This clip combines one of the most naturally funny comedy duos with one of the greatest rock bands to ever grace our planet. Unfortunately, the footage is restored and quite old as it was filmed in 1963. However, it is still really iconic footage to watch and for both Beatle and Morecambe and Wise fans will make you feel very nostalgic.

Last week I cited a Mash report sketch which contained an appearance from Michael Spicer who has his own Youtube series called the Room Next Door. The premise of this comedy is he is pretending to be a hidden media advisor speaking into the earpiece of hapless politicians to help them get through their interviews. Probably one of the most hapless politician of all time is the former Prime Minister of the UK whose tenure lasted all of 45 days after she managed to crash UK Sterling and the economy. In this sketch, Spicer is trying to navigate Truss through an interview with Laura Kuenssberg which of course, as with all Truss interviews, did not go at all well even though she did try to throw her Chancellor under the bus ("it was all Qwasi's fault!").

Ok so we are now entering yet another period of complete chaos in the UK government as Truss was forced to sack her chancellor after Kwarteng released a non-costed mini budget that crashed the pound and the UK economy. Thankfully, the comedians have been at work trying to soften the pain for the long-suffering average Brit who have witnessed the health service collapse and their standard of livings fall as the government continues to pursue policies that only help the very wealthiest in society.

Yet it has also been a very busy week in UK politics. On the 19^th of October Suella Braverman resigned as home secretary because she broke the ministerial code. Two days after that, on the 21^st, Liz Truss was also forced to resign after her whole premiership was in tatters, there was bullying in the Commons as MPs were forced through the "yes" corridor in the voting chamber of the House of Commons on a crucial fracking vote, and Labour gained a 30 point lead over the Conservative party. In short, the whole country is in a right state because of a group of far right greedy, narcissistic, unintelligent, misanthropic, Dunning-Kruger-type individuals who care about as much for the common folk of the UK as I do for a garden slug. Sad and very difficult times indeed for the UK.

Time to move to stand up comedy. This first sketch is an impressive little musical number with somewhat complex lyrics that explores (critiques) the American idea that where you fall on the political spectrum is a morally neutral choice. It makes it point rather successfully I feel through comedy although the song itself is definitely not a laugh minute tune.

Time to move onto some stand up comedy. I begin with Peter Kay who has produced some masterful material over his career capturing the many foibles of human existence. In this particularly funny segment, Kay picks up on the common problem we all have (especially as we get older) of completely mishearing lyrics.

I find this sketch particularly interesting as a physiologist because it also demonstrates how our brains can be so easily tricked if we are presented contrary information about the content of what we are hearing. Kay tells the audience what he wants them to hear and then mouths the incorrect lyric over the song and incredibly this is exactly then what you here. The most dramatic demonstration of this is in the song "We are family where he suggests they are singing "just let me staple the vicar". The correct lyrics are "just let me state for the record". If you play this part of the sketch and focus on the correct lyric of "just let me state for the record" you will actually correctly hear the correct words. Quite incredible really.

One of my favourite shows on TV in the 80s was Alas Smith and Jones. Thankfully I also had the pleasure of seeing them in concert when they toured Australia. This sketch goes all the way back to when the Channel Tunnel was under construction and is a classic dig at two particular weaknesses in English culture: 1) poor upper management and 2) terrible workmanship. Sadly if you spend any time living in the UK you will experience both. While there are great trades people in the UK they are sadly not in the majority. Rather a sizeable number are absolute cowboys who do terrible work if they ever complete it in the first place.

Likewise the standard of British management in my experience can also be pretty poor. I have now worked in universities and for both small and large companies and for some mysterious reason the more dysfunctional and incompetent a person is the more likely it seems that they will end up rising to a very senior position. I guess this phenomenon is so common that academics have even tried to give it a name. The Peter Principle was first proposed in 1969 in a semi-satirical book by Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull and was actually based on Peter's research into the operations of hierarchical organizations. Yet I think the modified version of this principle, first proposed by the author of the Dilbert cartoons (Scott Adams) is even closer to the truth. The Peter principle states that individuals in an organisation are promoted to the point where they reach a level of incompetence that prevents them from being promoted further while the Dilbert principle goes one step further stating that individuals are promoted because of their incompetence.

When I started this comedy list I decided I would work on the project for exactly one year. As such this is the final posting for my comedy section. I thought this sketch was worth leaving to the end as it is a very funny take on one of the greatest bands of all time: The Beatles. Obviously the Beatles feature heavily in my Covid Island Discs collection so this sketch seems an appropriate one to bridge the my two collections of comedy and music. Hope these collections bring as much joy to you as they do to me.