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

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Maverick Australian comedian Tim Minchin brings his own inimitable style of musical fun to the Royal Albert Hall as he hosts this first ever Comedy Prom. He'll be joined by pianist Danny Driver, who takes on both Reizenstein's Concerto popolare and conductor Andrew Litton. Soprano Susan Bullock, cabaret duo Kit and the Widow, and conducting sensation Sue Perkins all make an appearance alongside the ever versatile BBC Concert Orchestra and MD Jules Buckley.

Performers to include:
Tim Minchin
Sue Perkins
Kit and the Widow
Susan Bullock (soprano)
Danny Driver (piano)

BBC Concert Orchestra
Jules Buckley (conductor)
Andrew Litton (conductor).

[Panjandrum]

Maverick Australian comedian Tim Minchin brings his own inimitable style of musical fun to the Royal Albert Hall as he hosts this first ever Comedy Prom.

Glad you're looking forward to it. My toes are already curling at the prospect.

[Flay]

We shall have to wait and see. I hope it does go well as it could do a lot to publicise classical music, so long as it is clever, and not too stupid or rude.

If only Gerard Hoffnung were still with us: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2999L...eature=related (OK it's only a cartoon, I cannot find any videos of his live concerts. Pity the sound is not synchronised)

I would have loved to see the Hoffnung Festival of Music: http://www.musicweb-international.co...ales/decca.htm

Some very clever spoofs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4Pm4ojdT7s

How about some P.D.Q. Bach Eine Kleine Nichtmusik: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enT9oAE0TxM&NR=1

Just who is this "conducting sensation" Sue Perkins anyway??

[Panjandrum]

We shall have to wait and see. I hope it does go well as it could do a lot to publicise classical music, so long as it is clever, and not too stupid or rude.

I'm sorry Flay I can't see any connexion to be made between comedy and classical music. Do you go to a concert of Bruckner, thinking "Well as long as I have a good laugh, I will have enjoyed myself"? Monty Python may have them rolling in the aisles but an evening of "Always Looks on the Bright Side of Life" or "The Lumberjack Song" is not my idea of musical heaven.

I see this as being hopelessly outdated and perpetuating the cycle clip wearing, more tea vicar image with which classical music is saddled.

[Panjandrum]

We shall have to wait and see. I hope it does go well as it could do a lot to publicise classical music, so long as it is clever, and not too stupid or rude.

I'm sorry Flay I can't see any connexion to be made between comedy and classical music. Do you go to a concert of Bruckner, thinking "Well as long as I have a good laugh, I will have enjoyed myself"? Monty Python may have them rolling in the aisles but an evening of "Always Looks on the Bright Side of Life" or "The Lumberjack Song" is not my idea of bringing a new audience in.

I see this as being hopelessly outdated and perpetuating the cycle clip wearing, more tea vicar image with which classical music is saddled.

[Flay]

I'm sorry Flay I can't see any connexion to be made between comedy and classical music.

Have you no sense of humour, Panjanrum? Your avatar suggests that you do have. Of course I would not go to a performance of Bruckner 9 or Britten's War Requiem for a good laugh. But classical music is not all po-faced, nor are all the musicians. It's right to have a bit of fun, and humour in music nothing new, e.g. Haydn's 'Surprise' Symphony, Mozart K522, and more recently Arnold's Four Scottish Dances (no 2) with its drunken bassoon straight from Sauchiehall Street. It does not need to be all belly laughs and rolling in the aisles, but we can smile a bit, can't we?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It's actually very difficult to put on a genuinely funny classical concert. Hoffnung's 1956 & 1958 Music Festivals proved that it was possible, but by the time of the 1961 Festival, the concept seemed to have become a little "tired". So I await tonight's concert with interest.

[Serial_Apologist]

Just who is this "conducting sensation" Sue Perkins anyway??

Sue's great. She comes from my manor. Very droll sense of humour, very S London. Can't imagine her in a Prom situation, somehow...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Perkins

[doversoul1]

Musical jokes are funny but making fun of music is not a joke. From the trailer I have been hearing plus the idea Radio3 seems to have about audience these days, I get an impression that this prom is the latter.

I hope I am wrong.

[ed] Most musical jokes were composed and are performed on the assumption that the audience knows ‘the original’ and will get the joke. I can’t imagine this is the case of a weekend special prom’s audience.

[Norfolk Born]

Sue's great. She comes from my manor. Very droll sense of humour, very S London. Can't imagine her in a Prom situation, somehow...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Perkins

She's also arguably the best of the latest generation of panellists on 'Just A Minute'.

[BBMmk2]

This is one Prom I be avoiding!

[Petrushka]

You can watch the NYO Prom from last Saturday over on BBC2 at 9pm if you suffer from Prom withdrawal symptoms.

[Roehre]

This is one Prom I be avoiding!

that makes two of us. Time for a

[salymap]

I went to one of the Hoffnung concerts, saw Flanders and Swann's and Joyce Grenfell's London stage shows and they were all very funny and still are to me. Only Victor Borge failed to make me laugh with his laboured antics.

I hope tonight is successful but wouldn't want to attend. Why not play some of Malcolm Arnold and other light hearted pieces, why these so-called comedians?

[french frank]

Musical jokes are funny but making fun of music is not a joke. From the trailer I have been hearing plus the idea Radio3 seems to have about audience these days, I get an impression that this prom is the latter.

That's why that Christmas comedy quiz was so dire. A comedian asking four other comedians questions about music and the arts. And the basic joke was that none of them knew any of the answers so they cracked jokes instead. Laboured, unfunny ones. Hope tonight's Prom is clever and witty.