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The Wow! Scenario is a new band project from comedian James Acaster and Graeme Wicks

Their first album took twenty years to finish, and its lead single is called Zacuti!

The Wow! Scenario James Acaster Graeme Wicks

James Acaster holding a microphone and speaking on stage at a comedy club, in front of a round mirror on a patterned wall.
James Acaster performing at Union Hall in June 2025. Photo: Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Comedian James Acaster and musician Graeme Wicks have announced their new band project, The Wow! Scenario, and shared its lead single, Zacuti!, ahead of their debut album, Stand In The Star, or A Verse and A Chorus, The Line of Best Fit reported on August 5.

The pair first formed the band in Kettering in 2004. Its name comes from an audience member who told them they lacked the X factor but phrased it differently: "You don't have the wow scenario, guys. You need to get the wow scenario."

They spent three years working toward what they hoped would be a breakout act, even taking singing lessons, but found themselves playing weekly gigs to small crowds that never quite took to what the band calls, in its own telling, an acquired taste.

After working on the songs with producer Chris Hamilton, the pair ultimately called it quits and shelved the project.

They returned to the songs in 2018 with new vocals and instrumentals, adding guest vocalists BC Camplight and Emma Daman, and finally completed the album last March.

Stand In The Star, or A Verse and A Chorus runs eight tracks, including Diving!, Golf Socks! and Alpaca Spinner! alongside Zacuti!, and is due out 23 October via Bella Union. You can follow this indie release on the release calendar.

The facts

  • The project is called The Wow! Scenario
  • James Acaster is a comedian and Graeme Wicks is a musician
  • Their debut album is Stand In The Star, or A Verse and A Chorus
  • The lead single is called Zacuti!
  • The band formed in Kettering in 2004 and was later shelved
  • Guest vocalists BC Camplight and Emma Daman feature on the album
  • The album is due 23 October via Bella Union

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