Ham-tastic, Nov 02, 2009

Reviewer: BringBackFrasier from France

For me Frasier was the best sitcom ever made and Ham Radio the best episode. I must have seen this episode at least ten times (even playing it back-to-back) and I laugh out loud every time. Pure genious! I'm going to watch it again tonight having read all of these reviews!

Rating: 100%

Funniest Frasier Episode Ever, Oct 14, 2009

Reviewer: Scotty from Glasgow, Scotland

Thought this episode was funniest Frasier episode out of the lot.

The scene in the station couldn't be better, with Gil desperately trying to get his 'boyhood in Surrey' speech out, and then when Niles cracks up at Frasier in the end and kills of the characters.

Some brilliant one liners too when the scene returns to Frasiers apartment "It's turning into a bloodbath" xD

I think that scene in the station alone makes this episode special, as it is literary just one laugh after another!

Rating: 99%

The FUNNIEST episode I've seen so far!, Aug 26, 2009

Reviewer: Karen Maguire from Dublin, Ireland

I only started watching Frasier at the beginning of this year and literally became OBSESSED after seeing the episode from Season One when Frasier & Niles begin to fight with each other in a Hotel Room! Ham Radio was on Paramount Comedy last week & since then I've watched it on Youtube about TEN TIMES, haha...it just doesn't get old! I loved how each of the characters were simply hilarious in their own right! I will be honest though...Gil Chesterton MADE it for me! His several hilarious attempts to get his speech heard on the air was just priceless! I would recommend anyone who enjoyed this episode as much as I did to go onto Youtube and watch 'Halloween' and 'High Holidays'...I was in HYSTERICS after these two! The quality from whoever uploaded them is perfect! If anyone else recommends any other episodes of Frasier to watch, please post the names up here! As a newcomer to the fan club I haven't gotten through all of the episodes yet so I would appreciate it! THANKS! c",)

Rating: 100%

The most overrated episode of 'Frasier' ever, Aug 25, 2009

Reviewer: Sitcom Fan from U.K

Of all the episodes of 'Frasier', this is the most overrated. So many seem to say this is the best episode of 'Frasier', many even say it’s the best comedy half hour ever. After watching it for the umpteenth time, I just cannot understand it. To me, this is not a particularly outstanding episode.

'Ham Radio' is 'Frasier' at its most broad. Thus it's not surprising that many people who don’t normally like 'Frasier' love this episode. However, what surprises me is that ardent 'Frasier' fans often rate it as one of the best, if not THE best, episode of 'Frasier'. If this is so, they must be pretty bored and disappointed by most other 'Frasier' episodes, because most episodes (particularly in the first seven seasons) are excellent stories that explore character and relationships, as well as being full of witty dialogue. ‘Ham Radio’ abandons all this in favour of silly accents, people saying words backwards, and squeaky voices. By 'Frasier' s standards, its pretty silly and simplistic humour. Fortunately, this episode is not representative of the show as a whole, which is my favourite T.V programme of all time. If all episodes of 'Frasier' were like this, I wouldn't like the show very much.

I don’t think it is a bad episode. The earlier part of it, in particular, is enjoyable, especially the rehearsal scene at Frasier's apartment and Daphne's sarcastic comments. But I’ve just been looking through the script online and there are very few of the great one liners that pepper most 'Frasier' scripts of this period. It's definitely in the bottom quarter of season 4 for me, and wouldn’t make my top 50 episodes of 'Frasier', let alone my top 10. There are SO many better episodes. The ending in particular is rather underwhelming. It feels like we are building up to some big punchline but then Frasier just says ‘Perhaps we could have a little post-play discussion?’ and the scene fades out. It’s hardly ending the episode on a high.

This is a reasonably enjoyable episode, but I find it’s incredible popularity mystifying when compared to masterpieces such as ‘The Good Son’, ‘A Midwinter Night's Dream’, ‘My Coffee With Niles’, ‘The Matchmaker’, ‘Daphne's Room’, ‘An Affair To Forget’, ‘Breaking The Ice’, ‘Martin Does It His Way’, ‘Frasier Grinch’, ‘Look Before You Leap’, ‘The Impossible Dream’, ‘Mixed Doubles’, ‘Death and the Dog’, ‘3 Dates and a Breakup’, ‘Daphne Hates Sherry’, ‘Are You Being Served’, ‘Frasier’s Imaginary Friend’, ‘The Gift Horse’ , ‘Halloween’, ‘Voyage of the Damned’, ‘Room Service’, ‘First Date’….the list goes on and on. This is an O.K, occasionally excellent episode, but along with ‘The 2 Mrs Cranes’ , the most overrated 'Frasier' episode ever.

Rating: 75%

Another Gem, Aug 20, 2009

Reviewer: MaryM from San Francisco

I loved this one-- so many funny things about it. I especially liked it when Roz walks in with tissues in her mouth because she had an unanticipated trip to the dentist. Her pronunciation of her lines is priceless... if you look closely, you can see the others (Frasier and Niles) pursing their lips, so as to squelch their laughter.

Rating: 96%

Hysterical, Aug 06, 2009

Reviewer: Steve G from Huddersfield, UK

Not much to add to what others have written. Quite simply the funniest episode of any sitcom I've ever seen.

Just watched it again for the first time since it was initially broadcast. Missed some of the jokes because I was laughing so hard!

I keep chuckling to myself at the thought of Gil's ridiculous attempts to get his monologue out. Luckily, I'm stuck at home; if I were able to go out, I'd probably be committed!

