I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue - Wales Millenium Centre, Cardiff 14/03/08

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue has been a one of the nations favourite comedy radio shows for over 35 years, since its creation in 1972. During the course of its time at the BBC 50 series have been recorded and tickets to see recordings of the radio show can sell out huge venues within hours and without advertising.

The show grew out of an earlier radio show called I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again, a show where the characters would get up to madcap mischievous adventures full of marvellously bad word play. Clue, described as the "antidote to panel games", provided a platform for the same humour, but without the need for a script!

People are now being given a greater opportunity to see the show, as the panel Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, Barry Cryer and frequent guest Jeremy Hardy have taken the show on its first ever national tour.

The live show with Humphrey Lyttelton obviously in the chair and the nations favourite ivory tinkler, Colin Sell, at the piano, contains many of the favourite games from the radio including Sound Charades, New Definitions (aka entries for the Uxbridge English Dictionary), One Song to the Tune of the Other, and Mornington Crescent. And while the show is primarily based around the spoken, actually seeing the show gives it a whole extra dimension, especially in the sound effects rounds.

The show is currently in the second leg of its first UK tour and getting tickets to any of the remaining shows is likely to prove difficult, but the show is a gem and likely to tour again, given the reception it has received. Keep your eyes peeled!

Toby Hadoke - Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf

Toby Hadoke's stand up show based around his love of Doctor Who is something that I have been meaning to see since I was in Edinburgh two years ago, and caught a few glimpses of him as he took part in an afternoon sketch show called "Soup" upstairs in the Café Royal. At the time he was performing Moths in the evenings, but had revealed his astonishing memory and passion for the doctor briefly during one performance of Soup. Toby is an accomplished comedian, has appeared on various things of stage and screen that may explain why you think he's slightly familiar, and also manages and compères XS Malarkey, the Manchester comedy club.

The show Moths Ate My "Doctor Who" Scarf, which has also been recorded for radio, is perfect for those who love the Doctor as well as for those who barely know the show. Toby tells the story of the Doctor, but also tells the story of a kid who was a bit of an outsider finding something special, of a man becoming a father, of politics past and present...the stories are both touching and funny.
Mostly though, the show is a chance for Doctor Who fans to relive a lot of memories and for fans and non fans alike to laugh a lot and have a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

(The fact that this particular show was in Cardiff, and the theatre right next to Torchwood, added an extra geeky joy to the evening.)