Sanjeev Kohli and Gareth Edwards: 7 on 7

Sanjeev Kohli is a comedian, writer, and actor. He has appeared in the sitcom Still Game, and written for shows including Goodness Gracious Me and Chewin' The Fat. He currently co-writes and stars in the radio sitcom Fags, Mags and Bags.

Gareth Edwards is a producer who has worked on Spaced, Dead Ringers, That Mitchell and Webb Sound, and That Mitchell and Webb Look among other shows. He is currently the acting head of Radio Comedy for the BBC.

What's 7 on 7 all about, then?

Gareth: Something that radio comedy has always thrived on is having a strong grassroots base of new writers. And I suspect that we much too easily fall into the trap of concentrating on southern, middle class type writers.

We're on a mission to try and throw the doors a bit wider open and encourage lots more people to come into radio as a place to pitch their writing wares. Not least because it's actually where a lot of really, really strong comedy starts out.

More and more producers now work across radio and TV, so we are in a position to give you something approaching a career structure, which I don't think has ever happened in the writing world before. So you can try things out on radio to find your voice, get more of a profile and eventually make the leap to hyperspace and television. Or stay on radio which a lot of people have also chosen to do.

We've got a new show that we're working on for Radio 7. It's a topical open door sketch show called 7 on 7, and what we are hoping that you'll do is submit three sketches that are the very, very best that you can do.

7 on 7 is going to be a topical show, but it'll be launching in May this year. So we're already starting to look out for people who can write good, funny, topical material. So what I'd like to encourage you to do is have a crack at writing three topical sketches, or two topical sketches and your favourite character piece if your skills lie more in a character direction, and send them off to us.

Then in about a month we're going to be having a comedy writing masterclass for the people that we think most show that they've got the topical writing spark.

What made you want to be a writer?

Sanjeev: It's probably not a very helpful story, because whenever I think about how I got into writing I always say "I didn't choose writing. Writing chose me." I'd no intentions of any kind of career in the media. I was originally going to be a doctor, and I chucked that in very early. I did a maths degree and didn't know what to do with that. I was unemployed, living with my parents, signing on, and I got a phone call from a friend of mine who had started being a radio producer in Radio Scotland in Glasgow. And she was trying to start a new radio show and she was looking for presenters. And she specifically wanted presenters that had no profile at all. She was trying to unearth new ethnic talent, preferably with a Scottish voice, and mine just about qualified. So I auditioned for the show and I got the job. I must have been the best of a bad bunch cos I was shocking.

So I find myself presenting a live radio show, found myself quite liking it, and then started to write my own links. And suddenly found that I had a comic sensibility that I didn't think would ever have an outlet.

I was quite lucky as well, cos Goodness Gracious Me came around and I thought: well there's a sketch show. It's an Asian sketch show. I'm Asian. I'm writing sketches. It's not rocket surgery. I'll try and basically force myself on the producer Anil Gupta.

At the time I was doing a little bit of radio producing, making a show for Radio Five about Asian stand-up. So I approached Anil and said "I'm making this documentary about Asian stand-up. Can I interview you about this new sketch show you're doing?" He said "Yes". And then I said "Can I send some sketches?" He said "Well you can send your sketches. I can't promise to use them but I'll read them". And I hand wrote a pile of cack. But I think there were maybe five or six sketches that actually were quite good and he used them.

I was writing sketches about things I knew that would make my mum and my dad laugh and my brothers laugh. But I'd never had the confidence before to think: what's funny round the dinner table, is it funny for a wider audience? And it gave me a bit of confidence to think well maybe it is. Maybe it isn't just jokes for Asians or jokes for my family. Maybe humour is universal. And if you can learn the skills and learn the tools then there's no reason why a joke that you told at the dinner table or an observation you made at the dinner table can't translate.

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