Comic Roots

Comic Roots
Genre	Biography
Starring	Keith Allen Nicholas Ball Roy Barraclough Billy Dainty Les Dawson Nev Goodwyn Irene Handl Roy Hudd Michael Palin Sandy Powell Alexei Sayle Paul Shane Graham Stuart-Harris Kenneth Williams
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	8
Production
Running time	8x30 minutes
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	2 August 1982 (1982-08-02) – 2 September 1983 (1983-09-02)

Comic Roots was a British television series from the early 1980s, documenting the biographies and influences of a number of popular comedians of the era.

Episodes included features on Les Dawson, and Alexei Sayle. ^[1] Sayle converted his own documentary into an impromptu pub crawl.

Episodes

Series one (1982)

1. Les Dawson's Lancashire (2 August 1982)
2. Roy Hudd's Croydon (9 August 1982)
3. Irene Handl's London (16 August 1982)
4. Paul Shane's Rotherham (16 August 1982)

Series two (1983)

1. Michael Palin (12 August 1983)
2. Billy Dainty (19 August 1983)
3. Alexei Sayle (26 August 1983)
4. Kenneth Williams (2 September 1983)

References

1. "Comic Roots". British Comedy Guide . Retrieved 18 November 2025.