Comedy Lab

Last updated

Comedy Lab
Genre Comedy
Created by Laurence Rickard
George Sawyer
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series12
No. of episodes102 episodes
Production
Running time25 minutes
Production company Room 5
Original release
Network Channel 4/E4
Release9 November 1998 (1998-11-09) 
13 November 2011 (2011-11-13)

Comedy Lab is a British television series which showcases pilots of experimental comedy shows. Series have been aired irregularly on Channel 4 and E4 since 1998.

Contents

Several pilots first shown on Comedy Lab have gone on to spawn full series, most notably Trigger Happy TV , Fonejacker , That Peter Kay Thing , Meet the Magoons and FM . It also gave Jimmy Carr his first television appearance in Jimmy Carr's World of…Corporate Videos. [1]

The 2001 series featured the episodes Knife and Wife (featuring Kevin Eldon), Orcadia (featuring Alice Lowe), Daydream Believers: Brand New Beamer (featuring David Mitchell and Robert Webb) and Jimmy Carr's World of…Corporate Videos featuring Jimmy Carr.

The 2008 series featured the episodes Headwreckers (featuring David McSavage), Mr and Mrs Fandango, Olivia Lee's Naughty Bits, Karl Pilkington: Satisfied Fool, Pappy's Fun Club , School of Comedy and Slaterwood.

2010's shows were iCandy, Happy Finish, Penelope Princess of Pets, Jack Whitehall Secret Census, Filth, Moviemash and Hung Out .

The 2011 lineup included: Anna & Katy (featuring Anna Crilly and Katy Wix), Totally Tom (featuring Anna Popplewell) and Rick and Peter (featuring Rick Edwards).

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>The Young Ones</i> (TV series) British sitcom

The Young Ones is a British sitcom written by Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, and Lise Mayer, starring Adrian Edmondson, Mayall, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan, and Alexei Sayle, and broadcast on BBC Two for two series, first shown in 1982 and 1984. The show focused on the lives of four dissimilar students and their landlord's family on different plots that often included anarchic, offbeat, surreal humour. The show often included slapstick gags, visual humour and surreal jokes sometimes acted out by puppets, with each episode also featuring a notable selection of guest stars and musical numbers from various performers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Kay</span> English actor and stand-up comedian (born 1973)

Peter John Kay is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He has written, produced, directed and acted in several television and film projects, and has written three books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vic and Bob</span> British double act

Vic and Bob, also known as Reeves and Mortimer, are a British double act consisting of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. They have written and starred in several comedy programmes on British television since 1990, with Reeves having made his first TV appearance in 1986. They have often been referred to as the modern day Morecambe and Wise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Carr</span> British-Irish comedian and television presenter

James Anthony Patrick Carr is a British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer, and actor. He is known for his deadpan delivery of controversial one-liners, for which he has been both praised and criticised, and his distinctive laugh. He began his comedy career in 1997, and he has regularly appeared on television as the host of Channel 4 panel shows such as 8 Out of 10 Cats, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and The Big Fat Quiz of the Year.

<i>The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet</i> American sitcom

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1952, to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it continued its success, initially running simultaneously on radio and TV. In terms of seasons, it was the longest running live-action sitcom in U.S. television history until It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia surpassed it on December 1, 2021. The series starred the entertainment duo of Ozzie Nelson and his wife, singer Harriet Nelson, and their sons, David and Ricky. Don DeFore had a recurring role as the Nelsons' neighbor "Thorny".

<i>The Big Fat Quiz of the Year</i> Annual British comedy TV panel show

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year is an approximately annual British television programme broadcast in the last or first week of the year on Channel 4. The show is a comedy panel game in the style of a pub quiz. Three teams of two celebrities, mostly comedians, are asked questions about the year gone by in various categories, writing answers on an electronic board in front of them. At the end of each round the answers are displayed and points awarded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Mitchell (comedian)</span> British comedian, actor, writer and television personality (born 1974)

David James Stuart Mitchell is a British comedian, actor, and writer.