Off now to watch it again. And again. And again

Rating: 100%

Best, Jun 04, 2009

Reviewer: Darija from Serbia

I literally start gasping for air with laughter watching this one, and I'm not usually that kind of a comedy fan. Literally. I don't have favorite moments, it's just one perfect episode. It's slapstick and seamless intelligent comedy writing at the same time. And it comes together brilliantly successfully.

In that sense it reminds me of the Inn Keepers episode, another one of my favorites.

Rating: 100%

comedy genius, Apr 06, 2009

Reviewer: the man with the golden nug from edinburgh,scotland

this has to be one of the greatest frasiers ever so so funny. Frasier never fails to disappoint me. My favourite moment in this episode has to be when Niles starts popping the balloons and says thank you! Then he shoots himself and goes to Frasier "ha". Pure brilliance

Rating: 99%

The Ultimate Comedy of (T)errors!, Jan 08, 2009

Reviewer: David Sim from Skelmersdale, Lancashire

After Joe Keenan and Christopher Lloyd, David Lloyd is by far the best writer on the Frasier staff. And Ham Radio is undoubtedly his masterpiece. I think at some point, every Frasier writer peaks with a script that goes far, above and beyond anything else they've ever written. And for David Lloyd, its Ham Radio.

Many fans believe its the best episode in the show's 11 year run. A sentiment shared by Kelsey Grammer and Dan Butler. Personally I feel that honour goes to Joe Keenan's The Two Mrs Cranes, which is his masterpiece. But Ham Radio is still an undisputed classic. What with David Lloyd's precision script, David Lee's fast-paced direction and a cast who have seldom been better, Ham Radio is a class act all the way!

Ham Radio reminds considerably of Lloyd's Season 2 classic, The Innkeepers, the episode that confirmed his position as one of the show's finest writers. Where that was a restaurant's disastrous opening night where nothing went right, this is a radio play instead. Indeed the play's title, Nightmare Inn sounds like an in-joke to The Innkeepers, one suspects.

But David Lloyd takes a different approach to both episodes. Where The Innkeepers relied on slapstick and physical comedy, Ham Radio gets its laughs through the sheer strength of its writing. Lloyd is always in his element when he concocts farce that spirals out of control with no end in sight. And Ham Radio is Lloyd's most perfect stab at it. He really pulls out all the stops and runs his audience through a rollercoaster ride so intense, you're physically exhausted at the end of it.

Ham Radio and The Innkeepers are similar in many ways. Not only do they have the same structure, even the supporting cast is the same. Gil and Bulldog return, and in this case Noel as well. Which is one of the reasons why I think this episode is so adored. Just about everyone involved gets in on the action. Its a team effort all the way.

Lloyd doesn't waste time either. He plunges us right into the story from the first frame. KACL is putting on Nightmare Inn, an old-fashioned murder mystery to celebrate the station's 50th anniversary. And Frasier is directing it! Where Martin predicted things would go bad in The Innkeepers, this time its Niles. He knows full well once Frasier starts something, he can't leave it alone until he's well and truly wrecked it. And it isn't long before Niles is proven right.

The rehearsal scene at Frasier's apartment is one joyous gem after another. Too many to mention though. I liked Daphne doing sound effects. Bulldog's politically incorrect Mr Wing. And best of all, Frasier's dismissal of the one professional actor they have. Frasier's opinion of his German accent is classic:

Mel: I've done that accent on Broadway and the London stage.
Frasier: Well maybe they have different standards than I have.

When Mel quits, they're man of a thousand voices has left the show with six characters less. So Frasier has to get Niles to do it. Ham Radio is more fun when watched on TV. Because the commercial break is perfectly intercut with Daphne's wonderful closing line:

Daphne: Sound of Ominous Organ Music indicating trouble ahead!

The episode is on rails and going full steam ahead in the second act, when everything goes horribly wrong during the show's broadcast. Roz can't deliver her lines because her mouth is full of novocaine after a dentist appointment. Her delivery of multiple murderer is cracking. So is Frasier's reply ("that's easy for you to say").

Bulldog gets stage fright and freezes up. Niles is none too happy at having to do six different parts with six different accents. The studio gets a phone call just after Frasier's said the phone line's are dead. The problems just keep piling up.

Noel messes up the sound effects by accidentally playing the sound of an ice cream van! Bulldog's girlfriend Maxine only has one line, but because she's dyslexic she says it backwards! And best of all is Gil. David Lloyd always writes him better then anyone. And this has got to be Gil's finest hour.

Frasier has just cut Gil's favourite line from the play because they haven't got time for it. Gil goes to hell and back trying to get it out on the air. Even after his character, Nigel Fairservice dies, Gil has a few tricks up his sleeve. First playing Nigel's brother Cedric. And then the ice cream man! Frasier has to kill them all to get Gil to shut up! Daphne's "this is turning into a bloodbath" is wonderful!

When Frasier's nitpicking becomes unbearable, Niles kills off the entire cast of characters to spite him, ending the show nine minutes early. Peri Gilpin looks genuinely amused by all this if you watch her in the background. And that's the end of Nightmare Inn!

Wow! What an episode! One of the funniest, most frantic episodes ever made. Each viewing of it reveals something new. Yes it really is that good! If you weren't a fan of Frasier before, you will be once you've seen Ham Radio.

Rating: 100%

Best Ever Frasier Episode - THE Classic, Sep 12, 2008

Reviewer: Kevin Phillips from UK

I absolutely cry with laughter every time I watch this episode.

Rating: 100%

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