The Horne Section is a British musical comedy band, appearing regularly on radio, television, and stage. Led by frontman and comedian

Alex Horne Alexander James Jeffery Horne (born 10 September 1978) is a British comedian and musician. Horne is the creator of BAFTA award-winning TV series '' Taskmaster'', in which he also performs as the Taskmaster's assistant. He is the host and ban ...

, the band mix music with comedy and specialise in comedy/ spoof songs as well as performing a wide variety of genres including jazz. The band is made up of professional musicians, including two childhood friends of Horne, and first performed together in May 2010, with the current line-up finalised during 2012. The Horne Section have performed at the Edinburgh Festival, as well as touring the UK, and celebrity guests at their shows have included

Harry Hill Matthew Keith Hall (born 1 October 1964), known professionally as Harry Hill, is an English comedian, presenter and writer. He pursued a career in stand-up following years working as a medical doctor, developing an off-beat, energetic performan ...

Simon Amstell Simon Marc Amstell (born 29 November 1979) is a British comedian, writer and director. He wrote and directed the films '' Carnage'' (2017) and ''Benjamin'' (2018). His work on television has included presenting '' Popworld'' and '' Never Mind th ...

Jimmy Carr James Anthony Patrick Carr (born 15 September 1972) is a British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer, and actor. He is known for his deadpan delivery of controversial one-liners and distinctive laugh, for which he has been both praised and criti ...

, Tim Minchin, Josie Long,

Al Murray Alastair James Hay Murray (born 10 May 1968) is an English comedian, actor, musician and writer from Hammersmith. In 2003, he was listed in ''The Observer'' as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and in 2007 he was voted the 16th gre ...

and

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. Oliver started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom. He came to wider attention ...

as well as musicians including

Suggs Graham McPherson (born 13 January 1961), known primarily by his stage name Suggs, is an English singer-songwriter, musician, radio personality and actor from Hastings, England. In a music career spanning 40 years, he came to prominence in the ...

and

Neil Hannon Edward Neil Anthony Hannon (born 7 November 1970) is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter. He is the creator and front man of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy, and is the band's sole constant member. Hannon wrote the theme tunes for ...

. Their BBC Radio 4 series – ''Alex Horne presents The Horne Section'' – ran for three series from 2012 to 2014. The band have also released five albums of songs which are available via the group's Bandcamp page. The band featured in ''The Horne Section Christmas'', a nine-minute Christmas-carol themed TV special, shown on Sky Arts in December 2015 as part of a festive season of comedy shows. In April 2018 they recorded a two-hour live show at the London Palladium entitled ''The Horne Section Television Programme'', featuring celebrity guests including

Sue Perkins Susan Elizabeth Perkins (born 22 September 1969) is an English actress, broadcaster, comedian, presenter and writer. Originally coming to prominence through her comedy partnership with Mel Giedroyc in ''Mel and Sue'', she has since become best ...

and

Nadine Coyle Nadine Elizabeth Louise Coyle (born 15 June 1985) is an Irish singer, actress and model. In 2002, Coyle was selected as a member of the girl group Girls Aloud, with whom she has been successful in achieving a string of 20 consecutive UK top te ...

, and broadcast on UK TV channel

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

on 24 May 2018. A

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

six-part programme ''The Horne Section TV Show'' was released 3 November, 2022, and is a mostly scripted comedy about the band, combining elements of musical comedy, talk show and sitcom. Horne and the band have often appeared on Channel 4's ''

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' is a British comedy panel show on Channel 4. The show follows the game of ''Countdown'', but presented in a comedic panel show format seen on ''8 Out of 10 Cats'', with the show being a crossover of the two. ...

'' as the dictionary corner guest, performing various songs and jokes, and have chaired the BBC Two comedy/music quiz ''

Never Mind the Buzzcocks ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first hoste ...

