NewsRevue is a topical, satirical song and sketch show based at the Canal Cafe Theatre in Maida Vale, London and annually at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running live comedy show. Its 30th anniversary show was held at the Leicester Square theatre on 25 Sept 2009.[1]
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On the performance side, the team consists (almost always) of two male and two female performers, a director and a musical director - all of which change every six weeks. On the writing side, however, there is no such rotation, and some writers have stayed with the show for several years.
The performers, director and musical director for the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe run are chosen from the best of the preceding year's talent.
The content is a series of short satirical sketches and gags coupled with spoofs of popular songs, targeting various aspect of the daily news from politics to show business. It has been compared to Spitting Image, The News Quiz, Beyond The Fringe and many other topical, satirical shows.
The show is about an hour long. In London, NewsRevue runs every Thursday to Sunday, 50 weeks a year, and is updated on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis. On average, between 15 and 30% of the show is updated from one week to the next.
NewsRevue was started in 1979 by Mike Hodd and Jack Thorington who were, at that time, writing on BBC Radio 4's topical show Week Ending. Hodd and Thorington took the inaugural show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on 18 August 1979 and it proved so successful that it later transferred to The King's Head Theatre in London for a lunchtime season.
The show headed back to the Edinburgh Fringe in 1980 and received a Scotsman Fringe First Award. The show then transferred to The Gate Theatre in Notting Hill and in March 1981, started a continuously updated regular run. The team from Week Ending allowed NewsRevue to use scripts submitted to the radio programme, and Lee Cornes, Mark Elliot and Stephen Frost made up the cast. Along with Mark Arden, this team were later to form BBC Radio 4's The Wow Show.
At the 1981 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, NewsRevue played the 650-seat auditorium at the Assembly Rooms and was nominated for a Perrier award. After an unsuccessful attempt to transfer to the Fortune Theatre in London's West End, NewsRevue missed the 1982 Edinburgh Fringe - the only time it has failed to appear since it began in 1979.
NewsRevue transferred from The Gate to the Canal Cafe Theatre in 1984, and has remained there ever since. In 2004 the show was awarded a Guinness World Record for the world's longest-running live comedy show on the occasion of its 25th birthday.
Since its opening night in 1979, NewsRevue has performed well over 7,000 shows, presenting over 10,000 sketches and songs to a total audience of over 350,000. It has used more than 1,000 actors, musical directors and directors, and over 500 writers have had their material in the show.
NewsRevue continues to run weekly at the Canal Cafe Theatre on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.[2] The show has been produced in London and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 2001 by Emma Taylor with assistance from Alexandra Smith, India Rakusen and Ash Lim. After several years of total sell-out shows at C Venues the Edinburgh Fringe show transferred to the Underbelly Cow Barn in 2008 for another critically acclaimed run. It then moved to the new Pleasance Over The Road venue for 2009 and the Pleasance Courtyard > Beyond for Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2010 featuring the best performers from the last twelve months: Richard David Caine, Tom Connor, Annabel King and Amy Westgarth directed by Kylie Butler, musical director: Pete Smith for the 9th year.
Given the large number of people associated with NewsRevue over the years, this list can only constitute a very small selection, and it has been gleaned from the Canal Cafe Theatre's records.
Lee Cornes, Paul Mark Elliott, Stephen Frost, Andrina Carroll, Simon Mattacks, Jeremy Hardy, Jessica Martin, Charles Hart, Rory Bremner[3], Bill Bailey, Suzanna Kempner, Alistair McGowan,Gary Jerry, Arthur Bostrom, Abi Roberts, Saskia Reeves, John Sparkes, Nick Wilton, Michelle Collins, Matt Roper, Elizabeth Bower, Rupert Degas, and 2008 if.comedy award nominee for best newcomer Pippa Evans.
Ben Elton auditioned for the show but was not cast as his singing and dancing were not felt to be up to scratch.
Mike Hodd, Jack Thorington, Nick Yapp, Neil Raphael, Geoff Nicholson, John Random, Noel Christopher, Mikey Jackson, Ian Christiansen, Nick Revell, Brian Jordan, Rob Newman, Simon Townley, Mark Brissenden, Barry Grossman, Ivan Shakespeare, Terry Newman, Marc Blakewill, James Harris, Simon Ounsworth, Colin Stutt, Simon Blackwell, Alan Stafford, Christopher Hale, Terry Newman, Philip Lunn, Stephen Follows, Laurence Howarth, and Laura Solon.
The theatre's records cite the following directors for outstanding Newsrevue runs:
Edward Wiley, Graham Frost, Tim Whitby, Elaine Cook, John Elms, Tania Jones, Diane Messias, Bill Bailey, Denise Thompson, Michael Eriera, Mark Brissenden and Sarah Sylvester.