Let's talk about Control, George...

[blue_condition]

Buried in the announcement that ISIHAC will return (something I'm ambivalent about - how do you replace Humph? - the only person who could do that mix of charm and bewilderment is Bill Bailey) the BBC also announced that that there'll be a new radio adaptation of all of John le Carré's George Smiley novels, 20 hours long

Comments

[steer]

For ISIHAC it depends whether you wanted someone as close as possible or a complete change. The whole thing is so shambolic that it helped to have someone sarcastic and grounded in between rounds which would really make Bill Bailey not quite right if you wanted to get a similar feel.

Humph's position in a presenter was that he at least pretended he was the straight man (even though he usually had the best lines).

[blue_condition]

A lot of people are saying Stephen Fry should do ISIHAC, but I think he's too cogent. As you say it needs to be someone who seems to be going along with the chaos but occasionally snaps back to sanity.

Actually, Eddie Izzard might be the right man for it - although he couldn't show off his outfits ;)

[ms_siobhan]

What about Mark Watson?

[steer]

It's funny how two people can listen to the same show intently and draw different conclusions

For me the thing is that Humph never did seem to be actually "going along with" the chaos. He was there unmoved going "get on with it and then we can go home". Even when he had hilarious lines he delivered them in a way that pretended they were quite straight and ordinary. Except in the Christmas special stuff he was never part of the surreal humour.

As a chairman he was aloof and contemptuous without participating while the panel were doing flights of fancy or simply being very strange. So to me I think Stephen Fry would be quite close in approach (especially if he were being curmudgeonly). Fry though is a more sympathetic character. I wonder how David Mitchell would work out? He can be incredibly surly and ranty (in a funny way).

[blue_condition]

I kind of liked the fourth-wall effect in ISIHAC, with Humph popping into and out of the same mentality as the panel -- at least that's how I always heard it. There was Humph, and there was Chairman Humph, and sometimes you weren't quite sure which one was talking ;)

[steer]

I wonder if a better option would be to move Barry Cryer to the role and have a new regular panelist?

I can see him doing a "I'd rather be down the pub than listening to this nonsense" quite well.

[blue_condition]

I think Barry is a little bit too avuncular - the uncle you like, rather than the nice but weird great uncle who dribbles a bit and scares small children ;)

[loveandgarbage]

He indicated after his time as chair in the first series that he would never do it again.

[steer]

Now I never knew that. Still, that was like 100 years ago. He might have mellowed on the idea.