Neil Sinclair (Comedy Zone 2009, Winner of Raw 2008) has teamed up with newcomer to the comedy scene, Doug Pickering, for a new show called Four Minute Warning. The premise of the show sounds a bit like “Blast From the Past” meets “Wayne’s World” with monthly recordings of a radio comedy in front of a live audience, with a different theme each month. These are all in the lead up to their 2010 Comedy Festival show. I caught up with the man behind this original idea to find out more about it.
Four Minute Warning sounds a bit like “Blast From the Past” meets “Wayne’s World”. Please enlighten the punters out there about the shows’ format…
Four Minute Warning is a radio comedy, recorded in much the same way as the old BBC comedies like the Goon Show. We all wear our BBC finery’s, that’s suits to you and me. The premise is; it’s a talk back radio show about life in a bunker set 20 years after Germany won World War II by nuking England. All the characters are repressed, mad and desperate, none more so than the radio hosts, and they all have a 1940’s way of thinking. The show is interspersed with old-timey adverts, which we’ve pre-recorded, for totally irrelevant things like shoe polish and other shows broadcast on the Emergency Broadcast System, such as “Children’s Disciplinary Hour.”
Tell us a bit about your new comedy partner and how this duo came about.
I met Doug Pickering at work about two years ago. He is naturally very funny, but he’d never done stand up before. We got talking about different comedy shows and I thought he had good taste, so I mentioned an idea I’d had called Four Minute Warning. He liked it and we decided to make it. He also likes Bruce Springsteen, which is a character benchmark in my book.
What type of research have you undertaken to make the content as accurate as possible?
We’ve been looking in to the whole 1940’s mentality. They were sexist and ignorant and wrong about almost everything, but they were so sure they were right that they were willing to ignore any evidence saying they were wrong, to the extent of lying to themselves. It’s that belligerence that we’re trying to get here because it’s funny. Diphtheria can be cured by onions, masturbation leads to premature aging, and women’s brains can only handle trivial tasks such as sewing and cooking, that’s why they’re such gossips.
Does this show see a move to a more character-based style of comedy for you, as opposed to the one-liner and obscure stand up that earned you the Raw 2008 title?
Not really. This isn’t stand up; it’s a radio sit com. The stand up has come in handy, because it’s taught me the importance of word conservation. There are one liners in the show; they’re just in the context of the story. And the show is pretty obscure; it’s very much my sense of humour.
What are some of the insights into having your own festival show that you gained from your experience in the Comedy Zone this year?
Comedy Zone showed me how much work was involved in a festival show. And there are no guaranties. The biggest thing it taught me is that I have no idea how to put on a festival show… none at all.
In an ever-growing festival program, you’ve come up with one of the most ingenious promotional/marketing campaigns through these podcast recordings. How often will they be and what other themes can we look forward to?
We came up with the idea of doing the podcasts before we thought of turning it in to a comedy festival show. I’ve always wanted to be a sitcom writer, and now with the dawning of the Internet you can be anything you want to be… so long as you don’t mind not being paid. Future themes include a Christmas special, Holidays in the Bunker, Food. We’re kind of making it up as we go. Each theme will be as hilarious as the last… I hope. We also need someone to design propaganda for our marketing. Please contact us on the details below.
Who will love it and why?
Anyone who likes radio comedy and wants to hear more of it in Australia. Back in the UK everyone from The Mighty Boosh to Alan Partridge, and Mitchell & Webb started on radio. And anyone who likes British comedies. Both Doug and myself are from England and we both have a very British sense of humour; _desperation, failure and loneliness. These have been the ingredient of some of the best comedies to come out in the last twenty years._
Is there anything else you’re dying to tell the Groggy Squirrel readers about Four Minute Warning?
We have a very funny cast for Four Minute Warning:
- Lou Sanz
- Luke McGregor
- Micah Higbed
And our sound man, Gordon Hannah, who does some of the voices on the adverts.We were lucky enough to have a DJ from ABC 774 in the audience at the last show. He liked it and has asked us to do one live to air.
It’s on the first Tuesday of the Month starting on Tuesday the 4th of August at 8pm at the Butterfly Club. For info or tickets visit The Butterfly Club Website
They can listen to the first show and get information on the up coming shows at our Facebook Page
Thanks to Neil for his time.