The Comic Strip is a group of British comedians, best known collectively for their television series The Comic Strip Presents.... The core members of the group are Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson and Jennifer Saunders, with frequent appearances by Keith Allen, Robbie Coltrane, Rik Mayall and Alexei Sayle. Edmondson (left) with Rik Mayall in Bottom Adrian Edmondson (sometimes credited as Ade Edmondson, born 24 January 1957 in Bradford, West Yorkshire) is a British actor, comedian, director, and writer. ... Dawn French in The Vicar of Dibley Dawn French (born October 11, 1957) is a British comedienne and actress best known as one half of the comic duo French & Saunders, the other half being Jennifer Saunders of Absolutely Fabulous fame. ... Nigel Planer (born February 22, 1955) is a British actor, novelist and playwright. ... Peter Richardson born 15 October 1951 in Devon, Britain, is a British actor, comedian, director, and writer. ... Jennifer Saunders (born July 6, 1958 in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England) is a British comedian, actress, and comedy writer. ... Keith Allen (born 2 September 1953 in Swansea, Wales) is a British comedian, actor, singer and writer. ... Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid Robbie Coltrane, OBE, baptised Anthony Robert McMillan, born on March 30, 1950, is a Scottish actor. ... Rik Mayall Rik Mayall (born in Harlow, Essex, England, March 7th, 1958) is a British comedian and actor. ... Alexei David Sayle is a British comedian, actor and author. ...

Early history

Most of the group started performing at the Comedy Store in London, before setting up their own premises called the Comic Strip in a nearby Soho strip club (the Raymond Revue Bar). The basic lineup consisted of three double-acts – Mayall and Edmondson (Then performing under the name of "20th Century Coyote"), Planer and Richardson ("The Outer Limits") and French and Saunders ("French and Saunders"). The other regulars were Arnold Brown, an older standup comic who did not fit so obviously into the alternative comedy scene, and Alexei Sayle, who acted as compere. The Comedy Store is a comedy club located in Soho, London, England that was opened in 1979 by Peter Rosengard. ... For other uses, see London (disambiguation). ... This article is about the district of Greater London. ... 20th Century Coyote was a comedy group famous for first uniting Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson. ... The Outer Limits is a television series from the United States. ... French & Saunders is a British sketch comedy television show starring and written by comedy team Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, and is also the name by which they are known on the rare occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act. ... Arnold Brown is a droll Scottish comedian, one of the main figures in the alternative comedy scene of the early 1980s. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Alexei David Sayle is a British comedian, actor and author. ...

The show gained a reputation as one of the hottest things in town, and soon came to the attention of Jeremy Isaacs, head of the newly-formed Channel 4. Peter Richardson negotiated a deal with the channel for six self-contained half-hour films, using the group as comedy actors rather than standup performers. Almost simultaneously, the BBC signed up Edmondson, Mayall, Planer and Sayle to star in The Young Ones, a sitcom in the same anarchic style as the Comic Strip. Richardson was initially to have been involved too (in the role of Mike, ultimately played by Christopher Ryan), but dropped out of the project due to clashes between himself and the show's producer, Paul Jackson. Instead, with The Comic Strip Presents..., Richardson had creative control, and indeed had led the project from the beginning. Sir Jeremy Isaacs (b. ... Channel 4 is a public service television broadcaster in the United Kingdom (see British television). ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC, sometimes also known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world, founded in 1922. ... The Young Ones may refer to: The Young Ones (TV series), a 1980s British sitcom about four students living together The Young Ones (film), a film starring Cliff Richard The Young Ones (song), sung by Cliff Richard This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same... Christopher Ryan is a British actor who trained at East 15 Acting School in London. ... Paul Jackson (sometimes credited as K. Paul Jackson - his first name is Kevin) is a British television producer. ...

The Comic Strip Presents... debuted on November 2, 1982 (the opening night of Channel 4). The first episode to be broadcast was "Five Go Mad In Dorset", a parody of The Famous Five, which drew anger from some viewers for the way it mercilessly satirised a children's classic (although the Enid Blyton estate had in fact given their permission for the broadcast). The series picked up a reputation for anti-establishment humour, and for parodies such as "Bad News Tour", a spoof rockumentary which had the misfortune to be upstaged by the movie This Is Spinal Tap several months later. November 2 is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 59 days remaining. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Famous Five is a fictional group of child detectives, composed of four children and their dog, created by Enid Blyton. ... The World According To Ronald Reagan - a Finnish satirical poster from 1984 Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which exposes the follies of its subject (for example, individuals, organizations, or states) to ridicule, often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ... Enid Mary Blyton (August 11, 1897 – November 28, 1968) was a British childrens author. ... In contemporary usage, parody is a form of satire that imitates another work of art in order to ridicule it. ... Bad News are a spoof rock band, created for the Channel 4 television series The Comic Strip Presents. ... The term rockumentary is a neologism denoting a program on television or movie documentary about rock and roll or its musicians. ... This article is about the film. ...

