I Hate The Clip Shows: The Mary Whitehouse Experience

Although now written off by idiots as having been too 'topical' to properly stand the test of time, "The Mary Whitehouse Experience", as well as being the single most influential radio comedy produced by the BBC in the 1990s, was also a genuine turning point in style and format. Key performers Rob Newman, David Baddiel, Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis took both a more savage and surreal approach to their subjects that had ever been witnessed in the more sedate and safelly-distanced world of 'topical satire', and the show shunned the conventions of 'slick' broadcasting for a rough-edged style that trimmed weaker material relentlessly and even left in technical setups and breakdowns if they were amusing enough. The radio series was followed by a television adaptation, but neither have ever been repeated or officially released.

"The Mary Whitehouse Experience" arrived in a late-night schedule on BBC Radio 1 in 1989, and took full advantage of the freedom and opportunity of this timeslot. Needless to say, its subversive and genuinely dangerous feel quickly made it into popular listening

I loved it. It was the second radio comedy show that I listened to after Radio Active. My brother, David was the one who would listen to Radio 1 at night. When I first heard it on midnight, to my teenage ears it sounded very daring. As I have no tapes all I can recall of the original late series is Nick Hancock's introduction of insults and the chant "Simon can't wipe his arse! Simon can't wipe his arse!" However I didn't know that Jo Brand, Jack Dee and Mark Thomas made appearances until I read the article on Some of The Corpses Are Amusing. - Clinton Morgan

The late timeslot was one of the key attractions of the radio show. It was as though, far from being cynically touted as the 'next big thing' to all and sundry, it was something that had to be sought out and discovered by those who would really appreciate it. It was probably pushed into that slot because Radio 1 weren't quite sure how to fit it in their schedules, but it ended up working to the show's advantage in an enormous way. - TJ Worthington

The four main performers were promoted as a comedy team, but in fact they were essentially subdivided into two double acts - Newman and Baddiel, and Punt and Dennis. Although there was a substantial sense of crossover between their stylees of humour, they were also very distinct from each other, and this became even more noticeable in the television version. Frustratingly, many journalists insisted on championing Newman and Baddiel while deriding Punt and Dennis as 'rubbish', purely on the basis that the former made more references to indie bands in their routines (and were thus automatically 'better'). Punt and Dennis, however, were in fact drastically underrated, and had and retain a sizeable fanbase.

Punt and Dennis had their moments, but to be truthful did get very irritating after a surprisingly short while. Dennis' face-pulling and constant repetition of inane gags grated towards the end. - Dave Bryant

I like Punt and Dennis. Not even the sound of shrieking teenagers can ruin The Milky Milky Tour video for me. And it does make me laugh when Hugh Dennis says "Pop Tarts! So hot they're cool!" for longer than he should. The television series was fair but I would always have memories of how better and dangerous the radio version was. I also have memories of listening to the later 7:00pm series on my sister's clock radio. Sadly any copying from radio devices were conked, so no tapes from those episodes. But at least I will have the sound of Hugh Dennis in my head... - Clinton Morgan

I always preferred Punt and Dennis to Newman and Baddiel as a double act. There was less of an evident desire to appeal to the 'miserable student' audience in their act (although, to be fair, it was mainly Newman rather than Baddiel who was guilty of that), and they took a more face value approach to their humour. Where they tended to fall down, though, was that they weren't really able to create convincing and well-rounded comedy characters, whereas Newman and Baddiel were. 'Ivan', the stereotyped dysfunctional daytime TV presenter, was incredibly amusing, but by and large the Milky Milky man was not. - TJ Worthington

Although the television version of "The Mary Whitehouse Experience" was a huge success, there was a general feeling among fans of the radio series that while undeniably enjoyable and worthwhile, it had failed to capture the raw excitement of the original, and concentrated too hard on creating bankable characters and catchphrases and crowbarring in fashionable references rather than the powerful humour for which the series had previously been noted.

At the time, the general feeling was that the series, although still highly enjoyable, hadn't really transferred well from radio to television. The radio series was less concerned with the overall atmosphere of the presentation, and the emphasis was on getting straight to the humour with no distractions or interruptions (hence the bizarre format, often including just a couple of lines from the middle of a routine, or even outtakes instead of finished takes). Also, by that time, the main quartet were being marketed quite heavily and pushed at a target audience, and the drive to make them appeal to a defined sector had a detrimental effect on the overall quality show, and to some extent on the effectiveness of the performances (particularly Newman, who became less and less likeable as the series progressed). It also sorely missed the musical contributions, and indeed Mark Thomas and Jo Brand.

I can't help but agree that the television version has dated very badly. There was far too much emphasis placed on the jokes and routines being based around 'fashionable' and 'topical' subjects, which had never really been the case in the radio series. Similarly, the general early 1990s industrial rock video feel of the stage setting and the linking graphics now seems drastically outmoded. That's a problem that you're always going to face when trying to make something seem as 'up to the minute' as possible - when that minute has passed, it no longer looks or (on a superficial level) feels as relevant. - TJ Worthington

I agree that the obsession with topicality and catering for the studenty youth demographic of the time has caused the shows to age. The fact remains that with the passing of time a lot of the obsessions of the early nineties have started to look faintly ridiculous (or maybe I should delete "faintly"), and TMWE tended to court them rather than mock them. Chris Morris almost certainly would have seen the ridiculous side of the prevailing fashions and obsessions of the time and ripped them to pieces, but Rob Newman in particular was desperate to be seen as "down with the kids". Terrible error! Or maybe the reason I find it a bit cringeworthy is just because I'm cringing at my own embarrassing past when I go back over these things... difficult to say. - Dave Bryant

The only real dangerous element of the television series was The Sad Experience where David Baddiel named his school spanner (much to the outrage of the spanner's sister who said it was lucky that he was living in America) and There But For The Grace of Chlorpromazine. I never saw that episode, only a clip on Biteback where Baddiel pulled a spasmo face whilst talking about "Truly, Madly, Deeply". - Clinton Morgan

Ivan the over-emotional daytime TV presenter always sticks out in my mind as being a very good character, though. And the fact that it was the only prime time comedy show ever to make jokes about Ride and expect all its audience to get it (and still everyone tuned in). It definitely had its good aspects, and certainly didn't appear to make too many compromises. - Dave Bryant

The radio show, with its larger team, had a much grittier feel. Oh happy days - Mark Thomas before he became a didactic oaf, Nick Hancock being funny. On moving to BBC2, a number of people and their respective slots were lost (I particularly missed Jo Brand tearing into her chosen magazine of the week - often porn or combat mags), narrowing it down to Baddiel, Dennis, Newman and Punt (with Melanie Hudson doing any female roles needed). The telly version had more sketches and less stand-up, at least to start with, hence characters like the manic depressive daytime presenter Alan Ditchmore ("It's all gone tricky now"), Milky Milky Man and Ray (the man permanently afflicted with a sarcastic tone) featured heavily. By the second series, it was definitely a case of Punt and Dennis vs. Baddiel and Newman - the team feel of the radio show had now gone altogether. Put and Dennis were more mainstream and less outwardly fashionable (they had a guest slot on Jasper Carrott's show around the same time), but are still going now. The Baddiel and Newman act was a lot more black in its humour, and led to their own show afterwards. Newman's faint misanthropy ultimately doomed him as a comedian and gothgirls' posterboy (he now writes novels and looks like a North Sea trawlerman) - Andy Durrant

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