Howzat? 4.2 / 6

There was a danger here that this podcast, in the hands of shiny-mega-commercial-radio-company Global, would be produced within an inch of its life, sucking all the glorious comedy freestyling from a trio of Scottish comedians so blasé, they make Snoop Dog (Snoop Lion?) look like accountants on the verge of a heart attack. 

Luckily for us, though, the powers-that-be have given Frankie Boyle, Susie McCabe, and Christopher MacArthur-Boyd space to breath to do what they do best – fuck around and be funny. There’s no real point to this show – apart from the focus on being “dark”, whatever that means – but that’s the glory of it. Yes, there is a hint of ‘hey, look at us, we’re Scottish and hate everything English’, but if you’re offended by that, you probably wouldn’t be listening to anything featuring Frankie Boyle, would you? Also, whoever the producer is, please at least rein them in a little bit. The amount of compression used to level out the volume is, frankly, unacceptable. 

In this episode, the clan (ha!) focus on Hadrian’s Wall (the Romans couldn’t nee conquer us // there’s a myth that Scotland was all forests); the realities of presenting on shopping channels (“the fuckers burn you out”); Drugs (was weed in the 1970s weaker?), itchy blankets (“what were they all about?); and The Beatles (“I reckon John Lennon was a cunt”): All subjects that suit the brazen Scottish accent and bring us the jeering they no doubt deserve.  

It has to be said that despite the pitch that this is down, dirty and [Glaswegian] Scottish, Here Comes the Guillotine is punctuated by some pretty erudite stuff, particularly from Boyle, who, let’s face it, isn’t as blunt as his PR makes out. He’s a Radio 4 regular, for crying out loud, and comes out with some tremendous factoids about every single topic which is discussed. Gaun yersel!

Over all, does what it says on the tin, and then some.   

GF