Bish Bash Bosh, NewsRevue Spin Off In Willesden, Opening Night, 22 July 1993

I have written a short piece about Bish Bash Bosh when I uncovered my submission sheet for that show – no need to repeat myself – click here or below:

On 22 July, Janie joined me and “others” for the opening night. Quite a stalwart was Janie in those days.

Harriet Quirk writes about that opening night on the NewsRevue Facebook group – click here for link:

I remember it well ! Rory Bremner came along to the first show with unfortunately only about 10 other people!…

…so that’s Rory, Janie, me, Harriet and possibly six others. We might be anble to name the whole audience if we put our minds to it. Harriet continues…

We were asked to put on shows at a venue in Willesden by a big Newsrevue fan and after lots of deliberation could only come up with Bish Bash Bosh as a name. Unfortunately it didn’t take off 😢

I responded:

The place was a dive if I remember correctly. I must interrogate Janie about it and see what she remembers. I do recall her not liking the place and forming a strong view that Newsrevue wouldn’t work there. 

Yup, that’s just about all she remembers.

I wonder whether anyone has the running order for that show. The only artifact that provides more clues I scraped from a comedy collective site some months ago – good job I scraped it because it has now gone. I have thus preserved one of Ivan Shakespeare’s classic songs – The Subsidy Song – for posterity. It was for sure in this Bish Bash Bosh show. Here’s the link again – enjoy.

That sheet confirms the Bish Bash Bosh cast…and what an excellent cast it was – scraped below with spellings/misspellings intact:

Jonathon Linsley, Paul Dietch, Paula Tappenden, Virginie Gilchrist and Una McNulty

Bish Bash Bosh NewsRevue Submission, 20 June 1993

That summer, NewsRevue attempted to spread beyond its Canal Cafe (Little Venice) and Edinburgh roots by trying an additional venue, named Bish Bash Bosh, in Willesden Green.

My submission, below, is addressed to Keith (presumably Keith Wickham). I’m not sure how many of these he used – from memory perhaps two or three.

Googling Bish Bash Bosh Willesden reveals only the following relevant piece, click here, which brings back many happy and bittersweet memories of Ivan Shakespeare’s very best work. It also confirms my memories of where Bish Bash Bosh was. If by chance anything goes awry with that link, I have scraped Ivan’s classic to here.

Willesden Green stn building north

Anyway, here is my June 1993 submission:

LIST OF SONGS SUBMITTED AND TAPE TRACK LISTING

BISH BASH BOSH STARTER PACK
 
Dear Keith
 
I enclose your fun pack of lyrics and tape.  The pack includes some current ones and some golden oldies.  Note the huge spread of music ranging from the 1930s to the 1990s, pausing only occasionally in the good old 70s.
 
Please let me know if there are any others that you can remember that you want.  I have tried to choose the better ones.
 
See you soon.