![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcSo yeah. Arrived in Edinburgh around 18:00, Clue at 19:30, dinner at 23:00. But worth it.
It opened with John Naismith explaining how the kazoos we had been provided with actually worked, because apparently that had been an issue before. He also said that since most of this would be classic rounds, he would do some classic warm-up jokes, which were reassuringly groanworthy.
He then gave a straight intro to Colin and the teams, before the theme music started and he used the "antidote to panel games" speil to introduce Jack. (Samantha, sadly, couldn't make it, for a variety of interesting reasons, some of which caused Barry to do a take at the audience, and at one point pretend to leave in disgust.)
Jack's opening "You join us in Edinburgh" bit was reliably good. Some of it was varients of gags I'd heard on the radio, some of it wasn't. Since Mum's a Hibs fan, I particularly liked the lines about how they had a difficult game to play ... football, and the SSPCA being called to stop a group of Hibs players playing football with a hedgehog, but by the time they got there the hedgehog was winning three-nil.
Likewise with the games, many of which I'd heard before, some of which I'd actually seen before, on the DVD of the last stage tour, but all of which were better live, even without visual effects (and some did; there was an actual table and trolley for the Waiters game, for example). One Song To The Tune Of Another was a highlight, especially Jeremy getting Kung Fu Fighting to the tune of Scarborough Fair. (Jack: "Remember, we're laughing with Jeremy, not at him.")
I can't remember everything that was on, but it was all excellent, and I'm pretty sure the Letter Writing Round (Robert the Bruce to the spider) was entirely original. Other highlights of the first half included Just A Minim, in which Jeremy was challenged for deviation from the tune, and also for improper language (he used what he called "the f*ck-w", and Barry insisted there was no call for that, adding "I f*cking heard him!")
The interval was announced as the end of a radio episode, and the second half opened with a radio on the stage, as actual announcers announced programmes invented in the series for the Radio Times round, before eventually declaring it was time for more I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. So that was a neat little device.
There were four games of Sound Charadef, including one of my absolute favourites: Hamish and Dougal's version of Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. And Tim and Jeremy doing The Sopranos, without the bleeping from the radio version (there was a lot more swearing than you get on Radio 4, as I may have indicated).
There was also Karaoke-Cokey, which was what the kazoos were for - we played a song and the teams had to guess what it was. We managed a passable rendition of the Archers theme, but "Flower of Scotland" proved trickier (Jack: "I wasn't expecting you to do it as a round.") until they limited the number of people playing to just the circle, at which point they got it.
Similarly for "I Will Survive"; after they failed to recognise it with all of us playing, first all the green kazoos played, then the blue ones (Barry: "Can we hear the green ones again?"), then the yellow ones ... which turned out to be four people in the front row, as Jack explained that this was what was called a stitch-up.
Mornington Crescent, of course. A surprisingly short round, even allowing for Tim's unforced errors. (Playing below the diagonal when Fairlop's in play!) Elektra the Mornington Crescent Computer was present, but I was disappointed that she didn't declare her love for Jeremy.
The final round was Game of Games, which in this version incorporated the Incorrect Answers round. In the Weakest Link parody at the end, Colin was voted off, and then Jack did the farewell spiel and the teams left. Then Colin returned to rapturous applause, and Jack and the teams returned to milk it.
So there was an encore round of Swanee Kazoo, with Graeme and Barry on swanee whistle and Tim, Jeremy and us on kazoos. It was very hard to stop giggling enough to play the kazoos, because while the teams, Colin and the audience were doing this, Jack was clearing the desks, stacking the chairs, and eventually came in with a vaccum cleaner. So that was very definitely the last round, and since Jack had already did the outro, it closed with a triumphant swannee kazoo performance of "We'll Meet Again".
An excellent night out.
It opened with John Naismith explaining how the kazoos we had been provided with actually worked, because apparently that had been an issue before. He also said that since most of this would be classic rounds, he would do some classic warm-up jokes, which were reassuringly groanworthy.
He then gave a straight intro to Colin and the teams, before the theme music started and he used the "antidote to panel games" speil to introduce Jack. (Samantha, sadly, couldn't make it, for a variety of interesting reasons, some of which caused Barry to do a take at the audience, and at one point pretend to leave in disgust.)
Jack's opening "You join us in Edinburgh" bit was reliably good. Some of it was varients of gags I'd heard on the radio, some of it wasn't. Since Mum's a Hibs fan, I particularly liked the lines about how they had a difficult game to play ... football, and the SSPCA being called to stop a group of Hibs players playing football with a hedgehog, but by the time they got there the hedgehog was winning three-nil.
Likewise with the games, many of which I'd heard before, some of which I'd actually seen before, on the DVD of the last stage tour, but all of which were better live, even without visual effects (and some did; there was an actual table and trolley for the Waiters game, for example). One Song To The Tune Of Another was a highlight, especially Jeremy getting Kung Fu Fighting to the tune of Scarborough Fair. (Jack: "Remember, we're laughing with Jeremy, not at him.")
I can't remember everything that was on, but it was all excellent, and I'm pretty sure the Letter Writing Round (Robert the Bruce to the spider) was entirely original. Other highlights of the first half included Just A Minim, in which Jeremy was challenged for deviation from the tune, and also for improper language (he used what he called "the f*ck-w", and Barry insisted there was no call for that, adding "I f*cking heard him!")
The interval was announced as the end of a radio episode, and the second half opened with a radio on the stage, as actual announcers announced programmes invented in the series for the Radio Times round, before eventually declaring it was time for more I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. So that was a neat little device.
There were four games of Sound Charadef, including one of my absolute favourites: Hamish and Dougal's version of Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. And Tim and Jeremy doing The Sopranos, without the bleeping from the radio version (there was a lot more swearing than you get on Radio 4, as I may have indicated).
There was also Karaoke-Cokey, which was what the kazoos were for - we played a song and the teams had to guess what it was. We managed a passable rendition of the Archers theme, but "Flower of Scotland" proved trickier (Jack: "I wasn't expecting you to do it as a round.") until they limited the number of people playing to just the circle, at which point they got it.
Similarly for "I Will Survive"; after they failed to recognise it with all of us playing, first all the green kazoos played, then the blue ones (Barry: "Can we hear the green ones again?"), then the yellow ones ... which turned out to be four people in the front row, as Jack explained that this was what was called a stitch-up.
Mornington Crescent, of course. A surprisingly short round, even allowing for Tim's unforced errors. (Playing below the diagonal when Fairlop's in play!) Elektra the Mornington Crescent Computer was present, but I was disappointed that she didn't declare her love for Jeremy.
The final round was Game of Games, which in this version incorporated the Incorrect Answers round. In the Weakest Link parody at the end, Colin was voted off, and then Jack did the farewell spiel and the teams left. Then Colin returned to rapturous applause, and Jack and the teams returned to milk it.
So there was an encore round of Swanee Kazoo, with Graeme and Barry on swanee whistle and Tim, Jeremy and us on kazoos. It was very hard to stop giggling enough to play the kazoos, because while the teams, Colin and the audience were doing this, Jack was clearing the desks, stacking the chairs, and eventually came in with a vaccum cleaner. So that was very definitely the last round, and since Jack had already did the outro, it closed with a triumphant swannee kazoo performance of "We'll Meet Again".
An excellent night out.
