Speaking of wars and uncles and secrets and years, I can't imagine that anyone reading this blog hasn't by now listened – at least once through – to the ninth series of John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme. But if you haven't, I would love it if you did, and then you can learn why producer Ed Morrish bought us all these lovely glasses. In fact you'll learn the reason for that in Episode One, but you'll have to wait
until Episode Four to learn the reason for the reason, which is as good a guide for how to listen to Finnemore's Ninth as I can probably give. Here's the link. And here's John's own advice for how to listen to it. When I heard it go out this Summer, week after week, it felt like what finding treasure must feel like, and when John first suggested to me over Zoom what he was planning for the series, given the difficulty of performing sketches in front of a live audience at the beginning of 2021, I was thrilled giddy by the idea that he might finally, finally, be making something that just wouldn't work at all – There's a fairy tale about a giant condemned to carry people across a river, until finally he drops one in the water, and everyone stops asking him, and so he's free – But we never got to witness that in the end. John didn't drop a thing. It's my only disappointment regarding this otherwise perfect answer to the question "How do you follow the Heist Episode?" And I will definitely write more about it, from the beach in my mind I'm spending the rest of my life on because I got to be in it.
This is why I wouldn't call it a sketch show though.
It's very easy to lean upon hyperbole when discussing recent things, but it's been a few months now and I remain entrenched in my position. It must have been, for the cast, the same feeling others got when their friend Will announced he'd written this thing about a Danish Prince and how did they think the read through went? If it was in a medium more visible to the public it would be the most watched program of the year. But then of course, if it wasn't on the radio it wouldn't work.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much, and, yes, it's hard to avoice hyperbole. There is a lot about this series, however, as I'll probably describe later, that I didn't get while recording, and only realised once I'd listened to it.
DeleteSeries 9 is most definitely the best thing John has ever written - the one thing he *might* have got wrong was that it probably deserved to be its own thing rather than, well, series 9 of Souvenir Programme. That's where most people got confused, I think. But I'm guessing that's not how commissioning works, and also, I wouldn't have wanted it to have a different cast, so there's that. (As I keep saying, I'd happily listen to the JFSP cast reading out the actual phone book, but as it turns out that won't be necessary, since John always appears to have several more aces up his sleeve than us mere mortals might assume.)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of aces, I'd been secretly hoping John might one day drop a casual reference to asexuality in one of his shows ever since he did the same with bisexuality in the 'he parts his hair in the middle' sketch - the one with all those weird, possibly made-up idioms - and yet, never in a million years would have I anticipated just by how much he was going to exceed my expectations. Not even when I started headcanoning Newt as ace just because I could. I don't think I will ever be able to put into words just how much the entire 'I thought we shared a family failing' scene means to me, and quite possibly to many other people out there.
Thank you! You'll know, I hope, how important getting that representation right was to John. To all of us, of course. But specifically, obviously, to John.
DeleteAnd the decision not to call this series something else is definitely worth further discussion, although you've already touched on at least one of of the reasons for sticking with the title, namely: us.
I cannot speak for everyone else, of course, but as far as I'm concerned, not only he got the representation right, he also handled it in the best possible way. You know that quote that goes something like "tread softly, because you tread on my dreams"? Well, that, if you get what I mean. Truly a blessing.
DeleteWhat an amazing artistic accomplishment this series was for all of you. It's a terrific gift for the world. As one reviewer put it: 'It’s an odd thing to say, but I’d want this series to represent humanity in our first contact with aliens. I feel prouder to be human after listening to Series 9, and I also feel our relationship with time and with others more intensely than I did before.' https://medium.com/@bayern_47039/a-review-of-series-9-of-john-finnemores-souvenir-programme-ae5b8342e7d
ReplyDeleteYour acting stood out for me - you gave real life to Jerry and even to the bpassing background characters. "No, no, no, no, we're definitely doing that! Whatever the hell it is, we are doing it!"
The representation was both accurate and touching. As another asexual listener I had exactly Lothiriel15's reaction to Uncle Newt.
I think people will still be talking about Series 9 of John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme in 20 years.
Thank you so much. And thanks for linking to the review, which was new to me. Really, thank you.
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