Read this: BBC Radio Comedy, and the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols broadcast

BBC sounds music Radio podcasts with Christmas just around the corner.

It's time to spread festive feedback tidings of seasonal Joy we go behind the scenes at King's College Cambridge ahead of the annual Live 9 lessons and carols service on Christmas Eve and before that another favourite or not the 6:30 comedy slot on Radio 4.

Sorry I Haven't a Clue come to the News Quiz there's no doubting the importance of the 6:30 comedy from many listeners who look forward to wine at the end of the working day.

So not surprisingly.

It is something that has contact us about throughout the year.

We've already some of the issues comedy going too far.

Just not being funny.

impartiality and balance and why don't you hear old favourites anymore well in January Radio 4 announced its comedy plans for 2024 so at the end of the year it seems like time for a stocktake and who better to do that with them radio for the commissioner for comedy and entertainment Julia McKenzie will I be talking to her and just a minute but we couldn't ignore the most recent elephant on the airwaves the naked week which has kept feedback Lesnar's occupied for the last few programmes on Radio 4 the planet simple will be looking at in beneath and behind the headlines to find out just what's really going on but I would like to welcome Julia McKenzie the comedy and entertainment commission for Radio 4 and also John Holmes familiar to many listeners as a comedian he is also a multi award-winning producer and in that role is the man behind the new show in the

Friday 6:30 comedy slot on Radio 4 The Naked week this feels a little bit like the showdown at the o.k.

Corral a very first show you how to make a preemptive strike at feedback knowing the Radio 4 audience as you do you thought they would be in another backlash about the new show so you decided to get in first John what would you say to the stations of the naked week is a typical so-called excuse for a typical so-called BBC so-called satirical typical so-called comedy programme not as good as dead ringers.

I tried them to attempt to get a free battle in about the audience reaction to the new show a predicted that feedback fog would inject to the change sadly the jokes on then.

It's

The naked very much like it's for the skewer and that wasn't very funny either know you are a very brave man to appear in the hot seat and what I think you might find this all this new comments are often more nuanced thoughtful and constructive than their sometimes portrayed after the initial criticism of the naked week.

There was a backlash against the cash and we began to get more positive responses from listeners.

Hello.

Are you enjoy the first episode so I was really surprised to hear all the negative comments from Radio some said it wasn't funny.

You said it wasn't as good as I would disagree that laugh out loud moments from me and delightfully subversive at other times.

This is Linda Lewis from Bath bravo.

This is a comedy show that supposed topical and funny not an easy needle thread these days many congratulations this one should be a keeper hello.

This is Graham Smyths from Bacup in Lancashire

Naked week I thought I'd contact you having heard all those people moaning about it last time out so I just thought I'd let you know but I like it anyway until they have not in any of the new programmes of coming to this.

I don't even know who invented and funny so at the moment as don't get their way and I can continue enjoying Friday evening comedy when it's that and the News because if any hello feedback, I'm Caroline Brown Barrington in Somerset and I'd like to say that I really really enjoyed Andrew Hunter Murray and John Holmes is magnificent satire or radio for the naked maybe to the first time round but out loud when I heard the pastiche on feedback.

Well done shots keep going I'm loving it.

Thank you so much to John this.

The first radio you must know that it takes a while for a new comedy to bed down and the more I've heard as a week's have gone on the more the signs to me that it's bitingly satirical.

Am I wonder if that's your aim with this bedroom is a sketch show with funny voices on everyone loves it and then used as a panel game and then you know they've been stand-up shows put the naked week is sort of its magazini.

I was beginning to think that sounded a bit like private eye on it and then I realised that the presenter Andrew Hunter Murray and work for private eye and I think still does and Adam McQueen who is on the show doing a lot of investigative digging into government contract does as well, so there's a lot of journalism.

Isn't there behind this kind of comedy that was the intention from the start comedy shows just be funny, but also if you've been proper satire or you wanted as well to have a proper journalistic bent to it because it's all about a joke about what if we dig into it a bit further even start.

Arun skips in to do that your new journey with somebody and you know it with the atom before and Andrew was a perfect for it.

It was part of the she wanted to go alright.

It's some silly jokes over shouting at the dog, but now actually have a listen to what we want covered about government lobbying and we've been running as a team over this series and it's a chance that some silly stuff and now actually has some real satiric jokes, but you might want to listen a bit closer, because this is where we start digging you tackled Syria as well.

