Final Recording of 2012

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Lee

Last night a select crack team of professional mercenaries gathered in a secret location (no, not Brighton actually!) and recorded the Series One Christmas Special of 4amcab. When I say crack team, what I really mean is the usual bunch of scallywags that heard there’d be mince pies and a bottle of Cava, and as such they couldn’t resist.

I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of the team that has worked on the project, from the actors to the writers and all the way up to the tea boy (there is no tea boy, must get one for Series Two). I won’t list them by name here, that’s what the credits tab at the top of this page is for, but without them the show would have been very different and perhaps wouldn’t have even happened at all. They were all brilliant and it’s been great working with them on what has turned out to be a very special project. The one person I will mention by name is the tea girl, otherwise know as Rachel Wheeley. She’s the tea girl in that she’s had a mug of tea grafted to her hand just so she has a drinking vessel available at every moment in the production. Rachel is my co-creator and although I do the recording and mixing of the thing you actually hear, without her I wouldn’t have even got off the ground with the project – she was the one who first uttered the words “4amcab”. Just when I feel like I can’t face another blinking cursor, she’ll send me a text/email which keeps me going. This is a collaborative production and without Rachel’s incredible motivational powers it would have probably stayed in my head and not reached your ears. Cheers Rach!

So, now I have the massive task of trying to get this final show of 2012 in the can before the season of joy has passed, let’s hope it don’t end in tears. I’m expecting a text from Rachel kicking my butt any second…

Done and Dusted… for now!

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Lee

And now, the end is near. And so I face the final curtain.

Well there are no curtains but, metaphorically, the final one has fallen on series one. We’d just like to take a moment to pat ourselves on the back –

*humph*

“Owwww!”

We’d also say a few thank you’s to all the wonderful people we’ve worked with on the project so far. We’ve had nine writers, 16 actors, one animator and one Bi Polar Bear! Not to mention 6,368 downloads of the whole project to date, which has far exceeded our humble expectations. We’ve recorded in seven different locations, ranging from a proper studio and a converted church all the way to Lee’s garage and garden shed.

I hope you agree that we have come a long way from the start and that as we’ve gone along the episodes have improved in every way. We are going to spend some of our time off looking at what has worked and come back with a bigger and better show in the New Year.

In the meantime, we are working on a Christmas Special (are we? – ed), so it’s not really the end. Series Two will kick off once we’ve recovered from our Yuletide hangovers, so expect something in February. We will continue to post stuff up on this website and we are quite active on Twitter too, oh and don’t forget to ‘like’ us on Facebook … we’ll even throw in a digital latte!

4amcab goes 2D

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Rachel

A little while ago we asked if anyone fancied animating one of our sketches. We were blown away when the brilliant Mike Kelley of kelleytoons sent us an email to say he’d only gone and flippin’ created this gorgeous cartoon for our ‘Phone virus’ sketch (from Ep 5) Thank you Mike!

And if that weren’t exciting enough, Episode 6 is out now!

S1Ep6: Ghosts

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Lee

The last 4amcab of Series 1. Or is it?

Sarah and Steve have a hot tip off. They head to a secret location in the hope of spotting a real life ghost hunter. Will they find their target? Will they get that 12 part TV series? Will Steve grow a pair?

Meanwhile, the 4amcab Pathology lab have a double homicide to deal with, Derek is off to save a tabby cat in a tricky spot and Mairead continues to rebuild her life after that messy divorce from ex-husband Martin.

In and amongst we have the usual selection of 4am ads, offers, scams and backwater cable channels for your delectation.

The last 4amcab (penultimate, really – watch this space) is here.

Would anybody ‘like’ a sandwich?

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Calling all animators!

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Rachel

Are you a frustrated animator with an itchy pencil finger but nothing to draw? Fancy casting Derek, Mairead, or the ALL NEW Fat Pipe into glorious 2D (or even 3D) reality?

If so, please get in touch. We hope it would be mutually beneficial. A portfolio piece for the animator, and a thing of beauty for our sleep-deprived listeners to cast their eyes over whilst allowing one of our sketches to penetrate the lateral cortex.

So do get in touch, and if you know a talented animator, please send this on, we’d love to hear from them.

The Future

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Lee

We have some disturbing news.

4amcab is shortly due to cease broadcasting (uploading?) in its current form. We are going to fly in the face of what all commentators say and switch to producing a daily newspaper. Print is the future.

