Here is a thread what is the bastard offspring of the Comedy Films and Comedy TV shows threads.
Back in ye goode olde dayes, if you were looking for a career in comedy, you grabbed your bells, put on a funny hat and headed for the nearest castle.
But what about recent times?
Looking through all the things we’ve mentioned, it reminded me of how some shows, festivals, TV channels etc have provided very fertile soil for young comedians, scriptwriters and comic actors at the start of their career.
Beyond the Fringe – all four of them!
The Goon Show – likewise
Crackerjack
Private Eye, Punch, Mad or other humorous magazines?
Do not adjust your set
Carry on Films
Green Wing – Olivia Coleman, Mark Heap, Tamsin Greig
The Fast Show
SNL – Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig etc
I would be very happy if you could add to my list.
Do feel free to post some examples too.
In 2020, does the road to comedy fame begin on YouTube?
Do you find tubers amusing?
Personally I’ve always thought that swedes were far more amusing than potatoes…
I’ll get my wheelbarrow!
From that Green Wing banana to Her Maj….
Channel 4s Friday Live / Saturday Live gave an airing to many newcomers.
Harry Enfield
Jo Brand
Paul Merton
Phill Jupitus
and more …
Sean Hughes: “Put that chicken away, missus”
That was always one of my favourites when younger.
There’s surprisingly very little of it on YouTube – I keep telling my kids that Harry Enfield’s “Stavros” was one of the funniest sketches ever (“Up the Arse….”) but haven’t managed to find many good clips to illustrate (maybe I am remembering it through rose tinted etc etc)…….
Enfield’s voice was already familiar to millions because of Spitting Image. Him and Chris Barrie had that show sewn up for a few years.
Harry sadly wasn’t asked to appear on Frankie GTH records: “Hallo matey peeps… Mine is the last voice you will ever hear”
Apart from Music Hall, Vaudeville and the last days of Variety, Butlins Holiday Camps were an introduction to the business of show with the Redcoats performing in shows.
Radio with Educating Archie, tutoring a ventriloquist dummy helped many a career.
Oh and a no show video here.
Butlins was a veritable production line of well known comedians: Charlie Drake, Jimmy Tarbuck, Terry Scott, Freddie ‘Parrotface’ Davis, Roy Hudd, Rod Hull (minus the emu), Michael Barrymore, Dave Allen and more recently Boothby Graffoe all donned the red coat in their early careers.
Just remembered TW3….
https://youtu.be/DG3Uz4srwqo
Many cut their teeth there.
That jazzy theme song is very cool.
Certainly not intending to hijack this thread, but have you ever seen a pre-fame comedian die on his/her arse? The uni circuit was a big breeding ground for up-and-coming comics. I saw Brendon Burns at the university I was attending in the 90s, and he attempted to do exactly the same set as he’d played in the town centre the previous evening. Lots of students had gone to see that gig, so they’d already heard his material.
He attempted to adlib… if you subscribe to the theory that comedians aren’t funny without a script, you’d have had your theory confirmed. It was deeply embarrassing; he didn’t last long.
Hijack away, Hamlet!
Seeing up-and-coming talents before they found their mojo is more than relevant.
Hugh Grant, för example. How did he get his break. I’m off to Imdb to find out….
He had a big log, allegedly.
British film comedy from Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Gerald Campion, to 50s (richard wattis, james robertson justice, ian carmichael, alastair sim, norman wisdom), 60s (terry thomas, carry ons, peter sellars), 70s (Timothy Lea, Pythons, shitter films of shit coms), ,,, 80s – er? Cannon and Ball cops film? 90s – er? 00s? “Sex Lives of Potato Men”? “The Fat Slags”? Deft ensemble and character acting comedy largely lost it 40 years ago.
Hugh Grant was in a comedy trio called the Jockeys of Norfolk which made several appearances at the Fringe.
He also appeared there in a production of Hamlet in Star Trek costumes.
To go or not to go
Boldly is the question..,
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/aug/20/hugh-grant-turned-away-edinburgh-show?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Panto is certainly a good training ground for young acts, albeit not generally those who go on to have ‘alternative’ credibility. Amongst performers who I remember seeing before they were famous were Bradley Walsh, Shane Ritchie, Denise van Outen (a slightly sullen Cinderella as I recall) and a brilliantly funny Brian Conley who had no difficulty in stealing the show from Bobby Davro (not hard to do, admittedly.)
