The Pin

The Pin (2015-2019, United Kingdom)

BBC radio show BBC radio sketch show radio sketch show British comedy show

The Pin as a double-act started more or less when Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen met when they were the part of Cambridge Footlights. For a time they were a trio, but once they reached the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with their show called The Pin, they were a duo and the title became the name for their act.

After the success in Edinburgh they were given the chance to transfer their unique style of sketches into radio show. The Pin debuted in 2015 with the same energy as their live shows and in front of live audience with two seasons of 15-minute-long episodes. The third and fourth season had 28-minute-long episodes, but the fourth one had also another change, it was the only one without the live audience.

As for the formula of The Pin, it was absurdist humour, but with a slight twist - most of the sketches (at least in first three seasons) usually had a preceding or following short scene that would be a build up for the joke or commentary on the sketch itself. Sometimes they were just a commentary, but sometimes they became part of the sketch, so boundaries what is the sketch and what is just a conversation between Ben and Alex, were rather fluid, which made the overall experience more dynamic.

The fourth season, basically called The Pin at Home, in which Ben and Alex were supposedly broadcasting from their own flat, also introduced additional characters (like their neighbour Maria or Ben’s mother), but it hardly helped to fulfil the gap left by the audience and the whole project moved into more sitcom-like format.

Overall, an interesting sketch show that kept a high level of writing for three seasons.

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