Have you been down in the dumps lately? Stuck at home thinking, “golly goodness, why can’t some Cambridge comedians make a good-ol’-fashioned weekly satirical radio show based around an absurd, incompetent news organisation, written in the vein of such classics as ’The Day Today’ and ’Brass Eye’? Then boy, are you in for a treat!

Tomorrow’s News is the brainchild of myself and my writing partner, Jake Rose, reeling from more lockdowns, cancelled ADC shows, and scouring our respective data banks for fresh ideas to pursue in Lent Term. Both of us are enormous fans of dry, deadpan humour (so much so that I am frequently insulting people without them even realising), and when Jake suggested a ‘fake news’ show while sat on a bench in Jesus Green holding lukewarm Pret coffee, Tomorrow’s News was born.

As should be apparent by now, pandemics are quite terrible, but for the Cambridge Theatre community the lockdowns have also given a rare opportunity to get creative with what we make. Writers, directors, actors, techies - everyone has pivoted to radio and film, opening up entirely new storytelling possibilities that just aren’t there on the stage.

“Indeed, as mainstream life becomes more farcical, satire has taken a hit too, playing to its respective political echo chambers while simultaneously being unfunny and terrible”

For radio, that manifests in, at least, three ways. Firstly, it’s fundamentally a medium for actors and writers, being driven entirely by the spoken words of which it is written. Secondly, with no need to visualise, you can basically do anything you want. And thirdly, the story need not be contained within a single performance; it can be serialised and told over multiple weeks, with episodes or instalments constantly available for all to hear. Given how fun and creatively liberating working in radio is, combined with the constant need to keep ourselves frantically busy with anything other than our degrees, a weekly satirical news show just seemed like a no-brainer.

Like the opening pastiche says, Tomorrow’s News is inspired by shows like Brass Eye and The Day Today, with the satirical aim updated for 2021. Whereas the 1990s press exploded with tabloid journalism and frequently ludicrous stories, the major problem for today is that it is mainstream life and society which has become ludicrous - and, in an effort to provide ‘balance,’ news organisations will platform views that are otherwise insane, creating a feedback loop of polarization and a dramatically expanded Overton window.

Indeed, as mainstream life becomes more farcical, satire has taken a hit too, playing to its respective political echo chambers while simultaneously being unfunny and terribleIndeed, as mainstream life becomes more farcical, satire has taken a hit too, playing to its respective political echo chambers while simultaneously being unfunny and terrible (naming no names). But to go for simple ‘both-sides-ism’ on any particular issue is also its own kind of ideology, and risks mistaking not just who really holds the balance of power - and thus, who should be being satirised - but also losing any semblance of thematic, comedic purpose. Fortunately, we don’t claim to have actually solved the problem, but we’re trying to give it a good go.

The experience of making the show so far - a Christmas Day pilot, and the premiere for a series of six episodes - has been insanely fun. Our team of writers, comprising a collaborative Writers’ Room who meet weekly to hash out ideas, sketches and segments under the direction of Jake and I, are outstanding. Each episode is a collection of unique jokes and comedic styles, ranging from dry satire (on the launch of ‘Music 2’), to outright absurdism (‘Priti Patel has launched a search for the iceberg that sank the Titanic to stop refugee boats coming into Britain’), to some genuinely real news stories (try and guess which!), yet still manages to feel creatively cohesive. Whatever kind of comedy you enjoy, there should be something for you!

Brought to life by an energetic and brilliant cast playing , we have been absolutely reeling with laughter in the Zoom recording sessions this week. And if it’s that fun for us, then hopefully it’ll be fun for you listening, too.

Tomorrow’s News premieres on CamFM on Saturday, January 30th, at 21:00, with episodes airing every week at the same time.