The final episode of the first series was to have been a spoof chat show called "Back to Normal with Eddie Monsoon" (referred to as "An Evening with Eddie Monsoon" by some sources). However, it was never produced, as it was considered too vulgar even for the avowedly "alternative" Channel 4 (not to mention possibly libellous). The script – which, uniquely for the Comic Strip, was written as a collaboration by the entire cast – was later published, along with the rest of the series, in book form.

A second series of seven episodes followed in 1983-84, including "Five Go Mad On Mescalin", a sequel to the first episode, and the newly-written "Eddie Monsoon – A Life?", a spoof documentary on the life and times of the title character, an obscene, drunken television host (played by Adrian Edmondson). Michael White, the theatre impressario who had been brought in by Richardson as executive producer on the series, appeared in this episode as Monsoon's producer, who had been responsible for axing Eddie's television comeback show – called, inevitably, "Back to Normal with Eddie Monsoon". The reasons given for the cancellation ("the things you said about Burt Reynolds") are presumably the same problems that led to the real "Back to Normal..." being dropped. (The name Eddie Monsoon – obviously a corruption of "Edmondson" – was later used by Jennifer Saunders, Adrian Edmondson's wife, for her character in Absolutely Fabulous.) It has been suggested that Drama (art form) be merged into this article or section. ... Executive producer is a role in the entertainment industry that is sometimes difficult to define clearly. ... Burt Reynolds in 2005 Burt Reynolds (born Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. ... Absolutely Fabulous (popularly referred to as Ab Fab) is a British sitcom written by Jennifer Saunders and starring Saunders and Joanna Lumley. ...

There then followed a four-year wait until the next series, during which the group made two feature films - The Supergrass (1985) and Eat The Rich (1987) - as well as three one-off Comic Strip Presents... episodes. The first of these, "The Bullshitters", was a parody of the television detective shows of the day (such as The Professionals). It was not broadcast under the Comic Strip name, partly because of the original group only Richardson appears (he is the only performer to have been in every single episode), and partly because co-star and co-writer Keith Allen did not want to be so closely associated with the group. This article is about the year. ... Eat the Rich is Peter Richardsons 1987 British comedy, from the team behind the popular television series, The Comic Strip Presents. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bonehead and Foyle The Bullshitters: Roll Out The Gunbarrel was a spoof of The Professionals, first broadcast in 1984 on Channel 4. ... The Professionals has a number of meanings, including the following: The Professionals (TV Series) The Professionals is a 1966 Western movie directed by Richard Brooks. ... Keith Allen (born 2 September 1953 in Swansea, Wales) is a British comedian, actor, singer and writer. ...

The third series was broadcast in 1988, and some episodes were allowed longer running times, mostly around 50 minutes. Five of the six episodes (all except "Funseekers") were given a limited theatrical release. They included "The Strike", which won the Golden Rose of Montreux; "More Bad News", a sequel to "Bad News Tour" showing the band reforming after five years to play at Castle Donington; and "Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door", written by Mayall and Edmondson in the violent and stupid style of their sitcoms Filthy Rich and Catflap and Bottom, which featured Peter Cook in a memorable role as a psychotic contract killer (the eponymous Mr. Jolly). Peter Richardson and his writing partner Pete Richens, who had written most of the earlier scripts, only contributed one episode this time round, allowing cast members such as Nigel Planer and Alexei Sayle to get their ideas on screen. 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Rose dOr (or Golden Rose) is a highly prestigious television award, given annually since 1961 at the Festival Rose dOr in spring each year. ... Bad News are a spoof rock band, created for the Channel 4 television series The Comic Strip Presents. ... Bad News are a spoof rock band, created for the Channel 4 television series The Comic Strip Presents. ... Map sources for Castle Donington at grid reference SK446272 Castle Donington is a village with a population of around 7000 in the North of Leicestershire, close to Derby and Nottingham and on the edge of the National Forest. ... Mr Jolly Lives Next Door Mr Jolly Lives Next Door is a 1987 Comedy film made for British television as part of the Comic Strip Presents series. ... Filthy, Rich and Catflap was a BBC sitcom produced in 1987. ... Adrian Edmondson (left) and Rik Mayall (right) as Eddie and Richie in Bottom Bottom was a British sitcom of the early 1990s (and later a series of stage shows and a film) written by Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson, who were the shows main stars, playing Richard Richard (Richie... Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937–9 January 1995) was an English satirist, writer and comedian who is widely regarded as the leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. ... Pete Richens is best known as the writing partner of Peter Richardson, writer/director/star of the long-running TV series The Comic Strip Presents. ...

