Let’s be clear here. I don’t understand Hooting Yard on the Air, but I’m slowly getting closer to doing so. Although Frank Key’s stories are available in written form, the recorded format is perfect for them. In the written form, I simply cannot focus for long enough to trawl through the massive blocks of lengthy asides, constant alliteration and what I can only assume is exceptionally complex deadpan comedy. I use comedy in a very broad sense, in the same sense that Chris Morris’ Jam is comedy. It does not make you laugh, but the places you find your brain afterwards are humorous.

The radio show and podcast of Hooting Yard on the Air is exceptional though. Frank Key reads the stories himself, usually three or so an episode. While in the written form you are forced to understand and process the words, when read you are free to instead focus on the ideas and actual content of the stories (such as there is). There is still always the strong feeling that I am missing out in several important facts about the way the universe functions, but in this context that is a feeling that I wholeheartedly welcome.

Filed under: internet by isaac on Dec 09, 15:03