Well, no. We’re not. What we are planning to do is have a break after the next episode to regain our composure, get some loose women in (I’ve got loads of episodes stored on my generic hard disc recording device) and take stock of where we’ve been, where we are and where we want to be. We’re very proud of what we’ve achieved so far with 4amcab but we want to spend a little bit time seeing where we can improve. We won’t be gone for long, the second series will be here before you know it.

Back to now though, Episode 6 is in pre production. Thanks again to everyone that took the time to send us their work, we’re reading them all and trying to figure out how to use as many as we can. So, the final episode of Series 1 ought to be up sometime at the beginning of November.

We shall return in the new year with a shiny more 4am show, so keep that subscription in place. Oh, and we are toying with the idea of a Christmas Special, so make sure you don’t miss that too (so that means Ep 6 will be the penultimate show, right?).

In the meanwhile, follow us on twitter to make sure you don’t miss anything.

S1Ep5: Doctored

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Lee

Just another regular night shift at St Joan’s. Dr Whom and Nurse Fielding are attempting to answer that existential question: where can you get a decent meal at 4am?

Clive is conducting another of his ‘urban twitches’, Baz and Terry engage in conversation, and Dave goes to see his doctor with a bad headache.

Meanwhile, we take a trip to the Forest of Codeine to see if Derek can save Deborah the Zebra (she is a Zebra, right?) and Dave goes to see his Doctor with a bad headache.

It’s time for another ride in the 4amcab.

Oh, and Mairead has a date. Watch out.

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Vote for us

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Rachel

The 4th European Podcast Awards are now underway, and 4amcab has been nominated!

If you love 4amcab, please click here to vote for us, and as always please tell your friends, or we’ll have to set Mairead on you.

Thanks!

5,000 downloads and counting

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Rachel

Jesus fed a great multitude of 5,000 with only five loaves and a couple of fish. Here at 4amcab we have made ear food for 5,000 of you with only a microphone, half a tree’s worth of paper and the blood, sweat and tears of Lee Wilson. There the horrendous and somewhat blasphemous analogy happily ends.

Yes, we have now had our 5,000th download, and we’re excited that episode 5 is now in production. It has a medical theme, several new characters and a new writer we’ve not worked with before, so lots to look forward to.

If you’ve enjoyed the epsiodes you’ve heard so far, please tell all your friends about 4amcab. We need new subscribers all the time, so please go round your mates’ house and ask them if they’ve heard 4amcab yet (or just give us a RT, follow us on twitter here.)

More news on episode 5 soon, stay tuned.

Other podcasts we like

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Lee

We’re a liberal bunch here at 4amcab and as such we’d like to tell you about a couple of our favourite podcasts, that we have nothing to do with. Some nay sayers might say, “Nay, they are your competition for listeners!” but the way we see it is that if we tell you about them and you enjoy them, then we’ll get that nausiating smug feeling and karma might come into play. I’d like to tell you about two shows that are quite similar to the sort of thing we do but also have their own twist on produced comedy.

Kim Noble’s Prawn Facts
If you’ve never entered Mr Kim Noble’s world, then prepare for a bizarre treat. He reminds me of that awkward schoolboy that sat in the corner of the classroom and had pockets full of marbles and snot all over his face. A misfit that never really managed to develop his social skills at the same rate as everyone else. Of course, this could be an elaborate cover and he may be the life and soul fo the party in real life. His Prawn Facts podcast, of which there are currently seven episodes available, take the form of an investigative journalism approach to a theme or subject and are forged from phonecalls, vox pops and monologues that circle around and back to where they began. An entertaining and creative listen. Follow him on twitter too for photos and commentry of him surreptitiously touching things in public without their owner knowing.

FISTBUMPIN’ with Flat 29
Imagine a trio of performing arts graduates who specialise in music and sound and have a bit of time on their hands. Sounds like it could be awful, but FISTBUMPIN’ (for they use capitals themselves) with Flat 29 is a delight. It’s a composition of sketches and music of their own creation and the closest thing we’ve found to 4amcab so far. Of course, they are very talented musicians and we can barely play the triangle (even if Rachel holds the hitty part) so they’ve got a great additional element to what they do. They are clearly good friends too and the inclusion of an occassional outtake, left in for comedy value, is perfectly judged. They are also on twitter too, so follow them for more details of their stuff as and when. Should also mention they also have an album which, rather generously, they allow you to listen for free on their website.

If you do go and listen to either or both podcasts, tell them that @4amcab sent you ;-)