Britain’s nascent ‘alternative’ comedy
scene burst into life with The Comic Strip’s Five Go Mad In Dorset, broadcast on launch night in 1982. Instantly, edge and vibrancy were added to the spectrum of TV comedy. Comic Strip regulars such as French and Saunders and Rik Mayall went on to star on the channel’s live comedy showcase, Saturday Live, which gave airtime to a new generation of comedians – including Harry Enfield, Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Jo Brand. Channel 4 has continued to unearth and nurture fresh comic voices – Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, Ali G, Ricky Gervais, Peter Kay – and create fresh formats – Father Ted, Brass Eye, Spaced, Smack the Pony, Peep Show, Green Wing. C4 has never lost sight of comedy’s power to expose wider truth and never shied away from satire, led by Chris Morris and Rory Bremner.
In This Chapter
- Introduction
- Saved From a Life in Football by Alan Carr
- Alternative Comedy: You’ve Got to Laugh by Stephen Armstrong
- The Swot Memoirs by Tamsin Greig
- Geeks are Good by Jessica Hynes
- Father Ted of Craggy Island by Father Seed
- Gallery
Chapter Gallery
