Fry and Laurie | |||
---|---|---|---|
Medium | Film, radio, television | ||
Nationality | English | ||
Years active | 1981–2003; 2010–2014 (intermittent since early 1990s) | ||
Genres | Character comedy Sketch comedy Slapstick | ||
Subject(s) | British culture British politics Class relations | ||
Notable works and roles | A Bit of Fry & Laurie Jeeves and Wooster Blackadder |
Fry and Laurie are an English comedy double act, mostly active in the 1980s and 1990s, composed of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. The two met in 1980 through mutual friend Emma Thompson while all three attended the University of Cambridge. Following appearances on TV sketch show Alfresco, The Young Ones, and revue series Saturday Live, they gained prominence on television sketch comedy A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1987, 1989, 1995), actress Deborah Norton appearing in many of the sketches in the first series.
Fry and Laurie have collaborated on numerous other projects including, most notably, the television series Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993), in which they portrayed P. G. Wodehouse's literary characters Jeeves (Fry) and Wooster (Laurie).
Since the conclusion of A Bit of Fry & Laurie, both have gone on to solo careers in acting, writing and other roles. They reunited for a retrospective show in 2010 titled Fry and Laurie Reunited. On 14 May 2012, Fry announced he and Laurie were working together on a new project, [1] which came to be an animated adaption of Oscar Wilde’s 1887 story The Canterville Ghost. The film was released on October 20, 2023, and features Freddie Highmore as The Duke of Cheshire alongside Fry as Sir Simon de Canterville and Laurie as the Grim Reaper.
Fry and Laurie have remained close friends throughout their careers. Laurie frequently thanks Fry when accepting awards, including at the 2007 Golden Globes when he referred to his former comedy partner, in the old A Bit of Fry and Laurie style, as "m’colleague Stephen Fry". [2]
Fry and Laurie have also appeared together in various television advertisements, interviews, audio books, and other projects.
Blackadder is a series of four period British sitcoms, plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC1 from 1983 to 1989. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the antihero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick. Each series was set in a different historical period, with the two protagonists accompanied by different characters, though several reappear in one series or another, e.g., Melchett, Lord Percy Percy / Captain Darling and George.
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator, and writer. He first came to prominence as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1989–1995) and Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993). He also starred in the sketch series Alfresco (1983–1984) alongside Laurie, Emma Thompson, and Robbie Coltrane and in Blackadder (1986–1989) alongside Rowan Atkinson. Since 2011 he has served as president of the mental health charity Mind.
James Hugh Calum Laurie is an English actor, comedian, writer, and musician. He first gained recognition for his work as one half of the English comedy double act Fry and Laurie with Stephen Fry. The two acted together in a number of projects during the 1980s and 1990s, including the BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie and the P. G. Wodehouse adaptation Jeeves and Wooster. From 1986 to 1989 he appeared in three series of the period comedy Blackadder, first as a recurring guest star in the last two episodes of Blackadder II, before joining the main cast in Blackadder the Third, and going on to appear in Blackadder Goes Forth and many specials of the show except for The Black Adder and Blackadder: The Cavalier Years.
Jeeves and Wooster is a British comedy-drama television series adapted by Clive Exton from P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories. It aired on the ITV network from 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, with the last series nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series. Set in the UK and the US in an unspecified period between the late 1920s and the 1930s, the series starred Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster, an affable young gentleman and member of the idle rich, and Stephen Fry as Jeeves, his highly intelligent and competent valet. Bertie and his friends, who are mainly members of the Drones Club, are extricated from all manner of societal misadventures by the indispensable Jeeves.
Blackadder the Third is the third series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired on BBC1 from 17 September to 22 October 1987. The series is set during the Georgian Era, and sees the principal character, Mr. E. Blackadder, serve as butler to the Prince Regent and have to contend with, or cash in on, the fads of the age embraced by his master.
My Man Jeeves is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom in May 1919 by George Newnes. Of the eight stories in the collection, half feature the popular characters Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, while the others concern Reggie Pepper, an early prototype for Bertie Wooster.
Alfresco is a British sketch comedy television series starring Robbie Coltrane, Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Siobhan Redmond and Emma Thompson, produced by Granada Television and broadcast by ITV from 1 May 1983 to 2 June 1984. Running for two series, it totalled 13 episodes and was named Alfresco because, unusually for a comedy sketch show of the time, it was shot on location rather than in a studio.
George is a supporting character who appeared in various adaptations of the BBC sitcom Blackadder, played by Hugh Laurie. Two series saw a different incarnation of the character, because each was set in a different period of history. He was most prominently featured in the third and fourth series. The character was added to the series as a replacement for the Lord Percy Percy character, who did not appear in the third instalment because Tim McInnerny, the actor playing him, feared being typecast.
The Crystal Cube was a mockumentary television pilot written by and starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, broadcast on 7 July 1983 on BBC2 at 22:10. The pilot was one of Fry and Laurie's first television appearances and the first show they had written themselves. However, the BBC chose not to take it to a full series, and Fry and Laurie did not get a chance to make their own programme for the BBC until 1989, when they produced their first full series of the more conventional sketch show A Bit of Fry and Laurie, after a pilot in 1987.
A Bit of Fry & Laurie is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring former Cambridge Footlights members Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, broadcast on both BBC1 and BBC2 between 1989 and 1995. It ran for four series with 26 episodes, including a 36-minute pilot episode in 1987.
Stephen Fry is an English actor, comedian, author and television presenter. With Hugh Laurie, as the comedy double act Fry and Laurie, he co-wrote and co-starred in A Bit of Fry & Laurie, and the duo also played the title roles in Jeeves and Wooster. Fry played the lead in the film Wilde, played Melchett in the Blackadder television series, and was the host of celebrity comedy trivia show QI. He has contributed columns and articles for newspapers and magazines, and has written four novels and three autobiographies, Moab Is My Washpot, The Fry Chronicles, and More Fool Me: A Memoir.
There's Nothing to Worry About! is a British television series that ran on ITV Granada in 1982. The sketch comedy show was the first screen collaboration between the comedy duo Fry and Laurie. Other cast members include Emma Thompson, Ben Elton, Paul Shearer and Siobhan Redmond.
This is a list of British television related events from 1989.
This is a list of British television related events from 1987.
"The Ties That Bind" is the sixth episode of the fourth series of the 1990s British comedy television series Jeeves and Wooster. It is also called "The Ex's Are Nearly Married Off". It first aired in the UK on 20 June 1993 on ITV.
"The Delayed Arrival" is the fourth episode of the fourth series of the 1990s British comedy television series Jeeves and Wooster. It is also called "Arrested in a Night Club". It first aired in the UK on 6 June 1993 on ITV.
"Jeeves' Arrival" is the first episode of the first series of the 1990s British comedy television series Jeeves and Wooster. It is also called "In Court after the Boat Race" or "Jeeves Takes Charge". It first aired in the UK on 22 April 1990 on ITV. The episode aired in the US on 11 November 1990 on Masterpiece Theatre.
"Pearls Mean Tears" is the third episode of the second series of the 1990s British comedy television series Jeeves and Wooster. It is also called "The Con". It first aired in the UK on 28 April 1991 on ITV.
"Chuffy" is the fourth episode of the second series of the 1990s British comedy television series Jeeves and Wooster. It is also called "Jeeves in the Country". It first aired in the UK on 5 May 1991 on ITV.
"Trouble at Totleigh Towers" is the fifth episode of the fourth series of the 1990s British comedy television series Jeeves and Wooster. It is also called "Totleigh Towers". It first aired in the UK on 13 June 1993 on ITV. Some of the external scenes were filmed at Highclere Castle.