Reviews of the latest Radio 2 Funny Fortnight pilots

Harry Priest is the sort of man who only really exists in big studio audience sitcoms, even if he is vaguely based in reality. He’s a constantly annoyed man, rigid in his way of life, and a stickler for the rules. Rules, incidentally, that he has invented, such as Rule No 6: Be on time when a telly show starts; or Rule No 82: Please have grandkids as soon as you possibly can.

Whether such an exaggerated creation is a success depends entirely on casting, and Bradley Walsh brings the perfect blend of sarcasm, intolerance and relatability to the role of a no-nonsense working-class Southerner. He can do a stand-up style rant about everyday vexations, and react to idiots with the sort of chummy incredulity that serves him so well when someone gives a stupid answer on The Chase.

The World According To Harry Priest, the latest sitcom in Radio 2’s Funny Fortnight series, is painted with broad strokes, with archetypes that include the obligatory posh bloke Jamie (Tom Stourton) to play up the class divide, and resident dimwit Genie (Sherrie Hewson), absent-minded and never quite sure what’s going on. 

Other familiar tropes include Harry trying to communicate a lie to an unwitting co-conspirator, flailing wildly around various scenarios until she gets her story straight. Yet such well-practised set pieces play well with the studio audience, often because of grandstanding performances, such as Walsh delivering Harry’s diatribe about his ongoing ‘war with the elite’ that wins a cheer from the room.

Yet writer Neil Webster has puts some devilment in the detail, too. His script has some witty lines, is very well-constructed, and contains such touches as Harry volunteering at a food bank, which lend a modern-relevance. 

The result is pretty entertaining, perhaps not your new favourite sitcom but certainly diverting enough – and with the sort of mainstream sensibilities that might play out well on primetime BBC One, which is most likely the ultimate intention.

That was followed last night by What Is Normal? – a brilliant idea for a panel show, wonderfully executed by its twin hosts, Sara Pascoe and Aisling Bea.

Crucially, the concept is one-sentence simple: To find out whether personal quirks of behaviour are normal or not. That covers a spectrum from questions that always split the room – such as ‘is it normal to have pineapple on pizza’,  decided in a quick straw poll of the audience – to very specific habits, such as instructing a cab driver which lane to use  or saying thank-you to cash machines.

In round one the guests – comics Stephen Bailey, Shappi Khorasandi and former Loaded and GQ editor James Brown in this pilot – share their idiosyncrasies. In the second section it’s audience members’ turn, then it’s reports of celebrities’ foibles, from Wayne Rooney listening to white noise to get to sleep or Nicolas Cage who… well, let’s face it, anything he does is probably not normal.

This all sparks lively debate among the panel and the room, for there is nothing quite so fascinating and divisive as the everyday behaviour of other people. And guests and hosts alike all brought a sharp humour to bear on proceedings.

What Is Normal? feels like an instant hit. Not only can you imagine this running for series after series, but even the cash-in range of branded play-at-home games and books that will inevitably follow.

Review date: 1 May 2018
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