A certain Radio 2 afternoon DJ is exactly the same to the extent I don't listen at all these days.

Too many cut away gags for Frank and over blown but amusing props.
It only needs Frank to react to the guests with daft puns which is what he's good at.
Then again, I enjoyed the program in it's previous incarnations on TV, probably too 'gentle' for the BBC One audience.
As we're about it, I've never seen Star Wars seems to have dropped.

Haven't seen the latest episode though.
Frank Skinner On Demand with.. can be an amusing diversion, no budget, just daft puns and observations.

Oh Frank's got a short comedy on Radio 4 with Katherine Parkinson about a bickering couple, Don't Start on to it's second series now IIRC.
Tried Frank's podcast ages ago, didn't find it funny, stopped downloading it.

So what happened to Room 101 this week (28-Jan-16)? Any reason why it wasn't shown?

(This is after Dragon's Den missed an episode a week or two ago as well. I only watch a small handful of shows and they are all being messed about with.)

I assume it was because Eastenders was on twice due to the FA cup match tonight.

Same here I think dropping that was rather odd .

I listen to radio 2 until 2pm in work. I then rush to the radio so I don't have to hear anything Steve Wright says (I've said before, but you could repeat his show every day and no one would notice )

So true, is he still singing and doing that dreading 'hands up if...'section.

The answer is almost certainly yes

The show motto: same sh1t different day

Let me first say that I think Frank Skinner’s Absolute radio show/podcast is brilliant, I’ve listened every week for the full 6 or 7 years it’s been on the air. And I enjoy Room 101.
But I agree, he doesn’t have a good singing voice, yet he seems to love doing it. Do you remember when he did ‘Unplanned’ and they crow barred in a song at the end of every show?!

I actually think his vocals on ‘Three Lions’ are ok, for a comedian. But I also think they sound like they’ve been through the auto tuner a good few times!

But back on topic, Room 101 is back this Thursday night in the normal slot.

Tbh it took me a while to come around to the new version but also I feel it's in the wrong slot on the wrong channel for the wrong time. I know there's (usually) an extended version, but I think it would be better on beeb 2 in that long format for the first showing as often someone wins when they had equal 101s with someone else, showing how much is missing.

Anyway, just my two cents.

You can't have too much Frank.

Frank to Katie Price....." I can't put talentless people in Room 101 because I like your company."

Brilliant

You can have too much Frank and his cut-away style gags, it's would be better if he just did what he's good at riffing off the guests, rather than trying to lever in his prepared gags.

I haven't seen the last episode but that gag isn't anything worth remarking on, that looks like a 'sitter', Frank can knock that sort of thing out 24/7 lots of other comedians could too.
Then again I don't read the tabloids so Katie Price and what she's doing doesn't figure on my radar, so I don't like/dislike her.

I've seen that episode now and that joke looks even more lame now than it did on the page.
Especially coming about 10 minutes after she'd already said she had no talent.
Her item was untalented people on talent shows anyway.

Again too much Frank and his scripted jokes/props/cut-aways, levered into proceedings.
Like Greg's thing with people talking to their dogs, then Frank comes up with the sculptured/painted Poodle, had sod all to do with the item and there was poor gear change, Greg seemed to lose his thread too.
Leave that stuff for the studio audience, fills in any low points in the recording, cut it out of the TV edit.

As I've said before some of the entertainment comes from how annoyed the guests can get about minor things, the host and other guests can wind them up a bit, until they catch on, like Greg did, and realise they're blowing things out of proportion.

I have to agree with Prince here, I like Frank, really I do, but his jokes often disrupt the flow of the show and that couldn't have been more obvious than when he made the poodle joke during Greg Davies' rant.

I think it's more of a problem with the show's producers rather than Skinner himself though, I think they get told what the rants are going to be and then they try to make Frank force some stupid "funny" video or picture into the discussion through one way or another - regardless of whether it derails the whole thing or not, which more often than not, it does.

...and whatever happened to the bit at the end of the old Room 101 called "Radio Room 101" where the worst ever records were put ?
I only remember it from when Nick Hancock was the host. Why did they drop it ?

The thing is Frank's skill is that he's very quick witted, if one gag falls short, he'll come up with another within a minute.
Maybe they're trying to broaden the appeal for a BBC One evening audience or somehow tame Frank from his fruitier side by derailing him.
As you say there's some awful gear changes while he tries to lever the gags in.
It's bad enough that they buggered up the one guest format IMO.
They're still buggering about with the format trying to hammer the gags in every 30 seconds.


You're going back a bit, I don't even remember that.
At this distance I'd wouldn't be surprised if those involved at the time can't remember why that got dropped, probably time constraints.

I like it

If I remember correctly it was an end credits thing. I don't think they did it every week, sometimes it was just a funny or "oddball" clip.

Oh, still doesn't ring a bell, mind

I liked the episode with Fiona Bruce, where she said a dinner party without dancing is a flop.

Radio Room 101 played the worst records of all time on a permanent loop. During Hancock's tenure on the show, when a guest successfully got an item into Room 101, you could hear it in the background as the item dropped in to the abyss of Room 101.


Also when Hancock was host , he would end the show with a "clip from Room 101", which consisted of a cringe making piece of old TV. Two that spring to mind is a load of cubs singing "We're Riding Along on The Crest of a Wave" on Blue Peter, who Hancock introduced as something like the Hormone Explosion Band, as well as a dreadful version of Stop In The Name of Love by a duo from Bob Says Opportunity Knocks.

Ah yes, you're quite right, it wasn't at the end at all. Memory playing tricks.

His "Osama Bin Laden" song (in the style of George Formby) is funny

I like Frank's scripted jokes/props/cut-aways. Sometimes, a particular guest is not very witty or entertaining in arguing their choice, which is understandable as not every guest is a natural comedian, so I think Frank's contributions are necessary. I don't really mind if his jokes stray from the original choice as long as it's funny.

I do miss the individual categories and the little models to illustrate the choices though.

This week I liked Greg Davies' choice of hotel check-in/check-out where the receptionist is tapping away at the computer for ages (so true) and his comment that he once looked behind the desk and they were just playing the castanets.