- Audio CD (24 Nov 2008)
- Number of Discs: 4
- Format: Box set
- Label: Warp
- ASIN: B001IEVKQA
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 69,664 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Description
CD Description
On the Hour is a legendary radio comedy renowned for its savage dissection of news and current affairs programming. It boasts a stellar cast of writers and performers who have gone on to feature in some of the best UK comedy of the last 15 years: Chris Morris (The Day Today, Blue Jam, Brass Eye, Nathan Barley, The IT Crowd), Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It, I’m Alan Partridge, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Saturday Night Armistice), Steve Coogan (The Day Today, I’m Alan Partridge, Knowing Me Knowing You, Coogan’s Run, Saxondale), Stewart Lee (Jerry Springer The Opera, Fist Of Fun, This Morning With Richard Not Judy), Richard Herring (Fist Of Fun, This Morning With Richard Not Judy), David Schneider (I’m Alan Partridge, Knowing Me Knowing You, The Saturday Night Armistice), Doon Mackichan (Smack The Pony, The Day Today, A Very Social Secretary, Brass Eye) and Rebecca Front (The Day Today, Fist of Fun, Big Train, I’m Alan Partridge, Nighty Night). It also features the first appearance of Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge. This hilarious satirical comedy (originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4) formed the basis for TV show The Day Today.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
If you watch any of the rolling 24 hour news channels ( I very rarely do but occasionally catch BBC news 24 and the rolling Sky sports news available on freeview ) you will see that the type of news presentation so brilliantly lampooned by On The Hour is still alive and kicking .In fact rarely has satire and its intended target been so close to each other.
Originally aired on Radio 4 in 1992 On The Hour is a pitiless satire of news programming featuring a truly extraordinary cast of talented writers and performers including Chris Morris , Patrick Marber, Steve Coogan ( in the first incarnation of Alan Partridge at the sports desk and showing an unhealthy fascination with "groinal injuries" and peoples bodies) Stewart Lee, Richard Herring Armando Iannucci ,Rebecca Front and Doon Mackichan .Virtually the same cast later brought the same format to TV with the peerless "The Day Today : Complete BBC Series (2 Disc Set) [1994] " which added a brilliantly conceived visual aspect to the format.
As with The Day Today the real joy of this show is the use of language though the strength of the performances is also a vital component. Over 4 C.D,s and six episodes were are regaled with spoof phone calls and interviews involving blissfully innocent members of the public , ridiculous headlines -" Dinosaurs died out on a Tuesday claim experts" and "Princess Di,s hair dishevelled by seven inch tornado", daft features and reports on things "Like serious road thefts " and their law campaign exposing "Festering sores in the flank of human understanding ".
The programme isn't so much parodying current affairs but the actual pomposity and almost salacious glee that the news industry delivers it with. From Chris Morris's superb Paxman like delivery -"Alan shut up. I want you to stop" to Roger Blatts,'s almost rampant delight when he has a major disaster to report on like the crash at "Big street station" with its "Side menu of mayhem" it is so uncannily like a real new programme I almost believed that France needed more oxygen, that all paper is continuous and that sterling is running at 7, 50, 22 and 13.
Technically it is quite brilliant( with clever original music by Chris Morris and Jonathon Whitehead) and though the material is sometimes a little too self indulgent and prosaic ( the "Audio pullout" is a total mess) and it doesn't always smack the target( the second series is actually more focussed and funnier and more like the television version) between the eyes it is certainly better than anything around today. With an extra disc that features the pilot show ( which repeats a lot of the material on the other discs) extra bits of Partridge and some Ted Maul this C.D. , despite the price , is good value. Plus it picks on Douglas Hurd a lot...... Arise Sir News.
Originally aired on Radio 4 in 1992 On The Hour is a pitiless satire of news programming featuring a truly extraordinary cast of talented writers and performers including Chris Morris , Patrick Marber, Steve Coogan ( in the first incarnation of Alan Partridge at the sports desk and showing an unhealthy fascination with "groinal injuries" and peoples bodies) Stewart Lee, Richard Herring Armando Iannucci ,Rebecca Front and Doon Mackichan .Virtually the same cast later brought the same format to TV with the peerless "The Day Today : Complete BBC Series (2 Disc Set) [1994] " which added a brilliantly conceived visual aspect to the format.
As with The Day Today the real joy of this show is the use of language though the strength of the performances is also a vital component. Over 4 C.D,s and six episodes were are regaled with spoof phone calls and interviews involving blissfully innocent members of the public , ridiculous headlines -" Dinosaurs died out on a Tuesday claim experts" and "Princess Di,s hair dishevelled by seven inch tornado", daft features and reports on things "Like serious road thefts " and their law campaign exposing "Festering sores in the flank of human understanding ".
The programme isn't so much parodying current affairs but the actual pomposity and almost salacious glee that the news industry delivers it with. From Chris Morris's superb Paxman like delivery -"Alan shut up. I want you to stop" to Roger Blatts,'s almost rampant delight when he has a major disaster to report on like the crash at "Big street station" with its "Side menu of mayhem" it is so uncannily like a real new programme I almost believed that France needed more oxygen, that all paper is continuous and that sterling is running at 7, 50, 22 and 13.
Technically it is quite brilliant( with clever original music by Chris Morris and Jonathon Whitehead) and though the material is sometimes a little too self indulgent and prosaic ( the "Audio pullout" is a total mess) and it doesn't always smack the target( the second series is actually more focussed and funnier and more like the television version) between the eyes it is certainly better than anything around today. With an extra disc that features the pilot show ( which repeats a lot of the material on the other discs) extra bits of Partridge and some Ted Maul this C.D. , despite the price , is good value. Plus it picks on Douglas Hurd a lot...... Arise Sir News.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
..this series has been released! I used to have it on cassette but lost it and have been looking for a CD version for years! Price is rather steep but worth every minute of "comedy gold" that paved the way for The Day Today and set the benchmark for modern comedy.
It still amazes me that the media has continued (if not, grown!) in the mould that this series mocks.
Still sharp. Timeless. Buy it!
It still amazes me that the media has continued (if not, grown!) in the mould that this series mocks.
Still sharp. Timeless. Buy it!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
This was the first programme that launched Chris Morris straight into the living rooms of the middle classes and took us all on a journey that has so far seen him make the successful transfer of this show onto TV-The Day Today, over to Channel 4 with Brass Eye then back to radio with Blue Jam and back to TV with the spin off Jam.
This may only be a fraction of what was broadcast but it'll blow you away with it's originality and anarchic humour.
William Burroughs son and heir I'm sure.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
arise sir news
hilarious fantastic send up. the year this was created shows what a forward thinking satirist chris morris is. Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2010 by Not
Birth of a comedy generation
From the seed of On The Hour grew many comedy oaks.
Tranferring from radio to TV as The Day Today, it's writters and stars would go on to become some of the most... Read more
Tranferring from radio to TV as The Day Today, it's writters and stars would go on to become some of the most... Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2009 by Caustic Jones
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