Let’s be honest, the news is boring. If you are the kind of person that regularly visits this website than chances are you would agree. It’s boring, depressing and for the most part useless information so why watch it when laughing at it is a much more enjoyable way to spend your time? Satire is not always my favourite genre of comedy but it’s comedy nonetheless and this week’s podcast recommendation is satire of the highest and funniest form. Even if you are a real adult and you think that the news is worth watching than I can guarantee that you would still enjoy this podcast.
He is Alex Horne and he’ll break the news! He is Alex Horne and he’ll break the news for you! He is Alex Horne and he’ll break the news! If you haven’t already realised, the opening jingle is pretty catchy and you must have surely noticed that his name is Alex Horne. Alex Horne is a British comedian that is incredibly funny without the appearance of even trying. His style of comedy is almost unique in that it is deadpan but not quite deadpan, subtle and extremely understated. A joke will slip past your ears without you even noticing and you will find yourself laughing and wondering why you are laughing minutes later. He also has a band.
Alex Horne Breaks The News is a podcast produced for and by the British panel show repeat channel Dave. A channel that it’s not worth mentioning, has a ridiculous name but is all worth it when you find out that its catch-up channel is called “Dave ja vu”. The point of the podcast is in the title, Alex Horne breaks the news in every sense of the phrase. Don’t be worried that this topically sounding show will now be irrelevant in this ever changing world of news. Most of the news discussed was irrelevant during the time of recording, production and release anyway. Plus there is still hope that this podcast will return to the netwaves soon.
Each week Alex invites a bunch of funny people and an expert in a differing field who can also be quite funny themselves to sift through, discuss and muck about with the news. All guests are notable in their own right but not notable in this particular span of words, they are really, really funny though. The show is presented in a conversational game show manner with the comedians playing Alex’s various news-based games for a pretty rubbish prize. Amongst the games are Headline Honcho, The Quote Game, Animals In The News This Week, What’s In Your Wallet? and Which Guest Is The Best?. Most of those are either self-explanatory or explained incredibly well in the jingle. Headline Honcho may not be as obvious but it is an amazingly mediocre game in which two headlines are read out by Alex and the guests must guess the real one. “Help! My Foot Looks Exactly Like My Face! That’s not a call for help, rather an example of either a fake or real headline, along with these. “Farting Cat Returned To The Animal Centre For His Excessive Flatulence” and “My Pet Hamster Was Murdered In Front Of Me And I Can’t Stop Smiling”. Play the game yourself now if you want but you’ll have to listen to the podcast for the answers (or just Google them but I didn’t tell you that).
Apart from the games, Alex will take the listener on a tour of literally a few beautiful locations like Cardiff, Harrogate, Kilburn and some petrol stations. The jingles are some of the catchiest I have ever heard on a podcast and that could be down to the masterful writing and scoring or it could be down to the fact that they mostly only have one line. You won’t believe that Alex made them himself in his shed at home and if you don’t believe it he will explain to you how and why these audible delights came into existence. The standout of these extra segments are the interviews with the most informed correspondent, Thomas Trader. Thomas has an endless array of knowledge spanning from motor racing to the geography, culture to education and he is also a child.
More than ever I hope that you understand that I am attempting to mimic the humour of the podcast under the spotlight in this article and the sarcasm is merely in homage to this wonderful podcast. Alex Horne asks some very serious questions to some very silly people while still managing to be hilarious himself. If anything, it’s worth a listen for the jingles alone. So in a world infested with horrible, terrifying and miserable news, why not listen to some news that will put a smile on your face and if it doesn’t you can always take solace in the fact that this is news from ages ago and not relevant anymore.
This video has absolutely nothing to do with the podcast but unfortunately there are no clips of the show on Youtube and this has Alex Horne in it, so there you go.
