*With fingers in ears* I can't heeeaaar you... la la la la la

Next thing you'll be telling us is there are no rules to Mornington Crescent. Sacrilege!

No!! I don't think I could live knowing that Sven wasn't real. Next you'll be saying Mornington Crescent has rules!

The new recording is tonight isn't it? I'm sure I shall wake up early tomorrow morning seething with jealousy of everyone who will be at the very same time sitting in fits of laughter in Bristol.

Grae has a lovely singing voice! Loved the harmonica solo in The Times They Are A Changin'. btw I nicked that wonderful .zip folder. One day I'll get to post my little home-made collection of ISIRTA songs, but I think that'd be better suited over at the Bill forum.

It isn't so!  Next you'll be telling me Samantha ISN'T an Aimi MacDonald-style lovely, but that she in fact doesn't exist at all.

Gasp.

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jodievdw : ' ' mazzanda : ' Indeed he did sing The Funky Gibbon to the tune of Ode To Joy... you're not imagining things! But he also sang it to the tune of Hey Jude. I don't remember off-hand if there are any more, but it seems to pop up every so often.

There was a show from within the last few years in which the audience had to hum a song for the panelists to guess.  The audience was instructed to hum "Funky Gibbon" and, as they tend to do, started with the chorus.  As soon as they got through humming "Do, Do, Do the Funky Gibbon" you could hear Tim laughing.  Of course the guys stalled a bit before answering correctly; I believe Graeme first guessed it was the theme from Monty Python.

Anyone who's been to a Clue recording - do they have a bit of paper with the words on?

Yes, they do.  I imagine it'd be incredibly difficult otherwise. 

Skip the next bit if you don't want to be disillusioned by another ISIHAC spoiler - the electronic display board used in Sound Charades and other rounds is actually the producer walking on stage with the info written on a big piece of cardboard  (gasp!)

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jodievdw : ' If you play left-handed, you have to have the strings the other way around (ie 6th becomes 1st) or the standard way of doing chords won't work, you'll be holding down the wrong string.  Dunno about banjos, but I think they'd be the same.

Speaking as a banjo player, it all depends on what type of banjo you're playing. There are 4, 5, and 6-string banjos out there, the most common being 5. You cannot string a right-handed 5-string banjo for a left hander, because the top string has the tuning peg on the neck. But with a 4 and 6-string banjo you can. Though I reckon a 6-string banjo is cheating, cause it's strung like a guitar, so guitar players can play it. Graeme plays a 6-string in Bunfight, and he plays a 5-string... somewhere in the earlier series (can't remember the ep offhand).
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jodievdw : 'By the way... getting ridiculously pedantic, doesn't Graeme play left-handed in Hype Pressure (the episode where he and Bill doe the Sing, Sing, Sing song)?

Nope, right handed. I'm one of those freaky ambidextrous people, and it is much easier to play right than left. My dad and brother are both left-handed and play right. Paul McCartney's just a freak.

It's also more convenient for a leftie to learn the guitar right handed, coz then you can pick up any standard instrument and play.  If you play left-handed, you have to have the strings the other way around (ie 6th becomes 1st) or the standard way of doing chords won't work, you'll be holding down the wrong string.  Dunno about banjos, but I think they'd be the same. I guess you *could* leave the stings as they are and learn different ways of doing the chords, but then God help you if you ever have to read tabs...

Sorry, personal experience speaking!

By the way... getting ridiculously pedantic, doesn't Graeme play left-handed in Hype Pressure (the episode where he and Bill doe the Sing, Sing, Sing song)?  Mind you, he spends more time sheltering behind the guitar to avoid water/foam/ping pong balls than he does actually playing it, so that example should probably be disregarded.

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JessPix : ' Anyway, yes, back to Graeme. Why is it he writes left-handed but plays the guitar and banjo right-handed? Is he ambidextrous? It's something which has long been a mystery to me. Oh, the exciting life I lead!  Jess.

It is actually easier for a left-handed person to play guitar right-handed (as myself, Graeme, and David McCabe from The Zutons will tell you) because the left hand is used on the frets while the right hand is doing the strumming, which is the easier job out of the two, so it is easier to play right-handed.

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jodievdw : ' Ta Jess... my Clue collection's still got gaping holes in it, so they were muchly appreciated! Wasn't the audience participation on the Funky Gibbon nice?

You're welcome! Yes, the audience participation was great, I would certainly join in if I was there. Tim's "You were fantasitc ladies and gentlemen!" at the end was also lovely.

Anyone who's been to a Clue recording - do they have a bit of paper with the words on?  We were trying to sing Nappy Love to the tune of something by The Whitlams (for reasons that made sense after a few ales in good company) and got absolutely stuck very very quickly.  The brain just refuses to function.

That's something I've pondered over too, and I reckon that they must have the words in front of them. There was a very old Pick Up Song on one of the BBC7 repeats a couple of weeks ago and they didn't have the words, which got Graeme and Tim panicing. Graeme miraculously managed to get it exactly when the words were eventually passed to him, but Tim wasn't quite as lucky. I'll have to get a clip of it, if only I could remember what episode it was!

Man, I nearly choked with laughter on hearing that recording of him singing Tatu - much better than the original, I thought.

Oh yes, that is priceless and a million miles better than the original version (no exaggeration!) I love how they get Tim to do the embarrassing songs, once during an operatic rendition of Pick Up Song they made Tim do a soprano. Poor thing!

Anyway, yes, back to Graeme. Why is it he writes left-handed but plays the guitar and banjo right-handed? Is he ambidextrous? It's something which has long been a mystery to me. Oh, the exciting life I lead! 

Jess.

Glad I wasn't imagining things.    I really think Graeme does the best 'one song to the tune of another's but Tim has the most entertaining Pick-up Songs because they're always giving him something impossible. Man, I nearly choked with laughter on hearing that recording of him singing Tatu - much better than the original, I thought.

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mazzanda : ' Indeed he did sing The Funky Gibbon to the tune of Ode To Joy... you're not imagining things! But he also sang it to the tune of Hey Jude. I don't remember off-hand if there are any more, but it seems to pop up every so often.

I think it's been filed under Things We Won't Let Them Live Down... but we love them for it.

Anyone who's been to a Clue recording - do they have a bit of paper with the words on?  We were trying to sing Nappy Love to the tune of something by The Whitlams (for reasons that made sense after a few ales in good company) and got absolutely stuck very very quickly.  The brain just refuses to function.

*thinks... must get this back onto Graeme somehow*

"Cleanliness is next to... impossible!"