28 acts in 28 minutes.

I heard a great new show this week on radio 4. 28 acts in 28 minutes. It does exactly what it says on the tin. 28 people get up, do a minute each and then a countdownesque tune strikes up and they finish up and get off. Most people seemed to pick a bit from their stand up set that fitted into the minute slot, but some played with the concept a bit. A sketch group chopped down a sketch to fit, and ended up using the time realizing they needed to tell the audience another point in order to get it. They ended with a punchline which was something like, 'not that much ice barman!' and had to yell, 'it was on the titanic!' in their last seconds onstage.

Another explained that they were getting the standard radio 4 fee of £250, which worked out at £15,000 an hour, or £21,600,000 a year. He added, 'I should just put in a solid month then relax for a bit, but I can't be arsed.'

There was a lot of playing with the 1 minute format. Sarah Millican (We can now say 'see the stars of Radio 4' on the LLC posters.) got a big laugh from simply admitting, 'I knew I'd run short so now we'll just have to wait.'

It's a format we could steal for the LLC, we've done it with 'I'm Sorry I haven't a Clue', which we've ripped off to get a lot of the audience competitions. Maybe as well as their usual set we could ask all the comics to prepare 1 minute and do an extra set at the end as we whizz through everyone's minutes.

I don't know - I may just be suggesting this because I haven't come up with much new stuff lately, and working to a brief (such as 'fit it into one minute') seems easier than starting from a blank page. For the same reason I've suggested themed nights in the past. You might think a theme is restrictive, but actually it's easier because you have a starting point. If I say - come up with something funny in the next half hour, it's actually harder than -come up with something funny about frogs in the next half hour. Of course, if you HAVE TO stick to the theme, it would be restrictive - but it would be completely optional.

By the way, my favourite of the 28 minutes was a character based on evil african dictators. But because it's so odd to have a white guy mocking anyone black, he had to jump out of character occasionally to ask 'Is this racist? It's not is it?' Well, politically in a dodgy area certainly, it was very funny;

"I am papa christmas, president of christmas land. Everyday here is Christmas. I come on my sleigh, made of the skins of my enemies, and give out presents. I know who's been naughty and nice because it is a police state. If you are nice you get a present, like some food. If you are naughty, I cut off your hands and put them on television, on the popular TV show 'Who's bad hands are these.'"

NEXT GIG;

TUESDAY 11TH OF JULY. SHOW STARTS 9.00 -
'LONG LIVE COMEDY'
THE DOG AND PARROT (UPSTAIRS)
-OPPOSITE THE CENTRE FOR LIFE, 2 MINS FROM CENTRAL STATION.
ONLY £2