Ill Sorry Ill Read That Again

L to R: Beak Oddie, John Cleese, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Jo Kendall, Graeme Garden and David Hatch

"This is 'I'm Sad I'll Read That Once more', an extravaganza especially written for the wireless by several persons, and featuring a number of performers."

—Announcer

I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again was a pop BBC Sketch Comedy prove which ran between 1965 and 1973, with a 1-off "25th anniversary" show in 1989. It was something of a spiritual successor to The Goon Show, featuring numerous awful puns, funny voices and bizarre situations. The program originated from a broadcast of the 1963 Cambridge Circus revue, followed by three preparatory shows in April 1964, which were followed by the first series proper a twelvemonth and a one-half later.

The cast, all Cambridge alums, included Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Pecker Oddie, who later went on to create The Goodies, and John Cleese, who, forth with occasional writers Eric Idle and Graham Chapman, later went on to class Monty Python. Also in the bandage were Jo Kendall and David Hatch. The early series featured occasional appearances by producer Humphrey Barclay (the original director of Cambridge Circus), but these ended subsequently Barclay handed the reins of product to Hatch.

The format of the prove was rather slapdash in the beginning, simply eventually was streamlined into a Cold Opening sketch followed by the tongue-in-cheek opening announcements, followed by two or three unrelated sketches, a (usually) comic vocal past Nib Oddie, and then the extended fundamental sketch of the week, usually an Affectionate Parody of either a specific film, volume, or play, or just a genre.

I'm Sorry I'll Read That Over again was responsible for the creation of I'm Lamentable I Haven't a Clue a few years later.

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Tropes:

• Cryptic Syntax: One John and Mary sketch has John driving Mary effectually the bend with an incessant string of magic tricks:

  John: How near the baffling Chinese mice trick?
  Mary: Darling, the dining room is full of Chinese mice equally it is.
  John: Well, can't I go down and baffle them?

• And Starring: Invoked in the intro of i episode, in which no one can concur about the casting and billing.

  John: This is I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Once again, with special invitee John Cleese.
  Tim: Featuring Tim Brooke-Taylor...
  David: Starring David Hatch!
  Graeme: Surprise celebrity — Graeme Garden!
  Jo: Introducing Jo Kendall.
  Beak: With...(sadly) Bill Oddie.

• Butt-Monkey: Bill Oddie, and occasionally David Hatch. Instance:

  Jo Kendall: And now a piffling song virtually a 1-man band, sung past our fiddling songster, Neb Oddie, who should be one man banned.

• Camp Gay: Ofttimes played past Tim Brooke-Taylor, and sometimes John Cleese as well.
• Camp Straight: Sir Prancelot, in the King Arthur sketch, is Tim Brooke-Taylor at his virtually camp — and madly in dear with the King's daughter.

  Prancelot: That surprised y'all, didn't it?

• Captain Obvious: They mined this for a lot of sense of humour.

  David: Oedipus had known his female parent a long time.

• Car Meets House: Pecker and Graeme park inside Tim's house in the 25th ceremony episode.
• Catchphrase: Usually avoided, although "I'm the rex rat!" stands out as an exception, as well equally Jo Kendall'southward characters' "Hello, sailor!" and Bill Oddie's "How de do dere, dearest!"
  • Ane episode featured Neb attempting to plow "Terrapins!" into a catch phrase, only for the balance of the cast to keep telling him there was nothing funny about terrapins. He proceeded to testify them wrong with "The Terrapin Song".
  • Another episode included characters randomly blurting out the word "teapot" in the promise that the audience would exist conditioned to observe it funny. And by halfway through the episode they were.
  • Catchphrases seemed to keep happening, whether the performers wanted them or not. In 1 afterward episode, they ran through all the catchphrases from the show's run right at the start to get them over with, with John Cleese commenting "Honestly, it's similar feeding time at the zoo" at the audience's cheers. ^notation A reflection of John'due south genuine disgust at the practice of milking catchphrases for laughs - and the susceptibility of audiences to said do.
• Censored for Comedy: A recurring gag with medleys of censored songs from performers like Tom Jones or Rolf Harris. As you can imagine, they had a lot of fun with songs like 'Two Trivial Boys' (fifty-fifty if that'due south Harsher in Hindsight now).
• Graphic symbol Evolution: Unusual for a sketch evidence, just still present — for many seasons, David Hatch usually played himself playing a generic announcer, and was otherwise either boring or snarky. And then, towards the end of flavour 7 and throughout flavor 8, he started identifying himself more equally a producer, becoming more believing, occasionally ability-mad, and actively trying to stop the surreality/filthy-mindedness of other bandage members rather than just providing a contrast to it.
• Deadpan Snarker: David Hatch and John Cleese, merely John especially. A running gag was him breaking character or otherwise interrupting to snark.

  David: London is home to many people.
  John: ..."London is habitation to many people". Oh, well done. David Hatch, the boy genius.

