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''It’s Been a Bad Week'' was a British
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comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
on
BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...
, that first broadcast on 11 February 1999. It was presented by
Steve Punt Steve Punt (born ) is a British comedy writer, comedian and actor. Along with Hugh Dennis, he is part of the double act Punt and Dennis and was presenter of BBC Radio 4 satirical news programme '' The Now Show''. He is also a writer and programm ...
and
Hugh Dennis Peter Hugh Dennis (born 13 February 1962) is an English comedian, presenter, actor, Impressionist (entertainment), impressionist and writer. He was a panellist in every episode of the comedy show ''Mock the Week'' (2005–2022) and is one half ...
, and is also referred to as ''Punt and Dennis: It's Been a Bad Week''. More than 100 episodes have been broadcast , the latest series ended on 22 June 2006. Mitch Benn has since confirmed the show has "bitten the dust". It was normally broadcast on Thursdays at 10pm, with each episode being repeated on Saturdays at 1:30pm. The show was recorded the week of broadcast at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. The show was co-presented by regular guests Mitch Benn, Toby Longworth (Series 6 onwards),
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 progressed into radio a ...
(Series 6 onwards) and Simon Greenall (Series 8 onwards). Past co-presenters have been Mervyn Stutter (Series 1-2),
Jon Culshaw Jonathan Peter Culshaw (born 2 June 1968) is an English actor, comedian and Impressionist (entertainment), impressionist. He is best known for his work on the radio comedy ''Dead Ringers (comedy), Dead Ringers'' since 2000. Culshaw has voiced ...
(Series 1-5),
Emma Clarke Emma Clarke (born 1971) is an English writer of comedy and drama scripts, radio presenter and voice-over artist, best known as the voice of the automated messages on the Bakerloo, Central and Waterloo & City lines of the London Underground. M ...
(Series 1-5) and Jo Caulfield (Series 6), although these varied in some weeks. One famous guest appearance was
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
comedy legend
Leslie Nielsen Leslie William Nielsen (February 11, 1926November 28, 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters. He made his a ...
(series 3, episode 8). The other contributor to the show was their fictional sound effects man, "Van Man", so called because he supplied the sound effects from his white van, "illegally parked outside Ronnie Scott's." ''It’s Been a Bad Week'' was a mock awards show, where true stories and
urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...
s alike compete for the tongue-twisting "The Worst Week of the Week Award, Awarded Weekly, on a Week-By-Week Basis". Episodes are sometimes repeated on
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. __TOC__


Format

Each show originally began with the "Bad Week Round-up", which is described as the section for "Bad Week stories they couldn't fit anywhere else". This was a quick two-minute recap of what had been going on in the news that week. This was later replaced with "Van Man's Week of Sound", where Van Man illustrated that week's news with his sound effects. Currently, Van Man just plays the main sound effect of the week. A recurring gag is that Van Man's sound effect seems to refer to one of the week's main news stories but actually refers to a different one. The show consists of three sections, "Sections 1, 2 and 3". In each section, there are three or sometimes four stories from around the world of bad things which have really happened. Usually each section consists of one story related by Punt, one by Dennis and one by another presenter. Benn normally chooses a music-related candidate and sings a song relating to it, Longworth or Greenall often do stories about dumb criminals (frequently American), and Perkins covers something sexual. Sometimes there will be a "Bad Week Update", where a story previously featured returns, because either the same thing has happened again or a new aspect to the story has surfaced. In every section, Van Man illustrates each story with his sound effects. Originally he also chose the winner of each section; now it is done by a topical "guest announcer" (impersonated). After the three finalists are chosen, the audience take their electronic keypads (also fictional) and vote for the winner of "The Worst Week of the Week Award, Awarded Weekly, on a Week-By-Week Basis". The prize changes from week to week, depending on the theme of the show. The series has had several New Year specials, entitled ''It's Been A Bad Year'', awarding (as it was put in one episode) "The Worst New Year of the New Year Award, Awarded New Yearly, on a First Week-by-First Week Basis". Further, the last show of the current year has a different award, "The Worst Week of the Year Award, Awarded Yearly on a Year-By-Year Basis"


Series


First series

#11 February 1999 #18 February 1999 #25 February 1999 #4 March 1999 #11 March 1999 #18 March 1999


Second series

#29 July 1999 #5 August 1999 #12 August 1999 #19 August 1999 #26 August 1999 #4 September 1999


Third series

#17 February 2000 #24 February 2000 #2 March 2000 #9 March 2000 #16 March 2000 #23 March 2000 #30 March 2000 #6 April 2000


Fourth series

#23 November 2000 #30 November 2000 #7 December 2000 #14 December 2000 #21 December 2000 #28 December 2000 #4 January 2001 #11 January 2001


Fifth series

#17 November 2001 #22 November 2001 #29 November 2001 #6 December 2001 #13 December 2001 #20 December 2001 #27 December 2001


Sixth series

#20 June 2002 #27 June 2002 #4 July 2002 #11 July 2002 #18 July 2002 #25 July 2002 #1 August 2002


Seventh series

#31 October 2002 #7 November 2002 #16 November 2002 #21 November 2002 #28 November 2002 #5 December 2002 #12 December 2002 #19 December 2002 #26 December 2002 #2 January 2003


Eighth series

#15 May 2003 #22 May 2003 #29 May 2003 #5 June 2003 #12 June 2003 #19 June 2003 #26 June 2003 #3 July 2003 #10 July 2003 #17 July 2003


Ninth series

#13 November 2003 #20 November 2003 #27 November 2003 #4 December 2003 #11 December 2003 #18 December 2003 #25 December 2003 #1 January 2004


Tenth series

#13 May 2004 #20 May 2004 #27 May 2004 #3 June 2004 #10 June 2004 #17 June 2004 #24 June 2004 #1 July 2004 #8 July 2004


Eleventh series

#23 December 2004 #30 December 2004 #6 January 2005 #13 January 2005 #20 January 2005 #27 January 2005 #3 February 2005 #10 February 2005 #17 February 2005


Twelfth series

#2 June 2005 #9 June 2005 #16 June 2005 #23 June 2005 #30 June 2005 #7 July 2005 (not broadcast owing to the London Bombings)


Thirteenth series

#1 October 2005 #8 October 2005 #15 October 2005 #22 October 2005 #29 October 2005


Fourteenth series

#18 May 2006 #25 May 2006 #1 June 2006 #8 June 2006 #15 June 2006 #22 June 2006


See also

*Other mock awards ceremonies include the
Darwin Awards The Darwin Awards are a rhetorical tongue-in-cheek honor that originated in Usenet newsgroup discussions around 1985. They recognize individuals who have supposedly Culling, contributed to human evolution by natural selection, selecting thems ...
, the
Ig Nobel Prize The Ig Nobel Prize () is a satirical prize awarded annually since 1991 to promote public engagement with scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name of the award is a ...
and the Razzies *Other weekly topical radio comedies include '' Week Ending'', ''
The News Quiz ''The News Quiz'' is a British topical panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in 1977. The show, created by John Lloyd from an idea by Nicholas Parsons, has seen several hosts, including Barry Norman, Barry Took, Simon Hogg ...
'' and '' The Now Show'', the latter also being hosted by Punt and Dennis


External links


Celador
(the broadcaster)
Episode guide
at epguides.com


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:It's Been A Bad Week BBC Radio comedy programmes BBC Radio 2 programmes Ironic and humorous awards 1999 radio programme debuts 2006 radio programme endings