I first came across Chris Addison from the brilliant, but criminally underrated series Lab Rats. I had a bit of a look through his back catalogue, and was pleased to finds this radio series from essentially the same team.
It's a beautifully written and expertly performed piece of intelligent stand up. Each episode is structured a bit like the Christmas lectures, but with jokes. Addison sets out to explore just what it is that set Homo Sapiens apart from the other apes, posing questions that are actually scientifically interesting and then answering them with a mixture of stand up from himself, sketches usually performed by Jo Enwright and Dan Tetsell, and spoof interviews with expert on everything Geoff McGivern.
It's intelligent, it explores real science issues (though the emphasis is on humour, the discussions are not as scientifically revealing as, say, the infinite monkey cage) and it is absolutely hilarious. It is rare to get comedy this intelligent, and I loved it.
Four half hour episodes oare presented on two discs (two episodes per disc) in a fold out jewel case. As usual with the BBC there are very limited liner notes, restricted to a cast list. Sound quality is excellent, as expected for such a recent recording.
All in all a great purchase. 5 stars. I would also recommend Civilization and Lab Rats from the same team of Addison, Enwright, Tetsell and McGivern.