Light entertainment

Light entertainment is the broad range of usually televisual performances. These include comedies, variety shows, quiz/game shows, sketch shows and people/surprise shows.

Britain

In the early days of the BBC virtually all broadcast entertainment would be considered light by today's standards, as great pains were taken not to offend audiences—which is not to say that they always succeeded in this.

Singers, magicians and comedians were drafted from the music hall circuit to fill the schedules. Stage acts were transferred directly to screen and in the case of productions such as Sunday Night at the London Palladium the broadcasts actually came from large theatres. Many future household names, including The Beatles, were given their first public airings during these programmes, which attempted to cater for varying tastes through staging variety acts. Bruce Forsyth was one of several hosts for the show and went on himself to present the studio-based Generation Game which remains a landmark in the light entertainment genre. The Generation Game revolved around the now-common television standby of getting members of the public to provide the entertainment themselves by doing silly things for prizes.The show's format was somewhere between the old variety programmes and the increasingly ubiquitous quiz shows and it and its descendants still appear in the television schedules.

Light

Light is electromagnetic radiation within a certain portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The word usually refers to visible light, which is visible to the human eye and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), or 4.00 × 10⁻⁷ to 7.00 × 10⁻⁷ m, between the infrared (with longer wavelengths) and the ultraviolet (with shorter wavelengths). This wavelength means a frequency range of roughly 430–750 terahertz (THz).

The main source of light on Earth is the Sun. Sunlight provides the energy that green plants use to create sugars mostly in the form of starches, which release energy into the living things that digest them. This process of photosynthesis provides virtually all the energy used by living things. Historically, another important source of light for humans has been fire, from ancient campfires to modern kerosene lamps. With the development of electric lights and power systems, electric lighting has effectively replaced firelight. Some species of animals generate their own light, a process called bioluminescence. For example, fireflies use light to locate mates, and vampire squids use it to hide themselves from prey.

Entertainment

Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience, or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousands of years specifically for the purpose of keeping an audience's attention. Although people's attention is held by different things, because individuals have different preferences in entertainment, most forms are recognisable and familiar. Storytelling, music, drama, dance, and different kinds of performance exist in all cultures, were supported in royal courts, developed into sophisticated forms and over time became available to all citizens. The process has been accelerated in modern times by an entertainment industry which records and sells entertainment products. Entertainment evolves and can be adapted to suit any scale, ranging from an individual who chooses a private entertainment from a now enormous array of pre-recorded products; to a banquet adapted for two; to any size or type of party, with appropriate music and dance; to performances intended for thousands; and even for a global audience.

Hamish & Andy

Hamish & Andy are an Australian comedy duo formed in 2003 by Hamish Blake and Andy Lee. They currently host the radio program Hamish and Andy for The Drive Home which airs in Australia on FOX F.M.

They are most well known for their successful drive-time radio show, The Hamish & Andy Show (and its various follow-ups), and for their work on television as correspondents on Rove and their Nine Network series Hamish & Andy's Gap Year.

In addition, they have made numerous appearances hosting events, and competing on game shows and in celebrity sporting events.

Background

The two met while Lee was studying Commerce and Blake was studying Commerce/Science at the University of Melbourne, and entered comedy competitions.

Radio career

Hamish & Andy have presented radio programmes for Fox FM in a variety of formats since 2003.

The duo began presenting radio on the Student Youth Network, in the Friday afternoon drivetime slot. In 2003, soon after Hamish began writing for the Fox FM breakfast show (The Matt & Jo Show), the pair began hosting a Monday night late-night radio program called Almost Tuesday on the same station. The duo then hosted the Fox FM program, Almost Midday on Saturday mornings, which was so successful it was syndicated nationally across the Today Network. From 2006, they host the two-hour afternoon program, Hamish & Andy, formerly The Hamish & Andy Show, on the Today Network in all states and territories of Australia and in New Zealand. A weekly highlights package is also broadcast in Dubai.