'' in November 2012. The Horne Section were the 'house band' for Channel 4's '' The Last Leg of the Year'' on New Year's Eve 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, where they contributed backing music as well as playing a number of their own songs. They provided music for '' The Last Leg: Locked Down Under'' and '' Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer'' in 2020 and joined Peter Crouch again in 2021 for '' Crouchy's Year-Late Euros: Live''. The band created the theme music for Horne's '' Taskmaster'' TV show, as well as for ''The Guardian''s cricket podcast ''The Spin''. ''The Horne Section Podcast'' has run from 2018 until 2021. It was in the top 10 most streamed podcasts from the

Deezer Deezer is a French online music streaming service. It allows users to listen to music content from record labels, as well as podcasts on various devices online or offline. Created in Paris, Deezer currently has 90 million licensed tracks in i ...

platform in 2018, and in April 2019 it was nominated in the ‘Best Comedy’ category of the British Podcast Awards. The podcast has featured a range of guests including comedians (

Greg Davies Gregory Daniel Davies ( ; born 14 May 1968) is a Welsh comedian, actor, presenter, and writer. He is best known for his roles as Greg in ''We Are Klang'', Mr Gilbert in ''The Inbetweeners'', Ken Thompson in ''Cuckoo'', the Taskmaster in '' Tas ...

Roisin Conaty Roisin Marcella Conaty ( ; born 26 March 1979) is an English comedian, actress, and writer. She won the Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010 for her show ''Hero, Warrior, Fireman, Liar''. She played Jo in Channel 4 sitcom '' Man ...

Sara Pascoe Sara Patricia Pascoe (born 22 May 1981) is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has appeared on television programmes including ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' for Channel 4, '' QI'' for BBC and '' Taskmaster'' for the digital chan ...

Nish Kumar Nishant Kumar (born 1985) is a British stand-up comedian and television presenter. He became known as the host of satirical comedy ''The Mash Report'', now known as ''Late Night Mash''. He has also presented BBC Radio 4 Extra's topical comedy ...

Adam Buxton Adam Offord Buxton (born 7 June 1969) is an English actor, comedian, podcaster and writer. With the filmmaker Joe Cornish, he is part of the comedy duo Adam and Joe. They presented the Channel 4 television series '' The Adam and Joe Show'' (19 ...

), presenters (

Richard Osman Richard Thomas Osman (born 28 November 1970) is an English television presenter, producer, novelist and comedian. He is the creator and former co-presenter of the BBC One television quiz show ''Pointless''. He has presented the BBC Two quiz sho ...

Susie Dent Susie Dent (born 1964) is an English lexicographer, etymologist, and media personality. She has appeared in "Dictionary Corner" on the Channel 4 game show ''Countdown'' since 1992. She also appears on ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'', a post ...

Angellica Bell Angellica Bell (born 24 March 1976) is a British television and radio presenter, best known for her presenting on CBBC between 2000 and 2006. She is also known for providing occasional cover on ''The One Show'' and for co-presenting ''The M ...

), sportspeople (

Chris Hoy Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy MBE (born 23 March 1976) is a former track cyclist and Racing driver from Scotland who represented Great Britain at the Olympic and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Hoy is eleven-times a wor ...

Lizzy Yarnold Elizabeth Anne Yarnold, OBE (born 31 October 1988) is a British former skeleton racer who joined the Great Britain national squad in 2010. With consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2014 and 2018, she is the most successful British Winter Olympia ...

), performance poets ( Rob Auton,

Tim Key Timothy David Key (born September 1976) is an English poet, comedian, actor, screenwriter and radio personality. He is best known for playing Alan Partridge's sidekick Simon in '' Mid Morning Matters'', '' Alpha Papa'', and '' This Time'', as ...

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), and musicians (

Jessie Ware Jessica Lois Ware (born 15 October 1984) is an English singer, songwriter and broadcaster. Ware came to prominence following the release of her debut studio album, ''Devotion'' (2012), which peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart, produce ...

David Arnold David Arnold (born 23 January 1962) is a British film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films, as well as ''Stargate'' (1994), '' Independence Day'' (1996), ''Godzilla'' (1998) and the television series ''Little Britain'' ...

