I flew back from Helsinki on Thursday evening and went straight into central London to see the latest recording of The Now Show. This series has moved from the Drill Hall to the BBC Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House, just off Oxford Circus. The new venue sounds like a promotion and the theatre is much better but the logisitics are much much worse.Firstly we had to queue outside which was not a lot of fun in the rain. As with other BBC venues (e.g. Television Centre) we had to go through an airport-style security systems. Having just been through a real airport security system I was not impressed to have my bag of dirty shirts pulled over for having a suspect pair of scissors in it, which it did not. When I protested they rescanned the bag and the scissors disappeared.
As we were in the first 50 in the queue we were able to squeeze in to the small cafe area though we had to steal a chair from a store room to get a seat.
At the Drill Hall we had queued indoors, got a table in the good size bar and had had some drinks and snacks in comfort while waiting for the show. All in all the two hours plus between arriving at the BBC and getting into the theatre were rather unpleasant.
The show itself was fantastic, although we won't know until later today which bits of the hour or so that was recorded made it into the final cut. For example, Mitch Benn did three songs during the recording but only two will get into the broadcast show. If the "rabbit's foot" audience joke makes it on to the programme then that's one of mine.
The cast was the "A List" for The Now Show with all the regulars present, including Marcus Brigstocke pictured here doing one of the few retakes. Hugh Dennis adds hugely to the live recording through his mimes and facial expressions which alone make the show worth seeing live. Mitch Benn also enlivens the evening up by laughing at everybody else's jokes.
The Now Show is still a great night out but I hope that they've sorted some of the logistics out before we go again in August.
Sounds like you might prefer to watch the show from your armchair in front of the telly next time, although you would miss out on the buzz a live performance gives you of course.
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