, having an ongoing conversation in which they are aware they're doing a radio show, out of which they step to perform a series of small sketches. This is occasionally chaotic, especially when either the guest of the week or the chippy narrator goes a bit spare.
The scenes have a significant range between them as they tackle a range of silly topics, typified by the interviewing of Lumiere, the candlestick from Beauty and the Beast, for other valet positions. Other topics include interior decoration, the new ten pound notes and an MI5 Director with an unnecessarily long name.
The pair work beautifully together having spent a very long time building their back and forth between the straight man and clown stereotypes, with the clown occupying the slightly more stupid role, acting as a consistent butt of the jokes.
It's a very clever show, with the laughter being impressively consistent. There's no misses in this, and the half hour easily zooms past. Definitely worth a listen.
Highly recommended.
Tagged: Radio Comedy Cast Sketch