I think there are important differences between the two shows. Well, differences anyway.
"Dead Ringers" is an impressions show. While much of its material is topical, a lot of the humour comes from the impersonations themselves - e.g: the prank phone calls, the sketch about Darth Vader and Doctor Who moving into Rigsby's house.
"Week Ending" took its cue pretty much specifically from the week's news. While it featured impressions, it also had sketches featuring non-famous people - e.g: a suburban couple reading the Poll Tax leaflet (God, I'm showing my age here) - as a way of illustrating a news story.
"Week Ending" would accept material from anyone - which is how I got into this magical business we call 'show'. I don't know if "Dead Ringers" accepts scripts from any old spotty Herbert.
Mr Griffiths sums it up admirably. I'm the first to own up to the debt 'Dead Ringers' owes to 'Weekending'.
Of course whether you call it 'influenced by' or 'a rip off copy' depends on whether you're kindly disposed towards the programme or not (see an earlier posting I made on the TV Forum).
I think Phil and Mr Griffiths above, pretty much illustrate the two opposing camps.
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>"Week Ending" took its cue pretty much specifically from the week's news. While it featured impressions, it also had sketches featuring non-famous people - e.g: a suburban couple reading the Poll Tax leaflet (God, I'm showing my age here) - as a way of illustrating a news story.
More topical stuff you mean? Oh, right. The sketches I remember most from Weekending are the parodies/impressions. Curse my subjective memory.
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>"Week Ending" would accept material from anyone - which is how I got into this magical business we call 'show'. I don't know if "Dead Ringers" accepts scripts from any old spotty Herbert.
Probably not. Still, you can't deny the similarity between these two programs. Obviously Weekending didn't have a live audience or prank phone calls, but the way the sketches are structured and the overall feeling of the program seem very familiar.
It just gives the impression that Radio comedy hasn't come very far in the last decade. I know that's not really true, but listening to Dead Ringers makes it seem like not much has changed at all. We deserve better.
I think so-called topical comedy will always be the Youth Training Scheme for Aspiring Comedy Writers and as such will always be with us. I spent a lot of time doing quickies and sketches for Huddlines and Week Ending and it is a good foot in the door. It's a good way to get a load of practice and feedback quite quickly.