That's grinder new comedy show my doveside away from it shows that you can cover almost anything in the news if you approach it in the right way.

I don't think they're after because I think you can tackle any subject if you find the right angle, so it could be the medias coverage of it and what we wanted to Siri I was actually listening to the news personally over the weekend that moves so fast we kept him in the phrase and you know these cities have been taken the next one's been taken and it's happening so quickly and I genuinely.

Know how you take a city? What do you even do you just walk in put your flag on the town hall? How do you take so we got a genuine x spook military strategist the talking through taking a city and then applied that to a real-world scenario where the funny stuff ok? If we wanted to take the town of Nuneaton in Warwickshire how would we do it and where we position our troops on the Andrew the presenter happened to the dictator of North so it's a way of covering story but in what I like and dislike naked week sort of away this must take not just a big team, but the preparation you doing investigative journalism hear that may or may not come off each week, and you must be constantly waking up witch stories to run with a wondering when in the week.

Do you know you've actually got a program about 5 minutes before we recorded it and if I'm honest no, we stop over the weekend because that's when the big story started the experience tells us that the Sunday paper.

Set the agenda for that news week really and then Monday you can sort of see the way the wind is blowing it by that time you might know they might be an announcement on the Thursday that you just have to factory everything and then we're down to what you think the audience will be thinking autoking about themselves.

What is a good point to bring in Julia McKenzie comedy and entertainment commissioner for Radio 4 Juliet does naked week work is it going to get a second series there is going to be a second series.

Yes John's made some really excellent points there about 8.

What will be on the Minds of the audience is quite hard, but there is a particular sense of contrasting alchemy that happens when you pulling together a satirical show and you can just sometimes in the room Andy Hunter Murray is a terrific host really witty erudite of in the team of being really innovative and fresh with the way that they treated certain subjects, but I've been

Dress with how the most to find fresh angles and John's Instincts always to be playful and silly mysterious that's through all of the the content that he makes and we've worked together for many years but also we knew that we wanted it to have satirical as well, and I am I'm satisfied that they've they've been able to achieve that conversation.

It's clear listening to this that there is a live audience there.

We get quite a lot of comments about whether or not there is canned laughter used in comedy programmes.

My name is Ian Stewart and I'm calling from amusing comedy programmes on Radio 4 contrast with a mix of other comedy programmes that seem to include various stand up comedy at common is the use of pound laughter to enhance the comedy of people I find canned laughter and on welcome distraction the comedy.

Radio 4 never uses canned laughter and I'm not a fan of it.

It would just be an exhausting thing to physically insert laughs which is what canned laughter can mean that you don't have an audience there and then you are laughing after every joke or occasionally what's happened in the past is things like sitcoms and so on they might play into her into a theatre and recorder a laugh track that you know some American TV never been done here to be in the room in front of the performers and their just enjoying that shared communal experience but no we never insert laughs now.

Hello, my name is Nicky Whitefield Smith from Bexhill-On-Sea in East Sussex I'd like to say a big.

Thank you an offer congratulations to Phil Wang and Suzy for unspeakable.

It's whisky and it's informative and it's a great return to the good old days of comedy.

For this is Bob from Crosby in Merseyside and I just wanted you to know how much I love love love the new show on speakable Phil Wang and Susie Dent are brilliant the funny that clever than knowledgeable the guests have been fab all in all.

It's just brilliant entertainment that sort of the blocks absolutely flying they did a pilot and it's if you haven't heard it's comedians coming on and creating a new word for an emotional or something they've observed that doesn't in the dictionary and there is a brilliant lexicographer and she will talk about the origins of words or similar words all that kind of stem of the words that people are talking and it's just a fantastic combination of smartness wit and huge belly laughs.

Does a program like that perhaps get elevated to the Friday 6th?

Play slots if it's been a real 6s elsewhere, does it work like that it wouldn't go on Friday no because that's always satire.

There's also the dishes that go out on Monday that repeat on on Sunday so you've got things like Unbelievable Truth Mark steels in town.

It's a fair cop.

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue just a minute or go and that's lot so they get to outing's in the week.

So that can be somewhere where we put a show that's taken off balsam as perfect pub quiz would be an example of that that's recently gone into that sequence so really icy 6:30 as up as my primetime my work.

I've been doing is commissioner is just try and get more reliable with the 6:30 that you're going to get big belly laughs at the end of the working day is so that's something I've been working hard on so I'm so excited and thrilled show really does deliver on that front and that people love it from North London

How I despair of ever hearing again new comedy that makes me laugh and I find laughter is the best medicine.