Easily the funniest panto performer I ever saw was Bernie Clifton. Just a masterful performance, built on skills honed in years of playing variety houses, end of the pier shows, pantos, clubs, etc
Always thought growing up that Opportunity knocks was where all wannabe’s got their break. Hughie Green was the archetypal nice guy unwilling to slag the contestants off unlike his later comparison Tony Hatch who lived up to his hatchet name and also Mickie Most who was kinder.
Amazed to see that Tony Hatch is still alive – I bet he is a pussycat these days.
There was absolutely nothing nice about Hughie Green. He was a seriously nasty piece of work.
Poor Paula Yates ended up finding out HG (and not Jess ‘Stars on Sunday’ YateS (aka The Bishop) was her father – was going to type ‘dad’ but HG’s sons from his marriage say he was one cold SoB.
Anyone else here remember Stand Up and be Counted, the fascistic rant that ended up costing him his career?
Danny Baker has a story about him being the most profane person he had ever met. He also thought he was a much bigger star than he actually was.
I recall a Rubettes-type band that was on – and Tony Hatch giving them a resounding zero. It was fair enough.
Somewhere in the Home Counties a young lad called Simon Cowell was poking his head over the top of his high-waisted Oxford bags and taking note.
I lived in Edinburgh from 1984 to 1993, and saw a lot of folk at the fringe on their way up. Jeremy hardy, Joan Collins Fan Club, David Baddiel, steve coogan, vic reeves, jo brand, loads more. The best way to see these folks was in the big compilation shows at the Playhouse or for the Perrier awards.
RE: Green Wing.
I’d argue Mark Heap was relatively well known before Green Wing. He’d already starred in Brass Eye, Big Train and Spaced before 2004.
Olivia Colman had appeared alongside Mitchell and Webb (in the Mitchell & Webb Situation and Peep Show) prior to Green Wing too.
Tamsin Greig was one of the main characters in Black Books, which started four years before GW.
Well argued, Tony! I got that completely and utterly wrong. Sorry!
In my defence, I can only plead that living in Sweden, I only got to hear about to hear about TV shows when UK friends recommended them.
Black Books is one of my absolute favourites of all time. How did I learn about that AFTER Green Wing??
Amazon and IMDB with their “If you like that, you will like this” suggestions must help close those gaps. As does Spotify’s “Fans also like” which is invaluable.
Let’s hop across the Pond now to look at some seminal shows,
Roman and Martin’s Laugh In – what a show that was!
Fast moving, topical and bursting at the seams with celebrities.
It does look like a lot of fun.
Quite a read!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_%26_Martin%27s_Laugh-In
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967 -69) screening at the same period had some wonderful music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU7hVMc3q6Y
but was constantly at loggerheads with the studios
Certainly a nursery for new talent, Like Steve Martin.
I had no idea that Lineker was a co-writer of Black Books, but it makes perfect sense as I love his other stuff.
Tamsin was primarily an actress. The other two were basically stand ups. The result was genius.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx09_y2SCAc
Linehan though the thought of Lineker suggests an entirely different approach.
That was certainly an own goal and no mistake!
One has to marvel at his sublime off-the-joke running though
Back to the OP Peter Sellers had been in various radio programmes for a couple of years before the Goons and had appeared on television too, probably at Ally Pally just further down the road from his Muswell Hill house.
I had no idea. He lived there rather long.
Quite a few tales attached,
http://www.notableabodes.com/person-abode-details/13086/peter-sellers-comedian_72-tetherdown-muswell-hill-london
Having got my chronology for British comedy so horribly wrong, I did a little research on early careers. Some titbits on Mark Heap -who was born in 1957 in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India to an English father and American mother.
His career started with touring company the Medieval Players, wo used stilts, puppetry and juggling. He then went on to form the Two Marks with Mark Saban.
They appeared on several kids shows, such as 3 2 1
Saturday Live
And Tamsin Grieg “made her name” according the Guardian as Debbie Aldridge in The Archers.
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/jun/20/tamsin-grieg-pedro-almodovar-the-archers-women-on-verge-nervous-breakdown
Debbie got shipped off to Hungary when Tamsin’s career took off.
The show has had all manner of guest appearances throughout the hears including Judi Dench and Princess Margaret.
https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/real-life/radio-4-the-archers-millennials/
Hollywood star Karen Gillan made her TV appearance in an episode of Rebus.
She worked as a model in the early part of her career.