By now the show had proved itself as a cult hit, and several notable guest stars appeared in the later productions, including Leslie Phillips, Miranda Richardson, Lionel Jeffries, Nicholas Parsons, Lenny Henry, Richard Vernon, Ruby Wax, Graham Crowden, Elvis Costello, and Benjamin Zephaniah (as a Rastafarian police van driver). Leslie Phillips OBE (born April 20, 1924) is a British comedy actor, born in Tottenham, London. ... Miranda Richardson as Queenie in Blackadder II (1986) Miranda Richardson (born 3 March 1958, in Southport, Merseyside) is an English actress, noted for her distinctive ability to deeply delve into the minds of the characters she plays. ... Lioniel Jeffries (born 10 June 1926 in London) is a British character actor and film director. ... Christopher Nicholas Parsons OBE, normally known as Nicholas Parsons (born October 10, 1923 often misquoted as 1928) is a British actor, radio and television presenter. ... Lenworth George Henry, CBE, better known as Lenny Henry (29 August 1958), is a British entertainer. ... Sir Richard Vernon (March 7, 1925 - December 4, 1997) was a British actor. ... Ruby Wax (born April 19, 1953, birth name Ruby Wachs) is an American female comedienne who made a career in the United Kingdom as part of the alternative comedy scene in the 1980s. ... Graham Crowden (born 30 November 1922) is a Scottish actor, best known for his roles in BBC comedy-dramas. ... Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954, in London), better known by his stage name, Elvis Costello, is a popular British musician, singer, and songwriter of Irish ancestry. ... Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah is a British Rastafarian writer and dub poet, and is well known in contemporary English literature. ... Rasta hairstyle Rastafarianism is a religious movement that believes in the divinity of ex Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie. ...

The BBC and after

In 1990, the series transferred to BBC2. By now, all the regulars (with the conspicuous exception of Peter Richardson) had become more famous for their own shows, and more recurring performers such as Gary Beadle, Phil Cornwell, Steve O'Donnell and Doon Mackichan were brought in to fill in the gaps. Rik Mayall, in particular, was contracted to ITV's The New Statesman, and was only able to appear in two of the BBC productions ("GLC", and the Comic Relief special "Red Nose of Courage"). Richardson and Richens took over the bulk of the writing again, and Richardson also took over as director, having previously helmed the two feature films, as well as "The Strike". The six-part 1990 series was followed by three individual specials in 1992, and a final six episodes in 1993. This article is about the year. ... BBC Two (or BBC2 as it was formerly styled) was the second UK television station to be aired by the BBC. History The channel was scheduled to begin at 7:20pm on April 20, 1964 and show an evening of light entertainment, starting with the comedy show The Alberts and... Gary as Paul (EastEnders) Gary Beadle is a British actor, best known for playing Paul Trueman in EastEnders and Gary Barwick in Operation Good Guys. ... Doon Mackichan (born 1962, Fife, Scotland) is a British comedian. ... ITVs Logo 2006—present Independent Television (ITV) is the name given to the original network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up to provide competition to the BBC. In England and Wales, the channel has been rebranded to ITV1 by ITV plc, the owners of the broadcasting licences for... Rik Mayall as Alan Bstard in The New Statesman The New Statesman was an award-winning British sitcom of the 1980s satirising the Conservative government of the time. ... GLC: The Carnage Continues was an episode of The Comic Strip Presents. ... Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character or scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. ... A television director is usually responsible for directing the actors and other taped aspects of a television production. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ...

In 1998 the original team reunited and returned to Channel 4 for a one-off special, "Four Men In A Car". This was followed in 2000 by a less well-received sequel, "Four Men In A Plane". After another long hiatus, another 60-minute one-off, "Sex Actually", was made in 2005. It starred Sheridan Smith (Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps) and Tamer Hassan (Layer Cake) alongside several of the regular cast members. 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sheridan Smith (born 25 June 1981) is a British actress. ... Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps is a BBC sitcom written by Susan Nickson and set in the British town of Runcorn, starring Sheridan Smith, Kathryn Drysdale, Ralf Little, Will Mellor, Natalie Casey and Hayley Bishop. ... Layer Cake (also spelled L4YER CAK3) is a 2004 British gangster thriller, directed by Matthew Vaughn. ...

New episodes are likely to continue to be rare now that all the group are well-established in their own right. Ironically, the only member who is not generally well known is the show's driving force, Peter Richardson, who has built his career as a writer-director, with the TV series Stella Street and films such as Churchill: The Hollywood Years. Richardson has not ruled out the possibility of a whole new series of The Comic Strip Presents... featuring more younger cast members. [1] Stella Street was a British television comedy programme. ... Churchill: The Hollywood Years is a 2004 movie, directed by Peter Richardson. ...