I know so I constantly seek it out the BBC has an unrivalled Legacy of discovering comedic Talent but it seems to have completely lost its magic touch listeners often tell us that they like the tried and tested comedy shows so how do you balance introducing new programs without alienating your listeners? Yes, that's very much for the job of the commissioner really is is what people love and I can identify that by these days looking at BBC sounds that I can see how many people are listening, but I want to give people more of what they love.

So that's an important part of what I do and as many cherries shows that have been going for many many series and will continue to do so but it's also my job to give a new generation of voice it is.

Can you see on there as well so again? I'm trying to apply that sort of high-quality bar to all of the comedy that I commission but with comedy genre it does take longer than some of the genres to find a way to people's hearts so people have been listening to a shower and enjoying it for 25 years or so aren't necessarily going to take Warmley to a show that's one or two outings and so it can take a while if it's a sitcom for people to understand the characters understand the world and see what makes them tick all that sit stand up.

They've never heard of before and send it just needs to be that relationship with the audience getting to know the Sensibility and and warm to them so what I'd say really is to the audience.

I think they generally get it is just to bare with comedy and give it the opportunity and I know that some of your audience have been really generous on that front and knowledge ing.

The part of our job is to ring through that new generation and those shows.

Call a passionate about now all had to start somewhere.

I just love it when the Radio 4 audience so invested in the comedy and I really care about it and I think that a lot of them.

Do it knowledge somebody needs to grow and needs room to blossom and bloom unique brand of comedies Radio 4 with the C-Bomb where she talked candidly about her and cancer and she talk to me about it's actually on feedback.

I've been talking about death for 25 years and the comedy and I think it's really important to take the darkest subject and bring it in a delight and laugh at I know that I don't have as long as I wanted but it's like I'm a human advent people keep gone how long have you got left in a usually say 2-days to them because that stupid question we've lost character.

Haven't we Julia so we have yeah? I

Who is so upset when I when I heard of getting cancer of course but then also when she was receiving palliative care and I absolutely loved the two series that she didn't see bomb and and she was such a unique voice and we repeated series one when we knew that she was dying with her blessing and her daughter Ashley's and I was it was great to share it again and he got such a warm response and yeah, just her ability to combine difficult dark stories with proper belly laughs with in the same centre.

I think was outstanding she was a brilliant storyteller and she really brought characters to life and we're going to repeat series 2 and January as well, because I love as many people to hear what are unique voice she has so weirdly.

I know still got the Cancer or as I like to call at the bad bad cancer especially when I want Ashley to the

So I think like for me and you I always believe guy that had cancer and then he got the all clear or you died.

I didn't know there was a middle ground and I am middle ground and you know that's really awkward as I'm not dying fast enough and people are like why I thought she was dying and I love Glasgow people cos they say it loud a unique voice indeed and you can hear all of Janey Godley seebohm on PVC signs many thanks to Julia McKenzie and John Holmes for joining me on feedback.

I know that there are many comments about comedy which we didn't get round to tackling on there, but we have passed them all on to Julia now as listeners to the naked week might remember there such thing as bad publicity we do have a very special programme coming up on Boxing Day all year.

You've been sending us nominations for your interview of the Year an interview that.

You in your tracks for whatever reason and thank you so much for the Phenomenal response the top 10 entries have gone before a judging panel of feedback listeners, and I'm very glad it wasn't me that had the final Choice all will be revealed in our Boxing Day program and the following week 2nd of January I'll be talking to three groups of listeners in our first ever feedback forum.

We're all be asking you what you expect of BBC Radio in the year to come and of course you can tell us that anytime a very easy way to get in touch is to send us a WhatsApp voice note on 03330459642 ring that same number and leave a voice message or you can send an email to feedback at bbc.co.uk and it's at BBC R4 feedback on social media.

No next Tuesday at 3 p.m.

Radio 4 and the world service will fall silent before the voice of a solo male Chorister beginners, the first Chorus of once In Royal David's City in marks the beginning of a festival of nine lessons and carols broadcast live from Kings College Cambridge it's a Christmas tradition that Began on the BBC in 1998 RAV4 Howard Shannon has been behind the scenes at this year's preparations to meet those who make it happen.

I just walked through the gates of the Porter's Lodge approaching College hearing Cambridge alongside me the arriving congregational touching their tickets now run a path leading around a large lawn heading towards the main entrance now.

