Tag: Tom Baker

Ben McKenzie, John Richards, Dave Callan and Paul Verhoeven

Four/Comedy

Hosts Ben McKenzie, John Richards and Petra Elliott discuss Tom Baker and comedy in Doctor Who in the fourth live Splendid Chaps episode, recorded in two parts at Trades Hall in Melbourne as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival on April 6 and 13, 2013. With special guests Dave Callan (Triple J), Paul Verhoeven (Steam Punks, Lords of Luxury), Adam Richard (The Shelf, Outland) and Josie Long (Lost Treasures of the Black Heart), plus the stand-up Dalek and a cover of Doctor Poo and the Psychic Koalas’ “The Universe is Big” performed by our very own Petra and the Time Lads – Caleb Garfinkel and Bryce Clark!

To make sure you don’t miss an episode, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or via this Feedburner feed.

Don’t forget you can go into the draw to win a (Region 4) DVD copy of The Legacy Collection box set (containing Shada and More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS) by commenting on this episode below! Tell us what you think of the Baker era, share your favourite gags from Doctor Who, or just tell us what you thought of our Comedy Festival episode. Comment by May 18 to be in the running, and we’ll announce the winner at the recording of Five/Fear on May 19.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:11:23 — 32.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Four/Comedy viewing list

As revealed at the recording of our last live episode, Three/Family, here is your homework viewing for episode Four/Comedy!

In the unlikely event that you’ve never seen the Fourth Doctor in action, we suggest viewing the following three stories to get a good idea:

  • The Pyramids of Mars
  • The Talons of Weng-Chiang
  • Warrior’s Gate

That’s only a small sampling of his seven years, but we think it hits the best of all three periods of the Tom Baker era – something we’ll not doubt talk more about in the podcast itself.

You’ll find two more Baker stories (from his “middle period”) in our “Comedy” list – it’s no coincidence we picked this theme for him! We think you’ll have a good laugh with (and occasionally at) these stories:

  • The Romans (William Hartnell, 1964; four episodes)
  • City of Death (Tom Baker, 1979; four episodes)
  • Creature from the Pit (Tom Baker, 1979; four episodes)
  • Paradise Towers (Sylvester McCoy, 1987; four episodes)
  • Love & Monsters (David Tennant, 2006; one episode)

You might also like to watch The Gunfighters (we talked about it quite a bit in episode one), and for bonus points, the explicitly comedic specials like Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death and Time Crash. Plus there’s this handy list of “10 of the funniest Doctor Who moments” from BBC America’s Anglophenia blog.

Have any other stories made you giggle? Share your suggestions in the comments below!