The Score

You may not have heard of it, you may not be aware that it ever existed but for nearly two decades, the most innovative and prolific comedy show on Irish television was for children. Perhaps because RTE couldn’t have cared less, perhaps because it was live but The Den would invariably touch on issues that weren’t usually associated with its target audience. Accusations against corrupt politicians and why the President of Ireland couldn’t be a woman were common place in the 90s Den. In fact Dustin Hoffman (the Turkey) ran in the 1990 Presidential election with several thousand people spoiling their vote by declaring Dustin as the best man for the job. You may also know of Dustin the Turkey from his recent success in securing his place to perform at Eurovision, representing Ireland. Up until 1993, The Den was the home for Zig & Zag where every day from 3 to 6 O’clock, they performed with no script, improvising and trying to make the human in-between Ray Darcy laugh and flub his delivery of required information. It was also where Podge and Rodge first made their appearance with Podge being an evil puppet that came to life. This may seem bat-shit crazy to all of you out there in the world but this shows just how popular the Den and its performers became with the entire country, often attracting an audience far older than its intended demographic. And of course the fact that Zig & Zag came to some fame through the Big Breakfast.

Unfortunately for us, RTE are incredibly inept at either producing quality programming by any design or realising what they have when they do. In spite of the fact that the show was reaching its 20th Anniversary, they chose to cancel it and replace it with gormless, shoddy “someone’s cousin” based children’s drivel. No DVD collections are intended to be released or any other attempt to document one of the breeding grounds for Irish Comedy over the last two decades. Luckily for us Youtube exists and has many pleasing videos from the classic years of the Den. Some of the references may pass you by and the production quality is as shoddy as can be but please persevere and take a look at these choice videos, which showcase the talent on display.