Open radio broadcast is live it's Sister broadcast on BBC Two television is in fact recorded which is why I'm here now the last there's no surviving recording of that snow 1928 radio broadcast there is an archive of the service from 1954.

The crucifer and canisters Enter The Entity apple the nave in King's College chapel here in Cambridge near Kings always be 16 boys to sing as Cardiff does with the grown men.

You're more.

The rev Dr Stephen cherry dinner Chapel King's College Cambridge let the television service and will also lead this year's radio service I met him in his own Chambers and asked when did you first start listening to a festival of nine lessons and carols on with then have been the BBC Home Service so I would have been listening to this first of all in the 1960s and it was a very important part of the family day.

My mother's day particularly having my father was probably not at home.

He was still at work at that time of day and it was definitely an occasion for quiet and I wondered because no been in this post now if it for 10 years how the chapel and it's words and music sounded to me is that a little boy coming through not good radio even then something of the atmosphere and acoustic would have come across something really just thinking and the way I think of it is precisely this because obviously there's a microphone hanging in the front of my story.

I'm looking at that as once In Royal David's City comes to an end and I'm taking a breath to to read the bidding prayer and I think of all the millions of people on the far side of that microphone and think of them is the congregation not in the building is wonderful to be with 1000 people in a building or doing the same thing and attending to the same stuff, but on Christmas Eve particularly because it's live and it's absolutely international you are a sense of being part of the world celebrating Christmas it's really really a huge privilege traditions connected with the service.

I noticed that once In Royal David's City the lead understand as a tradition around that.

First Buses is generally a solo solo this will likely be one of the senior boys in the choir and several of them will prepare and several of them.

Could do it, but the director of music will make a decision very much just before the service is final decision and when we regarded at the West End shuffle is everyone else is listening to the news or whatever follows the news so so glad will be pointed out and come to the front and then immediately then sing sing.

Simon Tindall is a senior BBC Radio technical producer he is responsible for the sound we're coming out of our radio ringing for the broadcast begins 3 days before hand so how is it raining on live broadcast from a 570 year old chapel at King's specifically for nine lessons and carols is because the chapel is absolutely packed with conversation.

We can't put any stands on the floor also certain professional elements of the West or and they make their way up to the to the choir stalls part way through once In Royal so we can put any stands on the floor so everything has to be dropped through the vaulted ceiling if anyone that it's a family with the inside of the chapel.

Does that huge apology stone sealing the all the mic drop through above and then hang down in more less the right places, but it does mean that we have to do a lot of work up in the roof and strangely when they built the chapel.

I didn't think of that people hanging.

I can't understand why an echo can sometimes be a problem King's College Cambridge what's the Echo like in the building and did you have to sort of make allowances for it?

Well, we tend to work with it actually require know how to work with that acoustic.

It's like football team playing at their home ground really I just so used to sing in a glue stick.

Don't they know what to do to make it work so patient of The Choir in the acoustic is Robert Rinder capture and yes it does swim around for quite a long time, but that's part of kingsound the big challenge from our point of view is of course we rehearsing with an m.

Chappell and then we put 700 people in there all in their fit winter coats, which tend to drive the sound up far more than any other event we do at King's because everybody floor space has stopped people setting it and I'm like a concert or a standard service where only certain areas of the other Chapel repopulated in the case of nine lessons and carols are people all the way from the also write down to the west or finally and what would the rev Dr Stephen cherry say to somebody who's never heard the live radio broadcast at 3 p.m.

On December 24th.

I would say to them no give yourself a bit of peace give you some space, but your radio on sit down actually you can get to get the order of service from our website if you want to look at that and allow yourself to absorb the atmosphere go for the narrative as it unfolds recognise that it's beautiful and traditional but it's also got contemporary residence all the way through listen with your heart as well as with your ears, so that be my summary.

Listen with your heart as well as your ears, what great advice for all of our listening to BBC audio over the holidays the rev Dr Stephen cherry Dean of King's College Cambridge ending that report from Howard Shannon and you can hear the Festival of nine lessons and carols on Radio 4 and the world service at 3 p.m.

On Christmas Eve next week on Boxing Day I'll be a 19 the winner of the feedback interview of the year but if you're too busy playing with your presents and eating leftover Turkey you can hear that and all episodes of back anytime on BBC signs for no from me and all the team Merry Christmas thank you so much for listening and giving us your feedback.

I'm BBC Radio 4.

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