Tuesday 24 April 2018

Parket? Radio sitcom joke cock up


Badly Done Joke Alert!

If you listen to the trailer for Radio 2's Funny Fortnight (on this iPlayer clip 10 mins in) you'll hear a gag that's not only unoriginal (of which more shortly) but also absolutely buggered up.

From new sitcom The Taylors, the exchange goes:
"That old flooring, what's it called?"
"Parquet?"
"It was, but it's much warmer now we've got the carpet down"

Now I know it's an old gag because I used it in my BBC radio sitcom pilot Meanwhile, recorded in the self same Radio Theatre in 1998. But that's not the worst crime. The worst crime is the delivery.

The joke works because "parquet" sounds like "parky", an old-fashioned word for cold. But in this clip, the actor pronounces the word "par-ket". Which renders the whole gag meaningless.

How someone could have let that slip into the recorded sitcom without noticing it - then used it IN THE TRAILER! - defies description and beggars belief.



If I'm so clever, why aren't I writing a new sitcom on BBC Radio you ask? Probably because I post bitter and twisted things like this. Even I wouldn't want to work with me.

Parket. Kids today.


The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre* are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe from August 1st to 26th - ON SALE NOW! 

*Winners of the Bath Comedy Festival Lovehoney Best Joke Award 2018


Previews:

April 27 - The Canvas, London E1
May 26 3.45pm & May 27 5pm Komedia Brighton
June 16 - Zion, Bristol
June 20 - Ludlow Fringe
July 11 - Neath
July 19 - Bedford Fringe
July 29 - Derby Bar One

 - with more preview dates to be announced

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