Prom 40: Saturday 13th August 2011 at 7.30 p.m. (Comedy Prom)

[salymap]

When I hear the heave-ho as the piano lid is raised I always think of my friend and neighbour Edgar Mays [or Mais,I'm not sure]. He was a large man with much dignity, hardly ever smiled at the prommers' antics but did his job as platform manager and got off as quickly as he could. I often travelled to and from concerts and rehearsals with him on the dreadful Dartford Loop Line and he had a fund of wonderful stories to enliven the journey if he was in the mood to talk. Miss you Edgar.

[amateur51]

I thought it was as racist as hell. "Yuk yuk! Funny little brown people and their funny little foodstuffs out in the colonies!" Actually, I died a little inside to think of what my Indian business associates would think of me for not having had the guts to leave the room.

You'd never hear a piece where the humour is predicated on the idea of black people eating watermelon, fried chicken, chitlins and greens (Puccini in Pickaninny?) Same thing...why this was acceptable was beyond me. Maybe in Britain, casual racism isn't the issue it is in the US...oh well.

Other parts of the show were quite enjoyable and clever; for instance, I loved the Flanders & Swann singalong, the Victor Borge schtick, and the Sondheim spoof. However, at times I found myself admonishing myself with the same lines I always use on the likes of you: "Not every Prom has to appeal to every listener. Who are you to begrudge people their enjoyment? Don't you see how many enthusiastic new young faces are here? Lighten up and stop your whinging: if it's not "for" you, you should have stayed home."

I guess it just wasn't for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdo79znnHl8

[cavatina]

And I'll bet it provided a lot more humour than the kindergarten antics of the Last Night Prommers which we're forced to endure every September.

You have 29 other televised Proms to choose from, so there's no sense in complaining when you know exactly what you're in for before you switch on. Oh, and while I'm at it:

"Not every Prom has to appeal to every listener. Who are you to begrudge people their enjoyment? Don't you see how many enthusiastic new young faces are there? Lighten up and stop your whinging: if it's not "for" you, you should have stayed home."

There. Much better now.

Gordon Bennett, these smilies are awful! Who drinks shampoo from a saucer these days?

But don't you think it lends a rather pleasant, retro 50s/60s feel to the board? After all, if we were listening to the Third Programme, we'd all be drinking out of saucers...quite appropriate if I do say so.

Er...I'd better leave you alone or you'll tell everyone you saw me drinking cheap Cava from the bottle.

[BudgieJane]

Er...I'd better leave you alone or you'll tell everyone you saw me drinking cheap Cava from the bottle.

Not me. I saw you with a small bottle of Cava, but I didn't see you drinking it. And in any case, there's nothing wrong with drinking straight out of a small bottle in the Proms queue, otherwise you'd need a handbag the size of a small suitcase to carry all the paraphernalia to drink in a ladylike fashion while queuing.

[cavatina]

To be fair, I did save most of it for immediately before the concert...it was just so cold and inviting, I couldn't resist. And I do promise to bring something nicer to share with you this weekend to make up for it.

[Anna]

Oh well. Having read through all the messages about how awful it was and as I'll be at home this evening, I'm going to give this Prom a go, just to be contrary. BBC2. Probably more entertaining than the new Dr. Who episode with that awful Pond creature.

[Alf-Prufrock]

Well, I watched it on TV out of curiosity last night, and I hope the BBC never put on such an event again.

Any good things? The skit on ALW was tolerable. I had hoped to enjoy the Concerto Popolare, and I did in a way, but it wasn't a patch on the original version. The few attempts at seriousness (in a comedy show?) were lamentable and produced longueurs. Much of the rest seemed to me to be gratuitous self-gratification of the (unknown to me) presenter, who ended with a few hours (it seemed to me) orating/crooning at the piano. Little was worthy of a Prom.

I saw this morning that my hard-drive recorder had recorded it. I soon corrected that error.

[StephenO]

Probably more entertaining than the new Dr. Who episode with that awful Pond creature.

Oh, Anna, how could you?! Nothing would prise me from BBC1 when the wonderful Amy is on screen.

