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 91Èȱ¬ Northern Ireland Comedy
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91Èȱ¬ Northern Ireland Comedy for Winter/Spring 2006
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Introduction: taking the not-very-serious very seriously
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Peter Johnston, Head of Broadcasting, 91Èȱ¬ Northern Ireland, writes
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"Comedy needs to be taken seriously. On the face of it, of
all the different kinds of programmes the 91Èȱ¬ makes,
comedy seems like the one with least obvious pure public
purpose, but the evidence suggests that it is one of the most
powerful of all the genres.
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"At its best, it provides a different but very rich insight into
contemporary society and its attitudes – the characters and
situations of Little Britain and The Office are all too familiar and
perhaps make us think about subjects in a new light.
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"Great comedy still brings together large numbers of people to enjoy
and talk about the same communal experience. It provides a platform
for talents who often go on to have other creative impacts – would
we have Michael Palin and Himalaya without Monty Python?
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"Sometimes, at its simplest, it provides welcome light relief from the
other more weighty subjects we cover.
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"91Èȱ¬ NI's relationship with comedy goes back a long way. It was
always an obvious priority here – some of the worst of our society
can only be viewed safely through satire.
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"We also seem to have
developed more than our fair share of comedians and our most
successful shows have truly united very large numbers of people.
The Give My Head Peace Christmas special, even after 70 episodes,
attracted an audience of 233,000.
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"The tricky bit with comedy is developing genuine hits – recent
audience research helpfully concluded that the secret to developing
successful comedy programmes was to 'make them funny'.
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"It is, of
course, often a very subjective business, but we have had more than
our fair share of hits from James Young to PK Tonight to Give My
Head Peace.
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"In order to extend this run, we set up the Comedy Unit under
Jackie Hamilton over two years ago now. The aims were to put
specific development funding into comedy, to have a team who could
reach out to new and established talents, and to develop a number
of projects across TV and radio to create a portfolio of programmes
covering different tastes and genres.
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"We also hope that the critical mass and relationships established
will stimulate other ideas and uncover new talents.
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"Humour has
always spontaneously run through the veins of 91Èȱ¬ Radio Ulster
and we have now established a fixed comedy slot on Saturday
mornings as a regular showcase with recent series including The
Blame Game and Folks on the Hill.
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"These programmes do act as an important counterbalance to our
often heavy news agenda.
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"Working with and finding the talent is
vital and we have developed some people through radio on to limited
TV exposure, to more ambitious projects and on to network in
some cases.
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"Many of the stars who emerge can also add significant social value
back to our society – they are much sought-after to front local
charity events or educational initiatives.
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"In 2006 and beyond, we hope that viewers of 91Èȱ¬ Northern Ireland
television and listeners of 91Èȱ¬ Radio Ulster can sit back, relax and,
moreover, have a laugh, safe in the knowledge that 91Èȱ¬ NI will
continue to take comedy and all its qualities very seriously indeed."
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