NOISING UP! BACK ON THE AIR

Remember Noising Up? The brand-new topical radio sketch show the Comedy Unit produces for BBC Radio Scotland. We’re back for 2023! And we need your material! We’re doing 6 shows over 6 weeks starting early January. New Year! New sketches!

Back on the Air

The show was last broadcast in September 2022 – a couple of months and a million years ago. We want to pick-up where we left off and cover all the top topics dominating the agenda in Scotland and the world

Characters

We are a satirical comedy show for BBC Radio Scotland and we want to feature sketches based around Scottish politics and the characters related to the Scottish political landscape. This includes the coalition in charge of Holyrood. Since we last met them, the Supreme Court ruled against them and Scotland got knocked-back for hosting Eurovision. What do the SNP and the Scottish Greens discuss at governmental meetings to kick off 2023?

We’ll also feature Scottish Labour, the Scottish Conservatives and the Scottish Lib Dems – when do they agree with their party counterparts down South? When do they differ? What are the opposition’s plans to appeal to Scottish voters?

Thank you very much for all the tremendous material you sent us earlier in the year. The plan for this brief is to get you writing, so apologies if we’re telling Grannies how to sook eggs here, but some useful pointers for characters and topics can be found watching First Ministers Questions.

BBC iPlayer – Scottish First Ministers Questions

It gives a sense of what the parties are interested in, who is pushing what and how they speak. BBC Radio Scotland podcast Podlitical also provides a bit of detail behind what’s dominating Scottish politics and what’s happening whereabouts

BBC Sounds – Podlitical – Available Episodes

Stories

We are a comedy show for Radio Scotland and we’re keen to feature stories from across Scotland and around the world. Again, with the Grannies/eggs disclaimer, it can be useful to click every single heading on the BBC news site – from “Global” to “Tech” Home – BBC News and see something breaking or a specific report that might spark a sketch.

On the BBC Scotland News page, it’s worth investigating every heading – from “Business” to “Tayside & Central” Scotland – BBC News. And BBC Scotland also do a great round of the front pages Scotland’s papers: Harry’s ‘all-out war’ and Labour launch ‘vow 2’ – BBC News which can work as a good quick blast of images and headlines and potentially provide instant inspiration for your writing.

Aside from the BBC, it’s worth looking at how a range of sources are coming at current events – from GB News to the National to the Metro to the New York Times.

Voice Notes/Most-Read

When Noising Up was on air previously, “voice messages” worked well as a way of including a mix of takes on different stories, angles, agendas and attitudes. We’re looking to expand on this and feature as many of these “voice notes” as we can in the new series.

A range of radio shows and media outlets are increasingly using soundbites from listeners, punters, ordinary members of the public, famous names and experts.

So please take this as a cue to send us your voice-notes on a range of topics from a range of voices and feel free to go to town and give them as much character as you can.

Similarly, the most read stories section in the show meant we could cover a variety of Scottish and non-Scottish stories in a single line. We’d like to keep featuring these throughout the next run of Noising Up. What might be the most read stories of January 2023? These can include personal and lifestyle stories alongside local news and major global headlines.

Mix of Material

We want Noising Up to keep on covering the people everyone is talking about alongside the stuff everyone is doing. Mixing newsworthy with personal stories. So, for example, we can feature trends in shopping, social media and locations people visit on a night out alongside headlines featuring politicians and celebrities.

We’re also keen to include sport alongside politics, showbiz and popular culture. Beside quick sport sketches, sporting events and results can be reflected in the “most read” and “voice notes”

Duration of material/Trails & Ads

Short sketches are like gold dust to a show like ours. So, thank you very much for all the dynamite one-liners and punchy quickies you submitted previously. We also found that wee trails, ads and promos worked a treat. On the radio and across many different media outlets, trails and ads are used all the time these days. Noising Up can reflect this and regularly drop into people promoting themselves and their content. We can also trail TV shows, movies and radio programmes. Plus there can be space to advertise real and imagined products. And we can even feature specific invented products relating to the news.

Music

The spoof songs and raps worked a treat previously on Noising Up. We’d like to keep featuring these in the show this time. Please feel free to be inspired by the greatest hits of popular song and send us your musical sketches. Rewrite timeless classics, pop numbers, musical standards and hip-hop tunes to suit Noising Up, specific characters and the news agenda.

Wild Cards

We got a great reaction to Noising Up when it was first on the air. And we’re keen to keep the type of material going that featured previously. But we’re also wanting to leave space for brand new ideas. What observations and characters are you desperate to write-up? What type of sketch would work a treat in a fast-moving topical sketch show? Is there a fresh take on a well-known personality or institution that’s ripe for satire? What one-liner pops into your head when you think about the state of things? How can you distil what makes you laugh into a quickie? There are some practical suggestions in this document. But the main thing is we want Noising Up to be a place where topical comedy writers can flourish and have a riot so please send us whatever tickles you!

PLEASE SEND SKETCHES TO noisingup@comedyunit.co.uk

WE ARE ACCEPTING MATERIAL RIGHT THROUGH DECEMEBER

PLEASE SEND MATERIAL IN BATCHES OF UP TO A DOZEN SKETCHES, DON’T SAVE IT ALL UP!

WORD/TEXT DOCUMENTS PREFERRED IF POSSIBLE. PLEASE PUT YOUR NAME ON EACH SKETCH.

DEADLINE 2pm WEDNESDAY 5TH JANUARY

WRITE IT UP FOR NOISING UP!!!!!