A Guide to "The Nooooow Shooooow"

First broadcast on the 26th September 1998, The Now Show (or The Nooooow Shooooow as it announced by Dennis at the start of every show) is a satirical BBC Radio 4 comedy series about everything 'now'.

The programme occupies Radio 4's Friday evening 6:30pm slot on a rotation with The News Quiz and Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive. Older episodes are repeated on BBC7, whilst complications are available on CD.

Created by Bill Dare, and hosted by double-act Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis, the show takes an entertaining look at the week's news, using a mixture of sketches, stand-up and songs. The series has been viewed by some as a successor to The Mary Whitehouse Experience, a show that also starred Punt and Dennis, alongside another double-act, David Baddiel and Rob Newman.

Apart from Punt and Dennis' comic routines, the series also features contributions from other regulars - including Laura Shavin, who provides all the female voices for the show. There's also Mitch Benn (pictured right), who performs one or two topical satirical songs each week and Jon Holmes, who answers, normally in the form of a small stand-up routine, the (often fictional) questions and queries delivered by the show's listeners. Holmes' short stature is a long-running joke, and is always referred to by Punt and Dennis as they introduce him on stage.

During the show, a seperate stand-up routine is performed by an established circuit comedian. More often than not, Marcus Brigstocke takes this slot, delivering a 'left-wing liberal rant'. Some of the routines that Bridgstocke has performed on the show have gone on to become very popular on the internet - for example, his 2007 rant about religion.

The Now Show has several recurring jokes, most notably Brigstocke's remarks about street magician David Blaine, whom he calls the 'Gitwizard'. Other common targets include the middle-class fans of former tennis player Tim Henman ("Come on, Tim!"), Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood, James Blunt, Ruth Kelly MP (with a bizarrely deep voice), the ignorance of teenagers when it comes to fruit such as oranges ("Sunny-D plants") and Flight Lt. Colin Blythe from The Great Escape ("Let me come with you. I can see, I can see perfectly").

Episodes of The Now Show are brought to a close with the audience question. Here, Punt and Dennis read out answers to a question they asked the audience before the show. Some of the audience write jokes, others tell an anecdote, whilst some treat it as a way of expressing their frustration. For example, to the question: "What three reasons would you give to people to holiday in England?", answers included:

- "English is widely speaked."

- "Sudoku is more difficult in a foreign language."

- "There is less chance of running into Tony Blair."

- "Why go abroad when you can have a traditional English pint?... Then a second... And a third."

Here's another example, from 2008. The audience were asked, "Have you ever suffered an embarrassing incident at a formal occasion?":

- "At a very formal wedding reception, my husband asked the waiter why his soup was so cold. The 'soup' in question was gazpacho..."

- "I had to pretend I got lost at a State Banquet just so I did not get rumbled for playing sardines with a foxy French thing..." (which was a reference to Gordon Brown getting lost in the Palace when President Sarkozy and his wife visited Britain)

- "I said 'I do' to a question posed at a formal civic function without thinking about the consequences. Oh dear oh dear." (a reference to Paul McCarney's divorce).

- "My husband and a couple of his friends decided to do the Full Monty at our wedding party. In front of my grandparents."