Here she is in Stacked, a 2008 Scottish TV film about three teenage sisters and their progress into the world of fashion.
But she only became well known due to her turn in Doctor Who.
And these days, Doctor Who, is internationally popular, so that gig paved the way nicely to Hollywood and Guardians of the Galaxy
Whereas Michelle Gomez’s bonkers character in Green Wing led to her turn as Missy in Doctor Who.
Was The Master regenerating as a female a test run for The Doctor doing the same later?
YouTube is a good repository for comedians. Some of the current SNL crew began with an online presence: Melissa Villasenor, Chloe Fineman, Mikey Day and the same is true for their writers. One of their lead writers (Streeter Seidell) came through the College Humor website/videos thing.
Auntie Donna have released their first comedy series on Netflix and they’ve been making web videos for years. (A smidgen NSFW)
Aunty Donna really seem to be my cup of tea.
Love those Aussie accents and their sketches are so full of energy and they are not at all afraid of being silly.
They’ve been going for quite a while.
SNL has been going for 40 years yet seems to be in very good health. Wayne’s World and Bles Brothers both originated there.
I’ve not heard of any of those people you mention DrJ. I must investigate further.
I need to chip in on the subject of Green Wing. I hate it and I never found it funny. Am I missing something??
It’s not like I don’t like smart, edgy comedy. And I like a lot of stuff the cast have appeared in. Spaced, yes. Black Books, yes. Big Train, yes. Brass Eye, yes. Jam, yes. The IT Crowd, yes. Garth Merenghi, yes.
But Green Wing? It just seemed to be semi-improvised nonsense with some “cool” editing tricks and music to paper over the joins. It’s cringeworthy and I can’t bear to watch it. It’s cult popularity baffles me.
Does anyone else feel like this or am I alone here??
Well, I liked Green Wing a lot when I first saw it, although the second series lost its way somewhat.
But would it still appeal all these years later?
I suspect that a lot of its wacky charm lay in the novelty value.
I ought to re-watch an episode or two to see if that is true.
I mentioned the now defunct National Lampoon magazine whose name is connected to several films.
It all began in 1978 with Disco beaver from Outer Space. I just took a glance: it is as awful as it sounds
But then later the same year came the enormously successful National Lampoon’s Animal House starring John Belushi. and scriped by Harold Ramis, Doug Kenney and Chris Miller.
It is still very funny and was one of the most successful comedies of all time. During the 80s it was followed by several other NL films, some of which are not at all bad.
But after that the company sold the rights to use National Lampoon in a film’s title and any quality went out the window,
Before the films the ‘poon had theatrical performances which helped various performers at the start of their careers.
Lemmings was their riposte to Woodstock.
I’ve found the full programme which wax never broadcast which I shall peruse later.
That is very interesting, Hubert. A pretty catchy tune and a great song title.
The soundtrack album is on Spotify , credited to National Lampoon.
I must try and give it a listen. Even better, I’ll watch this: the original TV version of the show. Dated, but it does look promising.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuBhwEgi8qU
The Joni Mitchell parody is very amusing,
Still have the vinyl
Wonder why it was never broadcast?
Maybe it was all the swearing ( mentioned in the article below).
Maybe it was a bit too near the phone. The Joni Mitchell bit is pretty vindictive. Even if she is not named, there is no doubt who is being parodied.
https://dangerousminds.net/comments/john_belushi_christopher_guest_chevy_chase_parody_woodstock
This is also interesting, not least because of the mention of Christopher Guest who parodied Bob Dylan in Lemmings and later when on to do Spinal Tap and much else besides.
http://coolalbumreview.com/?p=27704
Like James Taylor
In the early days of Channel 4 there was a show called Who Dares Wins. Featured a young-ish Tony Robinson (Baldrick, Time Team), Phil Pope (who wrote a lot of music for Spitting Image and a load of other stuff), Rory McGrath, Jimmy Mulville and Julia Hills. I was convinced Josie Lawrence (Comedy Store, Whose Line is it Anyway?) was also in the show, but Googling confirmed it was Julia Hills.
I remember the show being a bit ‘edgy’ in the 80s style. It was more a showcase for the individual talents and never really felt like a team performance.
It looks rather fun, Martin.
Next stop for Jimmy Mulville and Rory McGrath was founding of Hat Trick Productions, Tony Robinson had a few cunning plans and dug stuff up, and Julia Hills appeared in BBC1 family sitcom 2 Point 4 Children.