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

). Each episode consists of light-hearted banter with the guest interspersed with comedic songs written and performed by the group.

Album discography

These albums (and the single Grandaddy) are available to download at the group's Bandcamp page. The third album was released on 5 June 2020 featuring songs from the isolation podcasts. The band also have a Patreon page where listeners can commission short songs and shout-outs.

''Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section''

''Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section'' was a BBC Radio 4 show that ran from 2011 to 2014 and was broadcast in the 6.30pm weekday comedy slot. The programme followed a similar format to the live Edinburgh festival shows with Horne and the band performing songs and jokes in front of a live audience, with assistance from a special guest - usually from the world of comedy. The pianist during series 1 was former member

Joe Stilgoe Joe Stilgoe (born 29 May 1979) is a British singer, pianist and songwriter. Early life and education Stilgoe was born in Sevenoaks, Kent. He is the son of the lyricist and entertainer Sir Richard Stilgoe, and opera singer Annabel Hunt. Educat ...

, and from series 2 onwards was Ed Sheldrake.

Series 1 (2012)

A pilot episode was broadcast the year before the first series. A bonus episode recorded from the Edinburgh Festival was broadcast later that year.

Series 2 (2013)

A New Year's Eve Special episode was broadcast at the end of 2013.

Series 3 (2014)

Television appearances

''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' (2013-present)

'' is a panel show combining the longstanding

game format of ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

'' with the lively comedy style of ''

8 Out of 10 Cats ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' is a British comedy panel show broadcast on Channel 4 and its sister networks, airing since 3 June 2005. The show is hosted by Jimmy Carr; the current team captains are Rob Beckett and Katherine Ryan. The show is based on ...

''. Each episode introduces a celebrity guest as an assistant to etymologist

in 'dictionary corner'.

was previously a guest on the main Countdown programme in 2008, and as the author of a book on 'Wordwatching' was a strong candidate for the role. More unusually, he brought his backing band, and The Horne Section contributed various comedy song (and dance) items to the show, as well as stylistic parodies of the 30-second Countdown music. The Horne Section have appeared in a number of episodes (with one appearance as

Rachel Riley Rachel Annabelle Riley (born 11 January 1986) is a British television presenter. She co-presents the Channel 4 daytime puzzle show ''Countdown'' and its comedy spin-off '' 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown''. She is a mathematics graduate. Her t ...

's assistants) over the course of the show, listed below with reference to the ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' episodes page. The saxophonist 'Pedro' (Pete Grogan) appeared where shown as a deputy for one of the wind players.

''The Horne Section Television Programme'' (2018)

''The Horne Section Television Programme'' was a two-hour special show recorded for UKTV in front of a live audience at the London Palladium on 18 April 2018. The show was subsequently broadcast on 24 May 2018 on the ''Dave'' channel. The show featured a number of guests performing with the band including

, drag singer Le Gateau Chocolat,

Joe Wilkinson Joseph Roland Wilkinson (born 2 May 1975) is an English comedian, actor and screenwriter. He began his comedy career in 2004 and has supported Alan Carr and Russell Howard on tour. He has also made numerous appearances on television programme ...

and

. The programme interspersed the live performance with supposed studio rehearsal footage in which Horne berates the band for their ability and refuses to allow certain songs to be part of the show.

''The Last Leg: Locked Down Under'' (2020)

The band appeared in a regular guest slot to close each show of this special series of

The Last Leg ''The Last Leg'' (known during its first series as ''The Last Leg with Adam Hills'' and in Australia as ''Adam Hills: The Last Leg'') is a British comedy and late-night television talk/sketch show that originally ran alongside the 2012 Summer Pa ...

, originally shown on Fridays at 10pm on Channel 4 during May–June 2020. Though the show was broadcast live from the homes of the hosts in Britain and Australia and via livestream with the individual guests, each member of the band pre-recorded their musical and visual contributions which were combined into a music video. The songs chosen were variously new podcast material, parody, and reworked previous podcast material.

''Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer'' (2020)

The eight-part BBC series Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer was planned during the time of Coronavirus isolation to "bring the biggest names from the worlds of sport, comedy and music back into our lives" for summer 2020. It features

Peter Crouch Peter James Crouch (born 30 January 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was capped 42 times by the England national team between 2005 and 2010, scoring 22 goals for his country during that time, and ...

Maya Jama Maya Indea Jama (, ; born 14 August 1994) is an English television, radio presenter, and DJ. She co-presented BBC One's '' Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer'' alongside Peter Crouch and Alex Horne and is presenter of the BBC Three competition '' Gl ...

, and

and The Horne Section, with a range of sporting and entertainment guests, and was aired on BBC1 on Saturday evenings during June–July 2020. The Horne Section contributed various programme jingles and parody songs, including a closing song of appreciation for some of the "unsung heroes" of the lockdown period.

''Crouchy's Year-Late Euros: Live'' (2021)

Crouchy's Year-Late Euros: Live was a late-night entertainment chat show, aired on BBC1 during the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

championships. It featured

, and

and The Horne Section. The band provided music, including various football-related parody songs.

''The Horne Section TV Show'' (2022)

''The Horne Section TV Show'' is a

self-referential Self-reference occurs in natural or formal languages when a sentence, idea or formula refers to itself. The reference may be expressed either directly—through some intermediate sentence or formula—or by means of some encoding. In philoso ...

comedy about The Horne Section, combining elements of music

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

chat show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

and

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

. Mostly scripted (by

), the show also includes elements of improvisation, including in the scenes when the band are shown in rehearsal. Songs from the band's repertory are presented both as integral plot devices and as featured music videos, and there is incidental music composed by members of the group (usually pianist Ed Sheldrake). The plot shows Horne's attempts to create a successful TV vehicle for the band, leading out of the backstage world of his TV series Taskmaster, where he is frustrated with being regarded as a mere assistant. Alex Horne and the band members play exaggerated versions of themselves (along with

and

), while other actors (including

Desiree Burch Desiree Lea Burch (born 26 January 1979) is an American comedian, actress, television presenter, and voice actress. Originally from Diamond Bar, California, Burch has also lived in New York, Streatham, Croydon and Peckham, having moved to Lond ...

Georgia Tennant Georgia Elizabeth Tennant (; born 25 December 1984) is an English actress and producer. She played Detective Inspector Samantha Nixon's daughter Abigail in ''The Bill'', Jenny in the ''Doctor Who'' episode "The Doctor's Daughter" and Lady Vivian ...

, Camille Ucan, and Tim Mahendran) play fictional supporting roles. Celebrity guest(s) are invited to the 'chat show' portion as part of the scripted drama. The programme exploits the meta-referential quality of having a nested 'show' with the same name as itself, and makes playful use of devices such as narration, captions, reverse-filming, ironic discrepancies between the fictional 'show' and reality, ambiguities in

diegetic music Diegetic music or source music is music in a drama (e.g., film or video game) that is part of the fictional setting and so, presumably, is heard by the characters. The term refers to diegesis, a style of storytelling. The opposite of source m ...

, a crowd-sourced dance sequence, and social media reviews of itself. The first series was released on 3 November 2022, and is broadcast on

from 17 November 2022. On 9 January, 2023 the show received a nomination at the Comedy.co.uk Awards 2022 in the Best New Sitcom category.

''The Horne Section Podcast''

''The Horne Section Podcast'' is a musical comedy show featuring The Horne Section and hosted by

. Each show features a 'one-person special guest audience' at the recording, typically someone from the world of comedy, music or television. Episodes feature comic songs from Horne and the band, including some about (and/or involving) the guest themselves, as well as music-themed games and comedy.

