The Irrelevant Show

Infobox Radio
show_name = The Irrelevant Show
caption =
rating =
format = Sketch comedy
runtime = 30 minutes
starring = Leona Brausen
Marianne Copithorne
Neil Grahn
Mark Meer
Jana O'Connor
Donovan Workun
Joe Bird
country = CAN
network = CBC Radio One
first_aired = 2003
last_aired = 2008
num_seasons = 4|

"The Irrelevant Show" is a half-hour sketch comedy show aired on CBC Radio One, initially broadcast Saturday afternoons during the third hour of "Definitely Not the Opera" starting in 2003. Early in 2004 it was given a slot of its own late Saturday mornings for a short series of nine shows, and in 2005 returned as a recurring comedy show broadcast as part of "DNTO". The show returned for another series in the summer of 2008, airing Friday nights and Saturday mornings.

Description

Each episode of "The Irrelevant Show" consists of a series of comedy sketches. Typical sketches from the series comment humorously on popular culture in some way, with sketches like Bionic Centurion Trucker, the helpline operator for The Matrix computer system, the Jane Austen Drinking Game, or the mock expose on the Salvation Army's Special Forces unit. Common themes or storylines are often returned to at different times throughout an episode.

Recording

The first series was recorded live at the Varscona Theatre in the Old Strathcona district of Edmonton. Subsequent episodes were recorded before a live audience at the Stanley A. Milner Library Theatre in downtown Edmonton. The 2008 series returned to the Varscona Theatre.

Cast and Writers

The original cast included Wes Borg, Paul Mather, Mark Meer, Jana O'Connor and Donovan Workun, all of whom have worked with or wrote for previous comedy troupes, including Atomic Improv, the CTV sitcom Corner Gas, the improvised soap opera Die-Nasty, improv/sketch troupe Gordon's Big Bald Head, the CBC television show "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" and the comedy-musical group Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie.

The 2008 cast is Leona Brausen, Marianne Copithorne, Neil Grahn, Meer, Workun, and O'Connor with music by Joe Bird. Sound effects are provided by Eric Wagers.

Writers for the 2008 series include Meer, Grahn, Cathleen Rootsaert, Dana Anderson, Jeff Haslam, Jocelyn Ahlf, Belinda Cornish, Josh Dean, Ron Pederson, Kurt Smeaton, George Westerholm, Matt Watts, Nile Seguin and writers from Mostly Water Theatre, Gordon's Big Bald Head, and Lobster Telephone. Neil Grahn is head writer. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/radiosummer/irrelevantshow/about.html CBC Radio Summer - The Irrelevant Show: Performer Bios ] ]

The show is produced by Peter Brown.

External links

* [http://www.cbc.ca/radiosummer/irrelevantshow/ Official CBC site]
* [http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/columnists/story.html?id=ef7828f1-4481-4abf-8009-ebe107c3fd27&p=1 "Irrelevant Show boosts Edmonton's significance across national airwaves", Edmonton Journal]
* [http://www.vueweekly.com/article.php?id=8332 "Not Going to Be Irrelevant for Much Longer", Vue Weekly]

References