Have you heard the one about the deaf comedian? John Smith is Britain's only BSL (British Sign Language) stand-up.
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Oct 12, 2008 - 20 comments

Legendary British comedy producer Geoffrey Perkins died in a freak accident yesterday. Chances are if you watched some British comedy over the last 20 years, and liked it, Geoffrey Perkins had a hand in it.
posted by humblepigeon on Aug 30, 2008 - 34 comments

The Carry On films have been a much-loved part of British life for the last 50 years, and they may even be making a new one. This give a quick feel of what you might of missed (slightly NSFW) And though it does have its knockers, one person liked them so much he made a religion out of them, literally.
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Apr 18, 2008 - 31 comments

For the past 50 years, The British have made some of the funniest Comedy TV Shows. Come inside for A Video Chronology of The History of British TV Comedy. [more inside]
posted by Foci for Analysis on Jan 24, 2008 - 96 comments

The Plank, classic British comedy (Youtubed: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Dec 4, 2007 - 8 comments

In 1967, before "Monty Python", before "The Goodies", and before "Marty", John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Marty Feldman teamed up to create a groundbreaking show that influenced (and provided sketch material and dialog for) much of what we know today as British Comedy. Most of the material was erased when its owner, Rediffusion London, disappeared in England's 1967 TV franchise reshuffle. Here is almost all of what survives of "At Last, the 1948 Show".
posted by ubiquity on Oct 10, 2007 - 17 comments

Ronnie Hazlehurst RIP. Who? Well if you've seen any of the BBC's sitcoms and light entertainment programmes from the 70s onwards, you would have probably heard his work... [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Oct 3, 2007 - 16 comments

For the duration of three profanity-laden LPs in the 1970s, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore were two disgusting foul mouthed oafs named Derek And Clive. Listen to them here (real); here be transcripts.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Sep 11, 2007 - 24 comments

The recent post that revived the rude ‘Rainbow’ kids show sketch reminded me of the our (that is, British) obsession with comic double entendre - the ability to accept the filthiest things as long as there is a parallel innocuous interpretation. I think it is something to do our love for wordplay and subtext, our innate hypocrisy and the belief that sex is, in fact, rather naughty. Perhaps the prime example are the Julian and Sandy sketches that ran on the BBC Radio show ‘Beyond Our Ken’ from 1964-69. Over Sunday lunch, millions (there was ONLY the BBC in those days) listened to two very camp characters saying outrageous things in Polari (underground gay slang). A much earlier prime example is the great dirty joke (it’s the one in blue at the bottom of the page) that got comedian Max Miller (died in 1963) banned from the BBC for 5 years. A more recent case of innuendo is, of course, Mrs. Slocombe’s pussy. Of course the double entendre can also be unintentional.
posted by rolo on Feb 27, 2004 - 8 comments

The Funniest Brits Since Monty Python, The Fast Show And The League Of Gentlemen are definitely Ricky Gervais* and Stephen Merchant whose giggly, gloriously silly and shockingly juvenile improvised radio antics can be heard every Saturday on xfm. Radio is so often overlooked and underestimated as a vehicle for comedy that it hurts. This is probably more so in America than in the UK. [Don't know about Canada or Australia, although they produce so many excellent comedians.] Sooooo... What's your idea of radio comedy gold?
*Gervais, in case you've never to have heard of him, is the star of the magnificent The Office, recently aired on cable, along with Ali G, and returning to America in a bastardized version; already featured on MetaFilter.
posted by MiguelCardoso on May 4, 2003 - 34 comments

390,000 Jedi in Britain In a recent census 390,000 U.K. residents declared their faith in the Star Wars religion following an e-mail campaign that claimed 10,000 declared Jedites would make Jedi a 'legal and official religion.' So what happens now? Who will build the first Jedi church? (I reckon this says more about British attitutudes to form filling than attitutudes to religion).
posted by rolo on Feb 13, 2003 - 22 comments

Laughter capital of the world? "Declining audiences, dull material, complacent comics: a crisis is looming ....London suddenly appears to be in the grip of a recession for the first time since the alternative comedy boom took off at the beginning of the 1980s." From a nation exporting Bill Bailey(live in NYC this week) ,Eddie Izzard, Ali G, can this really be happening? (BTW I always thought Canada tried to lay a claim to this crown?)
posted by Voyageman on Dec 16, 2002 - 15 comments

Comedian Rowan Atkinson is understandably nervous about his career in the light of proposed laws in the UK to outlaw insightment to religious bigotry. Having built his career from playing comedy vicars and priests you can imagine him wondering if all his old material is suddenly worthless. Downing Street has sought to re-assure as usual but you can see why he'd be filled with uncertainty. As he points out in a situation were personal opinion is involved, how would one tell if one was breaking the law. For example, some stand up comedy may be fine, but how about movies? Where does 'The Life of Brian' stand? Or 'Dogma' for that matter...
posted by feelinglistless on Oct 17, 2001 - 10 comments

Is American TV funnier than British TV? Who watches both? I really don't know but describing American comedies as "machine-tooled one-liners" is pretty damn accurate. (via boingboing.net)
posted by skallas on Aug 25, 2001 - 38 comments

Contrary to what you may have heard, the new Brass Eye is indeed about paedophiles. And it's got Phil Collins wearing a "Nonce Sense" t-shirt.
posted by Mocata on Jul 19, 2001 - 20 comments

Last night's Brass Eye special was mysteriously pulled from the schedules, seemingly because it concerned "an army of paedophiles". Apparantly, this is not the case
posted by Grangousier on Jul 6, 2001 - 15 comments

Great news! Channel 4 to re-screen Brass Eye - with restored footage.
posted by Mocata on Mar 23, 2001 - 6 comments

Britain's best footballer, David Beckham, and his wife Posh Spice are almost as important as royalty. That they have agreed to be interviewed by spoofist Ali G is a tad surprising...read the transcript here.
posted by ecvgi on Feb 20, 2001 - 5 comments