Series 1 (2018)

The first series of eight weekly episodes was broadcast in early 2018 and produced in association with the web-based streaming service

. The podcast was listed in the top 10 most streamed podcasts from the

platform in 2018 and named in ''The Week''’s best new podcasts of 2018 list. ('Bonus content' was available in a separate Deezer track for each episode, and any musical bonus content has been listed below after a semicolon.)

Series 2 (2018–19)

The podcast returned for a double second season in October 2018, running on a fortnightly basis until June 2019. No longer with Deezer, the show was funded by listener donations through Patreon, often in exchange for a specially-written 'dingle' about the contributor (interspersed among the other podcast items) or shorter 'holler' in a regular song. Along with regular guest episodes, special episodes were released for pre-Christmas, Boxing Day, and Pancake Day. During December 2018, the podcast was named in ''The Guardian''’s Top 15 Podcasts of 2018. (Bonus content at the end of episodes has been included.)

Series 3 (2019)

The third series returned on 11 September 2019, reverting to a weekly eight-episode series. The episodes were preceded by a series 3 trailer on 21 August 2019 featuring the song ''Summer Banger''. In January 2020, the podcast was named Best Music Podcast in the inaugural Podbible Awards, which described the show as: "an absolute joy...manages to blend music with comedy amazingly".

Series 4 (2020)

Series 4, another eight-episode weekly series, was announced in a short trailer released on 22 January 2020, and ran from Wednesday 29 January until 18 March 2020. The fourth series was immediately followed by Series 5.

The Isolation Specials (Series 5) (2020)

The 'Isolation Specials' were announced in mid-March 2020 as a response to the Coronavirus concerns growing in the UK, and the consequent necessary postponement of the initial dates in the Horne Section's planned 2020 tour. Although a break in transmission had previously been announced, the first episode appeared only a week after the last of the scheduled episodes of series 4. Episodes were recorded with the band members connected by video link from their own homes, interspersed with clips from a prior telephone call to the guest and pre-recorded songs. Distinctive features of the series include songs put together by individual musicians, musical quizzes by the pianist, and a prominent use of incidental music to underscore conversations.

Series 6 (2020)

The next series of ''The Horne Section Podcast'' was announced by Alex Horne on Twitter on 30 September 2020. The numbering of the series was initially left ambiguous in the band's Patreon post of 1 Oct 2020, where it is referred to as "SERIES 5 (? OR 6?)", but has now been confirmed there to be Series 6 (retroactively making the Isolation Specials officially Series 5 of the podcast). A darker quality was discernible: new regular features included a cover version of any song chosen by the guest for their funeral, the setting of a surreal lyric composed by the guest saying words in alternation with Alex, and a segment that purported to rifle through the contents of celebrities' rubbish bins.

Series 7 (2021)

Recording of series 7 of ''The Horne Section Podcast'' was underway by 9 February 2021, as shown by a picture on the band's Instagram site. Some guests were recommended or invited over Twitter, including comedian/musician

Rachel Parris Rachel Sarah Parris (born 27 May 1984) is an English comedian, musician, actress and presenter. She hosts the satirical news show '' Late Night Mash'' (formerly ''The Mash Report''). Early life Parris attended Loughborough High School. She hold ...

. The series was recorded with the performers 'in isolation' (as with series 5–6), due to ongoing fluctuations in UK lockdown guidance. The series began on 14 March 2021 with a one-off 'mash-up' combining the podcast with

Romesh Ranganathan Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan (born 27 March 1978), is an English actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and often self-deprecating comedy. Ranganathan has made numerous appearances on television comedy panel shows, and in 2016 he co-p ...

's music podcast ''Hip Hop Saved My Life'' for

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...

. A special visual episode livestreamed through Dice followed on 2 April. The series ended without prior announcement at the sixth episode, a curtailed audio version of the Livestream special. Distinctive aspects of this series included songs by 'The Brothers Smooth', developments in the story of Alex's sighting of a UFO, and a continuing trend towards longer and more fully-developed 'dingles' for subscribers.

External links

The Horne Section Bandcamp page

The Horne Section Patreon page

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horne Section British comedy musical groups