I guess it's about time I reviewed
The Emergency, broadcast on Newstalk on Saturdays at 11:30 in Ireland.
It's a half-hour satirical sketch show, that has had TV adverts and reviews in the mainstream press. The title refers to the Irish government's official term for World War II; and for the current economic mess.
The direct combining of the two themes probably leads to the weakest sketches. The sense I've gotten is that people are tuning in for satire towards today's politicians, and while they are plenty intelligent to understand what's going on, they'd rather just laugh at Sweary Mary, the unlovable minister for finance, and Brian Cowan going forward.
It also raises the possible accusation of that thing you should never do – comparing someone to the Nazis.
But the strong characterisations of today's politicians give every episode belly laughs. Good!
The most popular part of the show, at least with people old enough to remember the original, is the regular Dev stings – a WWII air raid siren sounds and Dev (I'm told it's an excellent reproduction) sentences the nation to certain behaviour "during the emergency".
This is often greeted with delight by older listeners who don't appreciate the cultural references, to films like Apocalypse Now. When I say "appreciate", I mean "laugh at". The most impressive cultural references are the songs. So far they have had a perfect hit-rate, which is little short of a miracle when it comes to comedy songs.
Some of these parodies could just as well be sung by the original performer, they sound great – as does the whole show. Yes, there's excellent audio engineering on it to boot!
As well as their own website linked above, check out the promotional media and the podcast feed on
Newstalk.ie