Witty Banter: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Occurs most often in non-fiction shows with more than one host. The hosts will trade supposedly funny and or witty comments back and forth instead of presenting what they are supposed to be presenting. They may also [[Wiki Walk|digress into talking about their personal lives]]. Viewers often profess to be bored or irritated with it.

For hero/villain banter, see [[You Fight Like a Cow]].

 

** In Britain most of this is either talked over, or at least commented on by [[Terry Wogan]] who mercilessly rips it apart.

*** Terry Wogan (and Graham Norton, now that Wogan left) is the only reason many British and Irish people can bear to watch them. Wogan's hilarious but oh-so-true comments about how Britain never gets any votes and how most countries are simply making tactical or political votes as opposed to voting for the genuine best song make you wonder how the Eurovision execs let him get away with mocking the entire contest as a whole.

**** He has admitted, in at least one interview, that they keep a mini bar on hand while they're doing the commentary, and have gotten ''quite'' drunk during the ad breaks over the years.

 

 

* Conversely, Witty Banter, when breaking down, can be funny. Case in point, NJ News Channel 12:

Anchor: ... Yeah... }}

* Similarly, MSNBC:

* The more [[Genre Savvy]] guests on ''[[The Daily Show]]'' and ''[[The Colbert Report]]'', who recognise them as comedy shows, engage in a bit of witty banter with the respective hosts instead of focusing entirely on the (supposed) subject of the interview.

** 'The toss', the segue from ''[[The Daily Show]]'' into ''[[The Colbert Report]]'', is scripted witty banter - one toss hung a lampshade on it by having Stewart note that the purpose of the toss was to allow the viewers to share in their cameraderie, upon which they both instantly [[Bad Bad Acting|went wooden]].

 

 

* RMX, a radio station from Guadalajara, runneth over with Witty Banter, especially during the morning show (three guys who keep dissing each other and talking about [[Seinfeldian Conversation|the immortality of the crab]] and about recent events), and during the afternoon (a 20-something girl who keeps talking about all the times she got massively drunk).

* ''Punto y seguido'', the 8 o'clock show from Radio Metrópoli, also a radio station from Guadalajara, is about Witty Banter between the top journalists from the ''Notisistema'' news network about recent events and the Topic of the Day.

 

 

 

 

* Done in various sports [[Video Games]], usually the ones where Witty Banter is a feature of real commentary. In games, you can get the same canned lines of "witty banter" played back 50 times during a single game.

* A fictional example: The entire point of the radio stations in the ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' series is the witty banter. Good news? It's actually witty. Bad news? Eventually it runs out.

 

 

* Steve & Larson top 10 video game lists have a lot of it.

 

 

* Charlie Brooker commented on how US TV is much more capable of pulling off witty banter between news reporters than the ones in the UK, as they just manage to come off as much more relaxed. In his own words, "when our news-readers try to relax they just look awkward, like they've accidentally shat themselves and don't want to let on".

* On ''Room 101'', the show where people nominated things to be permanently removed from the world, one of Dara O Briain's choices was banter. He noted that in [[Real Life]], all of us engage in pointless small talk to smooth over social situations that would otherwise be awkward; the mystery is why anyone thinks those moments should be televised.

 

* ''[[Anchorman]]'' parodies this straight to hell. The two hosts hate each other; their on-screen banter is all scripted, and over the station credits they improvise:

 

 

* In an episode of ''Back to You'', the anchors of WURG realise that they need to "practise their banter".

* Also spoofed in ''Broken News'', where the news presenters would frequently make witty banter involving double-entendres to their weatherman.

Weatherman: I won't go there! }}

* Frequently parodied in ''[[The Day Today]]'', the show in which Alan Partridge (mentioned above) originated; the segues between host Chris Morris and the other correspondents parody these tactics in different ways. With the travel reporter Valerie Sinatra, Morris would make no effort to conceal the fact that he had a heavy crush on her, which she would politely attempt to rebuff; with the business correspondent Collaterlie Sisters he would openly insult her, and he would psychologically torment Alan in a variety of different ways, including [[Ho Yay|flirting]] and overly aggressive interrogation.

* In an episode of ''Friends'', Joey practices with Ross and Chandler before his audition for the role of a game show host. He jokingly berates Ross for introducing himself too verbosely. Chandler introduces himself as:

** ''[[Small Reference Pools|Record]]''. Specifically, ''You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet''.

* Spoofed on ''[[Murphy Brown]]'': During a FYI airing, Miles tells Murphy and the gang at the last minute to talk amongst themselves so that the footage can be played during the end credits to give the show a "friendly atmosphere". However, he adds that the audio will not be recorded, prompting this exchange of dialog:

'''Jim''':''[cheerily]'' Good idea! We'll throw a blanket over his head! He'll never know what hit him! }}

 

 

 

 

 

* On ''[[Family Guy]]'', the "banter" on the Channel 5 newscasts invariably devolves into [[Kent Brockman News|the anchors dumping on each other]].

* Spoofed in ''[[Futurama]]'' by the sinister alien Morbo and his perky human co-anchor Linda. Morbo's attempts at banter involve rants about[[Puny Earthlings|destroying humanity]] and mid-range [[Hulk Speak]]. Linda is an [[The Ditz|airhead]] who just laughs it all off.

** "'''CHIT CHAT ACHIEVED'''!"

** On a separate occasion Homer met with the man who claimed to have invented the radio version of this trope. Homer punches him and the man admits he gets that a lot.

 

 

* The entire point of [[Alan Partridge]] is his complete failure at this sort of thing. His frequent attempts at witty banter are cringe-worthy and often offensive, but hilarious in [[Cringe Comedy|a very different way]].

* Two DJs on BBC Radio 1 (Mark Radcliffe and Mark Goodier, if memory serves) often used to do the handover as "Right, witty banter, witty banter, see you tomorrow."

 

[[Category:News Broadcast]]

[[Category:Witty Banter]]