Radio Karate comrades make Channel 4 short-form "blap"

The three-part How to Life mini miniseries from two members of the Melbourne's Radio Karate collective explores what might happen if one egotistical know-it-all turned his bizarre, everyday life experiences into a series of spontaneous idiotic “How To” lessons.

Radio Karate's Ryan Shelton and Tim Bartley worked with Princess Pictures' Laura Waters on the series that also features another of their Radio Karate colleagues – Hamish Blake.

Comedian Ryan Shelton (Rove, The Wrong Girl, Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year) stars as the host and protagonist in How To Life commissioned by Britain's Channel 4.

The broadcaster describes this is a fast-moving hybrid of narrative, sketch and surrealism that follows Ryan as he turns his unusual, everyday life experiences into even more unusual life lessons (How to Lie, How to French Kiss and How to Escape Boring Conversations). Joining Shelton in his surreal world is Hamish Blake as Ryan’s semi-identical twin brother and Gina Riley as his mother/nemesis. Also featuring are Amber Clayton, Georgina Naidu and Pia Miranda.

Nerys Evans, deputy head of Channel 4 comedy, said: “Blaps are a really exciting opportunity to work with a variety of talented new writers, directors and actors. And the series has a great track record of being the birthplace of many series commissions also.

"C4’s Comedy Blaps are always innovative, varied and surprising, and this new batch is crammed with brilliant new talent and fresh ideas. It’s hugely rewarding to give people either their first break with a broadcaster or the opportunity to work up their passion projects to sell their vision. It also allows us to give people a huge amount of creative freedom and that has resulted in some fantastically funny projects starting life."

Written by: Ryan Shelton
Starring: Ryan Shelton, Gina Riley, Hamish Blake, Amber Clayton, Georgina Naidu, Pia Miranda, Robyn Hamshere
Directed by: Tim Bartley
Produced by: Laura Waters, Andrea Denholm, Tim Bartley and Ryan Shelton for Radio Karate and Princess Pictures. And from Objective Fiction it is executive produced by Ben Farrell and produced by Kelly McGolpin.