BBC Radio 4’s Just a Minute may be wonderfully entertaining for listeners but it is often excruciating for players as they attempt to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, hesitation or deviation.
An academic paper jointly produced by a university linguist and one of the greatest exponents of Just a Minute has suggested the game is so devious that the best way to succeed is to let go of any ambition to win.
The paper, written by Alison Wray, of Cardiff University, and the comedian Paul Merton, also looks at how exploring the challenges the show presents may help dementia patients and their carers.
Wray said the rules of “Just a Minute” created the ideal conditions for “cognitive overload” or “brain fry.” She said: “It happens when we are trying to attend to too much at once. The rules of Just a Minute create a perfect storm of cognitive pressure.
“In regular speech, we aim to be fluent, so we don’t get interrupted and lose our chance to talk. We manage the flow of ideas and gain time while we plan what to say next by inserting hesitation filler words, repeating material and putting in asides or deviations. Just a Minute outlaws these options. The contortions of speaking fluently in these circumstances create high risk of brain fry.”
Added in is the need to be entertaining. “Hesitation, repetition and deviation are all key devices for delivering comic material. The need to avoid their usual tools of the trade is another source of cognitive pressure.”
As well as analysing hundreds of hours of the show’s recordings, Wray worked with Merton to analyse his approach.
Merton said he found the most effective way of avoiding “brain fry” was to re-conceptualise the game away from something to try to win. Instead, he focuses on keeping the show enjoyable and well paced. Which turns out to be a winning formula for him.
In the paper, published in the journal Comedy Studies, he writes: “Playing JAM [Just a Minute] is about making a good show, and that isn’t to do with how long you can talk for. There’s much more fun to be had from interruptions and challenges. The show needs to be amusing, accrue laughter. It doesn’t matter who wins, as long as we’ve jointly achieved that goal.
“Ironically, I often do win. That’s partly because I can get points for an amusing challenge [to a fellow contestant’s stumble] even though it isn’t upheld. At one point I won 12 episodes in a row and I realised I needed to stop it happening. If Man United keeps winning, then people want Leicester City to have a chance.”
Wray said: “Paul will tell you he doesn’t mind not winning, but of course he wants to win. It’s just that he wants to do other things as well.”
She has previously looked at how dementia, which reduces a person’s cognitive capabilities, changes how language is produced by people with the condition and those who interact with them.
Wray said: “Dementias (there are many) are caused by brain diseases that compromise the functioning of the brain. Typically, the result is a reduced ability to process information, so it’s easy for a person to find they are in cognitive overload. One common response is anxiety about not being able to deal with all the information, and this in turn can lead to frustration, anger and upset.”
She said looking at lessons learned from how players cope in Just a Minute could help people with dementia and carers.
Wray said: “For example, we see that Paul Merton dodges the pressures of brain fry by redefining what he is trying to do. Similarly, those interacting with people living with dementia often find that it helps if they take the pressure off getting specific information and focus on the overall experience of a conversation.
“Thus, if the person wants to tell an anecdote, does it really matter if they can’t recall the person or place it relates to? To reminisce about their childhood, does it matter if it takes a while for them to describe a place or experience?”