As for the so-called "Comedy" Prom, I heard the first few minutes when it was broadcast live, switched off in horror and disbelief, switched back on a little later just to make sure my ears hadn't been deceiving me but promptly gave up again. The first Comedy Prom and hopefully also the last.

Good job I have plenty of Doctor Who DVDs to watch instead - featuring, of course, the gorgeous Ms Pond.

[Bryn]

I can take or leave the Pond character, but I did start to watch the 'Comedy Prom'. I did not stay the course.

[Lateralthinking1]

I thought it was very good. I'm particularly pleased for Tim Minchin. Earlier in the year I said on "The Verb" thread that I thought he was an outstanding performer. I haven't changed my mind one jot. The best popular musical humourist of our era and streets ahead of the competition. He is a brilliant wordsmith, a great showman and a good musician.

Currently the BBC is a bit hit and miss on comedy. However, on R4, there have been half a dozen new series in the past five years that have really raised the bar. While there is still a lot of rubbish around, it has been the best period for radio comedy since the early eighties. When alternative comedy arrived, it only sporadically convinced. Politically, it was arrogant. It dismissed the more traditional forms while offering only little in their place. Now in a younger generation - principally those born after 1970 - it has come of age. The best of the old and new combine while those in middle age who were once radical now look increasingly old hat.

Of course, the prom was far from perfect. "Middle Class is Magical", while nicely delivered, missed the actual point of the Proms season and its accessibility. An echo of Thompson's boardroom there - "You're already halfway there because you're not watching ITV" - and elsewhere we heard "Seeing we seem to be chasing the Saturday night ratings.....". It was though so much better than might have been anticipated. It had energy. The pace was right although it might have been a quarter of an hour shorter. Crucially - and I know that Minchin is Australian - it was a very British affair with an emphasis on the offbeat, quirky and eccentric. I liked the puppets. Kit and the Widow's observations on Lloyd Webber were revealing, Doc Brown, the Boy With The Tape On His Face and Beardyman were all interesting and innovative and the Hippopotamus Song was a nice touch.

Clearly some thought had also been given to damage limitation. If generally, Minchin's main failing is a tendency to be cruel, which can also be a strength in comedy, he fortunately toned it down in respect of the occasion. In fact, the only way in which the concert lacked dignity was in permitting the otherwise effective Sue Perkins to bellow the word "penis" rather childishly. Even the Taped Boy dressing a member of the audience in a toilet seat was acceptable given that the sketch in question was so surreal. Best of all, space was also found for some tender moments - Kit and the Widow's bittersweet tale of "The Swan" and Minchin's extraordinarily moving finale piece "Not Perfect". I enjoyed it. As a one-off in a season, I don't think it dumbed down.

[David Underdown]

By curious coincidence, said prommer is actually in the plumbing trade!

[Chris Newman]

Comedy is always better when you are there. I love the recordings of Hoffnung Concerts but how I wish I could have been there: though on reflection maybe at seven or eight years old I might have missed some of the humour. The audience at the Comedy Prom seem to have enjoyed the event which is mostly what was important. Bill Bailey (in my opinion better that Tim Minchin) is always hilarious in the flesh. His DVDs tire quickly...but a joke reused in a later live performance goes down as well as the first time he minted it.

[gradus]

The Tim Minchin show seemed to go down well with the RAH audience but I thought the only redeeming features were the Mongrels, who should have been given more time and Kit and The Widow. It was a mediocre show and needs a radical rethink if it is to be staged again.

[alywin]

I too was rather disappointed with the lack of airtime that K&tW got (and I'm not even convinced they did the whole of the ALW song, either). I thought they deserved more. I watched much of this on Saturday night, but got that fidgety feeling you do when you're longing to press the "fast forward" button. I'm glad I didn't bother going to see it, because I didn't realise that so much of it was going to be visual - I think binoculars might have been necessary from the far points of the hall.

[David Underdown]

I think you've rather missed the point of that song Cavatina. I'm not a parent myself, but I believe the frustration felt by parents when you're dog tired and the damn child still won't go to sleep - however much you love them really - are a fairly well known trope. (see also the recent Adam Mansbach book "Go the f**k to sleep", http://amazon.co.uk/dp/0857862650). One regular prommer, who is expecting to become a grandmother for the first time pretty imminently found it all too close to the bone