Comedus Interruptus interruptus interruptus

In the last issue of hotpress, we brought you the news that Morning Arousal a proposed comedy series for RTE radio had been kicked to touch by the national broadcaster. hotpress has since been granted exclusive access to the tape of the pilot and talked to the show s co-writer, the BAFTA Award-winning Arthur Mathews of Father Ted/Big Train/Hippies fame, about what many see as another failure of comedic nerve on the part of RTE.

The show, written by Mathews, Paul Wonderful and Damian Corless, stars Irish stand-up Deirdre O Kane, last seen on RTE television hosting The Lounge and impersonating Mary Harney on Bull Island. In Morning Arousal, O Kane plays Luneen Keogh, a Marian Finucane prototype who welcomes the weird, the wacky and the just plain wacko on to the airwaves to argue the toss with individuals of equally unsound mind.
We are introduced to Bill, a self-confessed homophobe who wants a symbol a la Channel 4 s Red Triangle to be displayed on all RTE TV programmes in which homosexuals appear even when engaged in non-homosexual activities . The case for the defence comes in the shape of a stuffy, eccentric middle-class gentleman who recalls his time in Arab countries.
It s edgy, outrageous stuff but gleefully surreal and reminiscent of Swift s A Modest Proposal in the way it deals with such a manifestly absurd suggestion in a cool, even-headed manner. Your correspondent considers the sketch to be a classic of its kind.
The second sketch features Mathews as the presenter of a book programme asking a 67-year-old rural housewife about her favourite novel. Played by Morning Arousal co-writer, Paul Wonderful whose alter egos have included the Joshua Trio, the Glam Tarts, Abbaesque and Ding Dong Denny O Reilly the character picks JG Ballard s Cocaine Nights, and much surreal mirth and merriment ensues.
Following two spoofs one of the Thomas Davis lectures, the other of RTE radio s love of archive material there follows some hilariously brief madcap messages left on the show s ansafone by some very strange country folk. O Kane s approximation of Saint Marian is never better than her. But what follows is perhaps the most contentious sketch of the show and one that I would imagine would brew up a storm of outrage among certain sections of the listenership.
We re introduced to a number of reformed paedophile priests who ve just been let out of prison and are on the path to rehabilitation into the community. O Kane sensitively questions the sex offenders about their troubled past and the steps they ve taken to rebuild their lives. After adopting a sombre, serious tone throughout the interview, one priest answers a question about his rehabilitation by announcing that he has formed a jazz group, and suddenly he and has colleagues are performing a breezy jazz standard. George Gershwin s Fascinating Rhythm , he chirrups. The ditty plays us out and O Kane signs off.
In my opinion, it is comedy from the gut; dark, dark stuff that initially appears to treat its ghoulish subject matter with an inappropriate frivolity but which actually hides a deeper moral sensibility underneath, albeit one whose logic is constructed on its own terms. Put it this way: were he still with us, Bill Hicks would probably have wished he had written it.
It turns out to be Arthur Mathews favourite sketch of the show. But it may never be heard, as RTE have vetoed the option to make the series. It remains to be seen what the other interested parties, Today FM and BBC Radio 4, make of it. As it stands, we have a situation where someone whose comedic talent has been recognised at the very highest level in the UK hell, Princess Anne attended the BAFTAs the year he won his award for Fr Ted can t get his show accepted in his home, so to speak.
The show, which was produced by Kevin Burns, was commissioned by RTE s Anne-Marie O Callaghan with a small group of the station s executives sitting in on playbacks including the executive producer of RTE daytime radio, Paddy Glackin. Arthur Mathews reckons that his and RTE s comedy twain shall never meet.
We didn t want to turn it into something it isn t, he says. I think they wanted something that was a bit more joke-heavy; a bit more mainstream. It s not even really that satirical as regards RTE. I think it s just that it s a bit mad for them. What I m doing here has been influenced by people like Chris Morris, I suppose, so it s made up more of naturalistic jokes and surreal ideas. I don t think they re used to that but I think the country s ready for it.
I don t think it s a huge gamble on their part to do it. And also, if people don t like it then I ll get the blame for it rather than RTE. But it seems that the people that Anne-Marie (O Callaghan) plays it to don t find it funny.
Arthur is hoping that someone somewhere else will take the bait.
I really enjoyed working with those people so it d be nice to go somewhere else if RTE won t have us. The ideal place for it is RTE because it s an Irish programme. Irish people would understand it best. So if we got it onto BBC Radio 4, we d have to change it.
However, Paddy Glackin of RTE insists that the door has not been fully closed on the show.
I did hear the pilot, Glackin told hotpress, and there were elements that we liked and others we thought we could change. As far as I m concerned, there s nothing dead in the water. It s up for negotiation.
The show s co-writer, though, maintains that Morning Arousal has been hung out to dry by RTE and hopes it will swim to more welcoming shores.