''Steve, The First'' was a four-part

dark comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

set in a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

future, broadcast on

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent o ...

in 2005. It ran on Saturday mornings from 11:30 - 12:00pm (half an hour later in Newfoundland). Steve, a young slacker, emerges from an underground vault after a year spent reading a lengthy novel, and discovers he has missed a nuclear war (thereby surviving it unharmed) in the interim. Exploring the "post-popocalyptic" world, where animals have mutated into menacing giant creatures, fire now rains from the skies instead of water, dogs explode from human contact, and people melt when exposed to sunlight, Steve discovers latent telepathic abilities, and uses them to communicate with the one dog he meets who can tolerate human company. Steve takes shelter at the home of Colleen, who hides her deceased parents from the "dead collectors"; roving children who claim melted corpses. They begin a relationship, which leads to Colleen's cure from melting when they become intimate. This frustrates Phil Green, an evil politician who sees his chances of becoming mayor of Toronto greatly enhanced by the death of his opponents, and has assigned two assistants to stalk Colleen, whom he strongly desires. A bizarre power struggle develops as Steve bumbles his way into folk heroism, helping to reclaim civilization for the common people as Phil tries to harness surviving resources to take ultimate control. All of this is ostensibly told from the point of view of a storyteller who is recounting the tale 1,000 years later. A sequel, '' Steve, The Second'', was aired early in 2006. ''Steve The First'' was written by Matt Watts, who also starred in the episodes.

Crew

Tom Anniko directed all four episodes. Joe Mahoney recorded and mixed every episode and also served as the series story editor. Anton Szabo performed all the sound effects. Tom Anniko was also the Executive Producer.

References

External links

''Matt Watts'' CBC Program Guide''Review of Steve the First'' SFF Audio''Interview with Matt Watts'' Gloryosky
{{CBC Radio Dramas CBC Radio One programs Canadian comedy radio programs Canadian radio dramas Canadian science fiction radio programs 2000s Canadian radio programs