The Early Edition covers each day’s news, with different guests for every performance, so it is highly probable that the quality of the show must vary too. The constants are affable, cheeky hosts Marcus Brigstocke and Andre Vincent, and on this occasion the guests were Carrie Quinlan and Terry Alderton. There was something about this combination that just felt slightly flat on the day, despite the best efforts of all involved. Perhaps it was simply the fact that in post-Olympics August, a month known to journalists as the ‘silly season’ in which ‘nothing happens,’ there just wasn’t a lot of news.
However, Brigstocke and Vincent had the audience laughing from the beginning. They are very natural in their interactions with each other and the audience. Their wit is sharp and clever, full of puns, and quick to mock the government and the media. Times when Brigstocke’s blatant liberalism came through were particularly enjoyable: he was truly unafraid to incorporate insightful lefty comments into his comedy, and in the first half of the show these jokes ran smoothly and spontaneously.
That same spontaneous and unscripted nature of the show did it some damage as well. It didn’t feel entirely polished, and with the lack of interesting news stories the content was thinly spread. Deadpan Quinlan and mischievous Alderton made the occasional brilliant inputs, but Alderton in particular was sometimes guilty of making obscure jokes that just fell flat, creating some awkward silent moments. As the show progressed, the panel’s cohesion became patchy. The Early Edition is highly topical, and a wonderfully entertaining way to hear about the day’s news, but would benefit from more planning beforehand so that the audience isn’t left with the odd stretches of silence while the panel flick through the papers for something, anything to discuss.