• Dirty Former Man: Grimbling.

  John: Aren't y'all a little past information technology, erstwhile man?
  Grimbling: No, I'1000 a picayune dirty old man.

• Double Entendre: Nearly every joke that wasn't a pun was this. Sometimes the jokes were sexual in nature, sometimes they were simply plays on the fact that a given give-and-take or phrase could exist taken 2 unlike ways and spun off from the less obvious interpretation.

  David: Think of Scandinavia, and you may call back of beautiful blondes.
  Graeme: Oh, may I?
  David: Oh, certainly.
  Graeme, Bill, Tim: [lustily] Wa-hey!...
  Graeme: [chuckles] Oh, thank you, I enjoyed that.
  David: Yes, not at all.

• Verbal Words: The unfortunate name of an arts prove is caused by this.

  David: No, no, that's non going to cut it. Wait, nosotros need an arts show — but something with a bit of a kick in information technology.
  (theme music)
  Tim: We present A Kicking In The Arts.

• Finishing Each Other's Sentences: Played for laughs in a sketch where Tim, John and Jo wanted to present iii different radio programs (gardening, yoga and cookery respectively) at the aforementioned time, then Graeme makes them share the aforementioned microphone, leading to a barrage of Double Entendre one-act.

  Tim: Good evening. Now is the time of twelvemonth you should be lifting your bulbs-
  John: -crossing your legs-
  Jo: -and whipping half a dozen-
  Tim: -pansies. And equally soon every bit you tin can, get them into the bed-
  Jo: -coat them liberally with butter-
  John: -and take a deep breath.

• Hurricane of Puns: Many times.
• Impossible Insurance: In one sketch, a character buys a ridiculously-specific insurance policy that will only pay out if he'due south trampled by a herd of bison in the middle of Whitehall. As he is explaining to a skeptical friend (while standing in the middle of Whitehall) what a good deal it was, he is indeed trampled by a herd of bison — just information technology turns out they're buffalo, not bison.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: By the bushel.
• Inherently Funny Words: Favorite frequently-used funny words on the show included "ferret", "rhubarb tart", "gibbon", and "terrapin".
• I Resemble That Remark!: Unintentional on David'south role. From their version of Alice Through The Looking-Drinking glass:

  David: Oh my, oh my, oh my—I'yard late, I'thou late, I'm late—oh my ears and whiskers—oh my, I'yard tardily, I'm belatedly, I'm late...
  John: It was a loony.
  David: I am not! I'1000 a little white rabbit!

• Leave Behind a Pistol: Played for Laughs in their Great Escape sketch where the escaping P.O.W.s are told:

  In case of capture, you'll each have a pistol with one bullet. And then, for God's sake, be careful or y'all could hurt yourself!

• Left the Background Music On: Several times. In ane episode, the BBC can't afford any musicians, so the linking music that usually signifies a shift in location is conspicously absent-minded. The cast, therefore, sing an a cappella rendition of the music to move from location to location.
  • As well played direct at times:

    BBC Director: Now, here's what nosotros want y'all to do!
    [transitional piano music]
    David Hatch: ...but I can't play the piano.

  • An episode opens in the Houses of Parliament. The narrator explains that "select committees encounter to discuss matters of national import" and then at that place is a tinkly piano transition. Followed by the narrator calculation "And play the piano". The scene then cuts to a meeting room where a member is asked to stop playing the pianoforte and come back to the table.
  • In "Murder on the 3.17 to Cleethorpes", Cloak-and-dagger Serviceman Cliff Hanger-Ending (David) has just received orders from his boss, Special Co-operative head Twiggy (Graeme), to take classified documents to Cleethorpes, and says he will never exist forgotten if he succeeds. Twiggy then immediately forgets who Hanger-Ending is and orders him out of his part. A clarinet-led musical transition follows, after which Twiggy adds, "And have that blasted clarinet with you!"
  • Another one from the 25th anniversary testify when John begins to evangelize an impassioned speech about how miserable he was not existence allowed to do a Silly Walk or sing 'The Ferret Song' and a sad trombone starts playing in the groundwork.

  John: Don't desert me, please... don't abandon me, please... and please... stop playing that bloody trombone, would you!

• Loads and Loads of Roles: In that location were merely six performers (and very occasional contributions from early series producer Humphrey Barclay), only the spoof radio dramas that took up the 2nd half of near episodes e'er featured many more than six characters, requiring frequent doubling, tripling, or quadrupling up of roles (often resulting in performers - most often Tim Brooke-Taylor - holding conversations with themselves).
• Lovable Sexual activity Bedlamite: Lady Constance. Her existence an Abhorrent Gentleman didn't assist.
• Mistaken for Gay: This, from "The Source of the Nile".

  Egyptian Man: Effendi, effendi! I have prissy sister!
  Lord Luvaduck: How dare you?! I'm an English lord!
  Egyptian Man: Oh, I repent. Effendi, effendi! I have nice brother!

