User:Steerpike jhb/Take a chance

Take a chance Take A Chance, and Take Another Chance, were English language comedy radio programs produced by the SABC/SAUK (South African Broadcasting Corporation / Suid Afrikaanse Uitsaai Korporasie) in 1973/1974.

The show was subtitled "Won't you have a little cake", possibly a pun on the Afrikaans word 'kyk', meaning 'look'.

Several ficticious characters interacted in various comedic or satirical situations. All voices were provided by Darryl Jooste (21 January 1946 - 21 March 1982) and Michael Mayer (2 August 1943 - 21 January 2012), both well established professional broadcasters at the time. Recurrent characters were Mr Wouter Marais, Doctor Gert Ockert (psychiatrist), Mr Charles Teller, Miss Sonita Rabinowits, Mrs Miems Meiring, 'The Manager' and Philemon.

Sometimes ficticious characters were invented as obvious parodies of well-known radio personalities. 'Colin Jubilee' and 'Cecil Blubber' were two such entities, unambiguously mimicing verteran broadcasters Colin Du Plessis and Cecil Jubber. The character 'Charles Teller' was remarkably similar is voice and manerisms to the well known and popular cricket commentator Charles Fortune, although there was no suggestion that this resemblance was a direct parody. Each show, of approximately 20 minutes, comprised several short independant vignettes. Certain of these linked from week to week, to form a mini-series, with a continuous plot. 'The Manager' featured in several of these on-going weekly plots. A psychotic megalomaniac with grand plans and schemes that somehow always crossed paths with the day-to-day lives of Wouter and Gert. His catch phrase "I'll teach you to meddle with things you don't understand!" infiltrated popular culture among fans of the show.

The concept of a regular ongoing plot divided into short episodes was later spun off into 'The Crunchy Granola Serial', an early morning show featuring the same characters.

The characters from the show were briefly resurrected by broadcaster and voice artist John Novik, a colleague of Daryll Jooste at LM Radio (Lourenco Marques Radio) in the 1970s, in 1994-1995, on the independent radio station Showtime Music Radio. This was however without the help of Michael Mayer, who at the time felt it was appropriate that the characters Darryl Jooste had created should remain Darryl's alone.

The original shows were recorded on ¼-inch tape, and as was common with many broadcasters, the SABC/SAUK erased the shows to free the tape for re-use. Only a handful of original tapes remain (4 reported to survive by broadcaster Bruce Millar), but a few tens of episodes - some partial, and of poor quality - are extant thanks to home recording by fans.

An LP record and cassette tape of selected episodes was released in the mid-1970s.