Tag: Adam Richard

Splendid Comedy, Festival Chaps

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is about to start for 2016, and many of the guests who appeared on Splendid Chaps are featured in this year’s program – as well as two of our hosts!

Petra Elliott is one of the stars of the improvised puppet show, The Mighty Little Puppet Show! You won’t want to miss her performing as one of the “Ritas”, colourful puppets on which the audience will build their own characters. The show also features “What I Learned from Doctor Who” guest Rob Lloyd. The Mighty Little Puppet Show runs at 7:30 PM, upstairs @ Little Sista (next to the Town Hall). It’s a rotating ensemble cast, so if you want to see Petra make sure you book for March 25, 27, 29 or 31, or April 1.

Ben McKenzie has had a hand in Claire Hooper’s show this year, through his games company Pop Up Playground; together they present Being Claire Hooper, a whimsical, Claire Hooper-themed treasure hunt through the city. You might even see a familiar face or two… Being Claire Hooper begins at 6 PM each Saturday and Sunday at the statue of Burke and Wills at City Square (opposite the Town Hall). Tickets are very limited so be sure to book!

Here’s a round up of all our guests appearing in the festival! Check the listings linked via the title of each show for details (for example, most shows are an hour earlier on Sundays). We’ve also linked to the episodes they appeared in in case you’d like to revisit.

Justin Hamilton and Adam Richard also host The Shelf, 7:30 PM on Mondays at The Toff in Town.

The Splendid Chaps Christmas Special

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! Yes, it’s our last live (and lively) show, recorded on December 15th back where we started this mad journey, at the Bella Union in Melbourne. It’s also a Christmas party to bid a a fond farewell, and you’re invited – along with guests Thomas Caldwell, Lee Zachariah, Adam Richard, Janet A McLeod, Myke Bartlett, Alexandra Tynan, Fee Plumley and Dr Djoymi Baker. Plus there’s a Dalek, the magic of theatre, music from the Time Lads, songs sung by the chaps themselves…and perhaps even a Christmas miracle. It’s an emotional time, Christmas, and we’ll miss you all, so let’s go out with a bang!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:28:20 — 40.5MB)

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It’s not quite the end, though…watch out for our last new episode, Splendid Chaps By Request, on December 31, and we also have a couple of extras from November up our sleeve we’ll put out next year. Oh, and we might be working on a little something new…

The Splendid Chaps Christmas Special (live show)

Yes, it’s the end…but the moment has been prepared for!

All right, we know we’ve said that before. But now, after eleventy episodes of Doctor Who discussion covering the Doctor, his friends and enemies, and topics ranging from clothes to evil to comedy, it’s time to bid farewell to hosts Ben McKenzie, John Richards and Petra Elliot (and our invisible fourth chap, sound engineer David Ashton). To see out this year of Doctor Who, the chaps look at all the Time Lord goodness that didn’t fit into the rest of the year, including not-quite-Doctors Peter Cushing and Richard E Grant, spin-offs The Sarah Jane Adventures and K9 & Company, and much much more.

There’ll be special guests both new and old, including Cyberman designer Alexandra Tynan, comedian Adam Richard, technoevangelist Fee Plumley, academic Dr Djoymi Baker, comedian and quiz master Janet A McLeod, writer and Bazura Project guy Lee Zachariah, journalist Myke Bartlett, film reviewer Thomas Caldwell and maybe even one or two more! Plus songs from house band The Time Lads, a Christmas Dalek, and a special Christmas lucky dip of Doctor Who prizes, with all lucky dip proceeds donated to two very Doctorish charities: the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) and Medecins San Frontières (MSF).

We’d love to see you one last time!

Space: The Bella Union, upstairs, Melbourne Trades Hall, corner of Lygon and Victoria Streets, Melbourne
Time: Sunday, December 15; doors open from 4:30 PM
Accessibility: This venue is wheelchair accessible; please contact the venue for lift access.
Tickets: $20 (including booking fee)
Bookings: via bellaunion.com.au online, or at the ACMI box office (subject to availability)
Podcast: “The Splendid Chaps Christmas Special” released 23rd of December, 2013.