• My Friends... and Zoidberg
• No Accounting for Taste: John and Mary, played by John Cleese and Jo Kendall. Usually Mary is a Dearest Martyr, but sometimes she hates John every bit much equally he hates her.
• Punny Name: Many.
• Rapid-Burn Comedy: The evidence seems to have gotten exponentially faster and funnier each serial.
• Refuge in Audacity: Y'all amend believe it! They managed to get away with some staggeringly offensive jokes because of it (their 'Black and White Minstrel Show' went through various incarnations including the 'Xanthous and White Minstrel Show' and the 'Red and White Minstrel Show' before settling on Tim performing solo every bit the 'Pink and White Minstrel Testify').
• Reunion Show: The 25th Anniversary show in 1988.
• Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: The final episode of the Professor Prune And The Electric Fourth dimension Trousers serial opens with all the characters dying. They become better.
• Running Gag: Many, such every bit Tim Brooke-Taylor playing all women'due south parts, the phrase "promises, promises" to signify a Double Entendre, David Hatch playing all slow bits, ferrets, gibbons, OBEs, and John Davidson (who?).
• Testify Stopper:
  • One time she becomes an established recurring grapheme, Lady Constance's first advent in any given episode always causes a prolonged audience reaction. (Inevitably, several episodes deliberately subvert the audition's expectation of an impending entrance by Lady Constance... for a minute or 2, anyway.)
  • From the series Professor Prune And The Electric Time Trousers, at every advent of Spot the Dog (played past Tim Brooke-Taylor, who had previously not been given a role in the series), there'due south huge audition applause, even though his only line is "Woof!". Somewhen, John Cleese gets jealous.

  David: Oh, come now, John — yous've got a sports motorcar, a mansion, a career—all Tim'due south got is his woof! You lot don't begrudge him that, do y'all?
  John: Yeah.

• Shout-Out: In the 25th Ceremony episode, the chief of police calls in "Hercule Parrot". Who is promptly shot, making him Hercule ex-Parrot.
  • Professor Prune And His Electric Time Trousers
• Show Within a Evidence: All the time, since the setting of the evidence was a radio station. About notable is the weekly Prune Play Of The Week and the two serials, Curse Of The Flying Wombat and Professor Prune And His Electric Time Trousers, which featured an eccentric old buffer and his intrepid immature administration, travelling through space and time in the aforementioned Time Trousers.
• Sound-to-Screen Adaptation: As with and so many other BBC radio comedy shows before and since, sketches which showtime aired on this show, depending on who wrote them, migrated to television and took on a visual dimension. ISIRTA sketches went to Tv shows as diverse as At Last the 1948 Show, The Goodies and Monty Python'due south Flight Circus.
• Spoonerism: The commencement episode of Serial 5 ("Bunny and Claude") segues from the opening credits into "The David Hatch Testify", in which David passes himself off as a DJ. His DJ patter includes the following conscientious subversion of the obvious spoonerisms:

  David Hatch: Yes, it'south Dave the Rave on the medium wave, with another happy-become-go, ringing-dinging, bunky-futting, frunty-bucking, brunty-funking, funting-butting - that was close! (audition laughter) Funky-butting fun time of fun and frolics on Radio Hatch!

• Phase Magician: I John and Mary sketch has John driving Mary round the curve with an ceaseless string of magic tricks, including versions of Selection a Bill of fare (he gets the bill of fare wrong) and What Have We Ear? (producing several remarkable objects, none of which is the 1 he intended).
• Straight Man: David Hatch, who claims he "merely does the narration and boring bits". Occassionally he bemoans it, and occassionally he uses it to avoid taking part in the latest shenanigans. (He did often become his share of puns to deliver, though. Just not as many featherbrained voices.)
• Take That!: Tony Blackburn, David Frost and many others.
• Take That, Us
• Translation: "Yes": In the "Schmurtot Yach Proxyl?" sketch, an episode of a plan educational activity a fictional Eastern European linguistic communication.

  "Did you discover that discussion 'apklaptischmurkschlagomfarawak'? Aye, it means 'with'."

• Travelling at the Speed of Plot: Utterly averted in an installment of Professor Prune and the Electric Time Trousers.

  They built a boat and crossed the Atlantic in a record xvi years.

• Un Sound Effect: Oft.

  Narrator: They basked in the sun merrily.
  Crowd: Bask, enjoy, savor...
  Voice: Merrily!

• Weird Trade Wedlock: In one episode a parody of "Song of the Due south" is held up past the representative of the sectionalization of Animals' Disinterestedness representing spiny anteaters, marsupials and other lower mammals, who demands that some of the parts should get to members of that division. Leading choruses of "B'rer Rabbit out! B'rer Platypus in!", he is successful, and when the production continues, not just does B'rer Platypus take the leading office, in that location's also one for B'rer Bandicoot.

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Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Radio/ImSorryIllReadThatAgain

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