FROM THE ARCHIVES: Anonymous Rex (3/2/09)

Welcome to this week's episode of From The Archives. We're now halfway through Series 2 of The Yesterday Show (how time flies) and it's time to mix things up a little bit.
This episode of The Yesterday Show is distinctive since it is the only one in which I do not personally appear. Now that you're all done celebrating, I'll tell you why. When we came to do this episode, Tom and I were having dinner with Seb in Leamington Spa, where Tom, Alex and Bhavik shared a house. Seb had contributed material to the 'Arthur Chance' episode of Series 1 (here) and was keen to get more involved in the writing of the show. He pulled out a sketch he'd been working on, which was pretty much good to go without any further input.
Since Anonymous Rex was and is very much Seb's character, I felt it only fair that he should voice him - credit where credit's due and all that. Seb's writing is perhaps more droll and erudite than my own, and he beautifully captures that self-righteous quality possessed by so many students who engage in public protests - not to mention the dry nods to Warwick's student paper The Boar and its then-rival The Sanctuary. Seb does a great job on the voice work, something that would come in useful in later weeks.
http://theboar.org/static/img/header-logo.4.png
The other difference with this episode is that we start with Alex's section rather than finishing with it. This was probably because Seb's work had such a fitting ending - I honestly can't remember. What I do remember is that Alex improvised a fair amount of his dialogue, which worked out very well and added a lot of humour. Because he's so good at playing deadpan, Alex is adept at coming across as very academic (which he is) and then puncturing the mood with a very well-timed one-liner.

So, having explained my absence and what resulted, here's Series 2, Episode 4 for your enjoyment:
Daniel

P.S. Following last week's episode featuring Richard Straker, it has been brought to my attention that there was an actual journalist and broadcaster called Richard Straker, who was the BBC's Senior TV Announcer throughout the 1980s. Suffice to say the character was in no way intended to poke fun at Mr. Straker, and any (unlikely) resemblance is purely coincidental.

P.P.S. Yes, that is me in the photo on the far-left - from my very brief, self-righteous protester phase.

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