Day 38: I like JAM

ohmygodohmygodohmygod

Why did nobody tell me? First poor advertising for the Apprentice, and now this? BBC, your publicity department needs lining up against a wall and shooting.

Given this is the internet and it has young stupid people on it, I should probably add I don't really think they should be shot. This is what we call hyperbole, or deliberate exaggeration for effect. Jeez.

Anyway, Just A Minute is on the telly! Not just someone talking about it, but the whole complete actual series. I love panel shows, and JAM has been one of my favourites since my mother, a Radio 4 addict, first introduced me to it back in the days of Kenneth Williams being the reliably funny one, a mantle since taken over by Paul Merton.

If you're not familiar with JAM, it's a show where people are given topics, with no advance notice, and have to talk about them without repeating themselves (i.e. they can't re-use words, though small words like and and the tend to get ignored), hesitation (so no stopping for thought or stumbling over words), or deviation (no getting off the subject, using English that doesn't exist). You get points for stopping someone talking with a correct challenge, and thus taking over the subject, and for being the person that finishes the minute.

It does not hold you to being factual about the subject. You can talk absolute nonsense, as long as you keep to the subject (although if you say things that are provably untrue, you may be challenged for deviation). JAM was on TV once before, an abomination on another channel, where they missed the point completely, and aside from having Nicholas Parsons managed to have none of the really good contestants that are actually funny, and seemed to be focussed entirely on playing the game. Who cares about the game? As Nicholas himself often says on the show, it's about the contribution, not the points.

I know people are often very snotty about panel shows, and maybe I'm one of the few winners at this particular time of austerity. The expensive stuff; costume dramas, sport, sitcoms, etc, have no real interest to me, whereas interesting people talking, be it on comedy panel shows or interesting documentaries, are my entertainment bread and butter.

I'd be awful at Just a Minute, though. In conversation I hesitate all the time, or I rant about things that are a deviation from the interest of those around me. As I get older, I catch myself repeating anecdotes and worry that I've said it to this person before as well. But hey, it's about the contribution, right?