He’s flying the flag for hospital radio and everyone loves him. It’s Ivan Brackenbury’s Hospital Radio Roadshow currently entertaining the masses with sold out shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. "The funniest thing I’ve seen so far", says a Times reporter. But what's next?
The character of Ivan Brackenbury goes back many years for former BRMB presenter Tom Binns. “We used to do an impression of a "sweaty voice" in the pub when I worked at BBC Radio Nottingham – i.e. the voice of the people who'd do the "careline" Then in about 1993 I talked about hospital radio in my stand up and ended up replacing John Shuttleworth on BFBS with the character. He was a big hit with the troops.”
For those who haven’t had the pleasure of seeing the show, the gag, which never tires, is to play inappropriate songs for patients. Timing is everything in comedy and the timing for every piece of audio is spot on.
He’s had lots of fantastic write-ups in the papers, and even a podcast interview with The Times. “Ivan is a comedy genius” — “Edinburgh's funniest show”. No one has a bad word to say about the show, and after experiencing it for ourselves, we can only agree with the rave reviews. Tom loves the publicity the show has created for his act: “It's great the press like it. It's created quite a buzz around the show which means I've sold out each day, which is great for a new act.”
And as a bonus, anyone who volunteered at hospital radio during the eighties and nineties will even relate to the old Alfasound jingles, shouts and sonovox.
What has Tom got in store for Ivan after the show? “We'll just have to wait and see what happens after the festival regards Ivans future.” He told RadioToday.co.uk
Want to see bits of the show online? Click [link=http://www.myspace.com/ivanbrackenbury]here[/link] for his website. Tom will be performing his show at a special Radio Today even in Newcastle this October. More details to follow.
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