Video and DVD releases

The Channel 4 episodes were released on VHS, two episodes per tape, in the early 1990s. The Supergrass was subsequently released on Region 2 DVD. Top view VHS cassette with U.S. 25c coin for scale Bottom view of VHS cassette with magnetic tape exposed The Video Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS or simply as Video, is a recording and playing standard for video cassette recorders (VCRs), developed by JVC (with some... Seinfeld was a pop cultural phenomenon during the 90s and became one of the most popular TV programs ever. ... DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ...

A 9-disc Region 2 DVD set, The Comic Strip Presents: The Complete Collection was released in July 2005. This included all of the Channel 4 and BBC episodes plus The Supergrass across 8 discs, but did not include Eat the Rich. Most of the episodes in this set seem to have been transferred to video without any effort to remaster the picture or sound quality. The 9th disc includes a retrospective documentary, live Comic Strip performances from 1981 and cast and crew interviews. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Eat the Rich is Peter Richardsons 1987 British comedy, from the team behind the popular television series, The Comic Strip Presents. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

List of Comic Strip films

1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Peter Richardson born 15 October 1951 in Devon, Britain, is a British actor, comedian, director, and writer. ... Pete Richens is best known as the writing partner of Peter Richardson, writer/director/star of the long-running TV series The Comic Strip Presents. ... Bob Spiers is a British television director, who is best known for his work on various sitcoms and other comedy programmes. ... Bad News are a spoof rock band, created for the Channel 4 television series The Comic Strip Presents. ... Edmondson (left) with Rik Mayall in Bottom Adrian Edmondson (sometimes credited as Ade Edmondson, born 24 January 1957 in Bradford, West Yorkshire) is a British actor, comedian, director, and writer. ... Sandy Johnson (born July 7, 1954 in San Antonio, Texas) is an American model and actress. ... Dawn French in The Vicar of Dibley Dawn French (born October 11, 1957) is a British comedienne and actress best known as one half of the comic duo French & Saunders, the other half being Jennifer Saunders of Absolutely Fabulous fame. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Rik Mayall Rik Mayall (born in Harlow, Essex, England, March 7th, 1958) is a British comedian and actor. ... Jennifer Saunders (born July 6, 1958 in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England) is a British comedian, actress, and comedy writer. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Keith Allen (born 2 September 1953 in Swansea, Wales) is a British comedian, actor, singer and writer. ... Stephen Frears (born June 20, 1941) is a British film director. ... This article is about the year. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Eat the Rich is Peter Richardsons 1987 British comedy, from the team behind the popular television series, The Comic Strip Presents. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bad News are a spoof rock band, created for the Channel 4 television series The Comic Strip Presents. ... Mr Jolly Lives Next Door Mr Jolly Lives Next Door is a 1987 Comedy film made for British television as part of the Comic Strip Presents series. ... Rowland Rivron (born 1958) is musican, writer and a successful British television presenter, he first came to fame through his appearances as a guest comedy doctor Dr Scrote character on the Jonathan Ross chat show The Last Resort. He developed this into a series for Channel 4 called Set of... Daniel Peacock is a British actor, writer and director best known for his work with the team of The Comic Strip Presents. ... Alexei David Sayle is a British comedian, actor and author. ... David Stafford is a writer, broadcaster, occasionally musician, born in Birmingham. ... Pauline Melville (Born 1948) is a Guyanese-born writer and actress. ... Nigel Planer (born February 22, 1955) is a British actor, novelist and playwright. ... This article is about the year. ... GLC: The Carnage Continues was an episode of The Comic Strip Presents. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Paul Bartel (August 6, 1938-May 13, 2000) was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an American actor, writer and director well known for his 1982 hit black comedy Eating Raoul, which he wrote, starred in and directed. ... Barry Dennen (born Feb. ... Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid Robbie Coltrane, OBE, baptised Anthony Robert McMillan, born on March 30, 1950, is a Scottish actor. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Trivia

• The map featured at the beginning of the early episodes is that of a section of north Dorset and southern Wiltshire, centred on the town of Shaftesbury.

For other uses, see Dorset (disambiguation). ... Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. ... Location within the British Isles For other uses, see Shaftesbury (disambiguation) Shaftesbury is a town in North Dorset, England, situated on the A30 road near the Wiltshire border 20 miles west of Salisbury. ...

External links

• BBC Comedy Guide - The Comic Strip Presents...
• British Film Institute Screen Online
• Mr jolly lives next door forum - find out where the pubs are