<i>8 Out of 10 Cats</i> British television comedy panel game

8 Out of 10 Cats is a British comedy panel show broadcast on Channel 4 and its sister networks, airing since 3 June 2005. The show is hosted by Jimmy Carr; the current team captains are Rob Beckett and Katherine Ryan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Harmon</span> American screenwriter

Daniel James Harmon is an American screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the creator and producer of the NBC and Yahoo! Screen sitcom Community (2009–2015), creator and host of the comedy podcast Harmontown (2012–2019), co-creator of the Adult Swim animated sitcom Rick and Morty (2013–present) and its subsequent franchise along with Justin Roiland, and co-founder of the alternative television network and website Channel 101 along with Rob Schrab.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Aukerman</span> American actor and comedian

Scott David Aukerman is an American writer, actor, comedian, television personality, director, producer, and podcast host. Starting as a writer and performer in the later seasons of the sketch series Mr. Show, Aukerman is best known as the host of the weekly comedy podcast Comedy Bang! Bang! as well as the IFC original television series of the same name. Aukerman is the co-creator of Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis and co-founder of the Earwolf podcast network.

<i>Lead Balloon</i> British television series

Lead Balloon is a British situation comedy television series produced by Open Mike Productions for BBC Four. The series was created and is co-written by comedian Jack Dee and Pete Sinclair. It stars Dee as Rick Spleen, a cynical and misanthropic comedian whose life is plagued by petty annoyances, disappointments and embarrassments. Raquel Cassidy, Sean Power and Tony Gardner also star. The first series of six episodes was broadcast on BBC Four in 2006, with the first episode achieving the highest ratings for a comedy on the channel. Repeats of the series were run on BBC Two and BBC HD, bringing it to a larger audience. The second series of eight episodes aired on BBC Two from November 2007; the third series aired from November 2008; and the final series aired from 31 May 2011 until 5 July.

Christopher John McCausland is a British actor and comedian. He is known to television audiences for his role as Rudi in the CBeebies show Me Too!. He regularly appears at comedy venues around the UK, including The Comedy Store. McCausland is blind due to retinitis pigmentosa.

<i>Fonejacker</i> British comedy programme

Fonejacker is a British sketch comedy programme broadcast on E4 featuring a series of prank calls involving a number of different characters performed by British Iranian television actor Kayvan Novak. It first appeared in May 2006 and became a full series in 2007.

Anna Crilly is an English actress and comedian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4Music</span> British free-to-air television channel

4Music is a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation that launched on 15 August 2008.

<i>Dads Army</i> British TV sitcom (1968–1977)

Dad's Army is a British television sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and originally broadcast on BBC1 from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977. It ran for nine series and 80 episodes in total; a feature film released in 1971, a stage show and a radio version based on the television scripts were also produced. The series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers and is still shown internationally.

Adult Swim is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by Showcase Television, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily airs animated and live-action comedies targeting a teenage and young adult audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Guarino</span> American actor

Stephen Guarino is an American actor and comedian, known as Sully Patterson on the Jim Carrey-produced Showtime series I'm Dying Up Here (2017–2018) and for his recurring role as Derrick in the ABC comedy series Happy Endings, a character that has since been carried over to the NBC sitcom Marry Me, as well as Connor on the ABC sitcom Dr. Ken.

<i>Anna & Katy</i> British comedy sketch TV show

Anna & Katy is a British comedy sketch show, beginning on Channel 4 on 6 March 2013 following a pilot edition as part of the Comedy Lab series in 2011. It featured regular comedy partners Anna Crilly and Katy Wix, with regular guests including Lee Mack, whose sitcom Not Going Out Wix also starred in at the time.

<i>8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown</i> British comedy television panel show

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown is a British comedy panel show on Channel 4. The show follows the game of Countdown, but presented in a comedic panel show format seen on 8 Out of 10 Cats, with the show being a crossover of the two.

References

  1. Nerys Evans. "Comedy Lab 2011: Introduction". Channel 4. Retrieved 26 August 2011.