Ben McKenzie, John Richards, Dave Callan and Paul Verhoeven

Four/Comedy

Hosts Ben McKenzie, John Richards and Petra Elliott discuss Tom Baker and comedy in Doctor Who in the fourth live Splendid Chaps episode, recorded in two parts at Trades Hall in Melbourne as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival on April 6 and 13, 2013. With special guests Dave Callan (Triple J), Paul Verhoeven (Steam Punks, Lords of Luxury), Adam Richard (The Shelf, Outland) and Josie Long (Lost Treasures of the Black Heart), plus the stand-up Dalek and a cover of Doctor Poo and the Psychic Koalas’ “The Universe is Big” performed by our very own Petra and the Time Lads – Caleb Garfinkel and Bryce Clark!

To make sure you don’t miss an episode, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or via this Feedburner feed.

Don’t forget you can go into the draw to win a (Region 4) DVD copy of The Legacy Collection box set (containing Shada and More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS) by commenting on this episode below! Tell us what you think of the Baker era, share your favourite gags from Doctor Who, or just tell us what you thought of our Comedy Festival episode. Comment by May 18 to be in the running, and we’ll announce the winner at the recording of Five/Fear on May 19.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:11:23 — 32.8MB)

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Four/Comedy (live show)

Dashing action hero the Doctor realises he has brought disaster to Earth and faces his fears to defeat the Great One, an immense and powerfully psychic spider. He returns to Earth only to collapse from radiation poisoning in front of his friends, but with the help of a fellow Time Lord manages to stave off death and regenerate. Somewhat traumatised by his regeneration, this new Doctor is by turns manic, brooding and boisterous. His only constant is eccentricity, in dress, speech and habit. Uninterested in the creature comforts and life on Earth of his predecessor, he leaves almost immediately to travel the cosmos, seeking adventure and righting injustice when he finds it.

Splendid Chaps is a year-long celebration of Doctor Who‘s fiftieth anniversary: eleven live performances recorded as podcasts in which your brains will be fed, your funny bones tickled, and your hearts opened (yes, both of them!). Our fourth instalment is part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and fittingly for the Fourth Doctor, is a two-part story! In part one we discuss the Fourth Doctor (“Four”), played by eccentric actor Tom Baker. The Doctor best known to audiences (serving for the longest time, and seeing the classic era through much of it’s most successful period), he’s known for his ridiculously long scarf, bohemian manner, generosity with jelly babies, cavalier attitude to danger and (in the words of Bullamakanka) his “trusty mate K-9”.

The Fourth Doctor is also known for his wit, and so in part two we turn our discussion to “Comedy” in Doctor Who. How many jokes are too many for what is ostensibly a family science fiction adventure show? Does the Doctor always know he’s being funny? When does the humour work best – and when does it fail to work altogether? And what is the funniest moment in Doctor Who?

Hosts Ben McKenzie, John Richards and Petra Elliott are joined for part one by JJJ’s nerd correspondent and host of ABC3’s Steam Punks, Paul Verhoeven, and late night JJJ host and comedian Dave Callan. In part two, our late show, they’re joined by comedian, radio host and co-creator and star of Outland, Adam Richard, plus comedian/actor/lovely UK person Josie Long – she’s been in Skins AND the actual TARDIS! All this plus music, prizes and surprises!

Space: Trades Hall – The New Ballroom, corner of Lygon and Victoria Streets, Melbourne
Time: Part One: Four – April 6, 5:45 PM; Part Two: Comedy – April 13, 10:45 PM
Accessibility: This venue is wheelchair accessible.
Tickets: $22 full price, $18 concession (plus booking fee where applicable)
Bookings: via comedyfestival.com.au, TicketMaster outlets, the Comedy Festival box office, or at the venue (subject to availability)
Please note if you book in person at a TicketMaster outlet, you may need to ask for “Ben McKenzie & John Richards”, as “Splendid Chaps” does not appear in the search terms of their system.
Podcast: not yet available; released 23rd of April, 2013.