Goodness Gracious Me is a BBC English language sketch comedy show originally aired on BBC Radio 4 from 1996 to 1998 and later televised on BBC Two from 1998 to 2001. The ensemble cast were four British Indian actors, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia. The show explored the conflict and integration between traditional Indian culture and modern British life. Some sketches reversed the roles to view the British from an Indian perspective, and others poked fun at Indian stereotypes. In the television series most of the white characters were played by Dave Lamb and Fiona Allen; in the radio series those parts were played by the cast themselves. The show's title and theme tune is a bhangra rearrangement of a hit comedy song of the same name. The original was performed by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren reprising their characters from the 1960 film The Millionairess. The show's original working title was "Peter Sellers is Dead", but was changed because the cast generally liked Peter Sellers. In her 1996 novel Anita and Me, Syal had referred to British parodies of Asian speech as "a goodness-gracious-me accent". One of the more famous sketches featured the cast "going out for an English" after a few lassis. They mispronounce the waiter's name, order the blandest thing on the menu and ask for twenty-four plates of chips. The sketch parodies often-drunk English people "going out for an Indian", ordering chicken phall and too many papadums. This sketch was voted the 6th Greatest Comedy Sketch on a Channel 4 list show.
2DTV is a British satirical animated television show that was broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom from March 2001 to December 2004. Lasting a total of five series and thirty-three episodes, 2DTV became the successor of popular 80's TV series Spitting Image, and the predecessor of 2008 ITV satirical animation Headcases.
Innovative and influential, and originally envisaged as children’s show, Do Not Adjust Your Set was a madcap early-evening comedy sketch show that quickly acquired a cult following with Swinging Sixties adults, who rushed home from work to see it. Written by and starring Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, with great performances and additional material by David Jason and Denise Coffey, it also provided an early showcase for the hilarious animations of Terry Gilliam, and the brilliantly bizarre musical antics of the legendary Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.
Doggy Fizzle Televizzle is a sketch comedy show that was produced by, and starred, the rap musician Snoop Dogg. It was aired on MTV in 2002 until 2003. Snoop Dogg stated that according to the contract, the show was to air six times, but it turned out to be a series of eight parts. The second season was canceled due to payment negotiation issues, since Snoop Dogg asked for $1 million for his role, which MTV refused to pay him. In the beginning of every show Snoop is seen sitting bored in a leather armchair in an empty room while switching channels from Jerry Springer to a cart race then to black and white burlesque figure skating after that to a strip show and finally to a Richard Marx music video when he decides to change the situation and the idea of Doggy Fizzle Televizzle comes to his mind. This ends the intro and the main theme follows with Snoop rapping.
Spitting Image is an award winning British satirical puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. The series was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Independent Television over 18 series which aired on the ITV from 1984 to 1996. The series was nominated and won numerous awards during its run including 10 BAFTA Awards, including one for editing in 1989, and even won two Emmy Awards in 1985 and 1986 in the Popular Arts Category. The series featured puppet caricatures of celebrities famous during the 1980s and 1990s, including British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and fellow Tory politicians, American president Ronald Reagan, and the British Royal Family. The Series was the first to caricature the Queen mother.
In this improvisational comedy competition, four guest stars walk into a live improvised comedy sketch, in which they know nothing beyond the costumes they have been given, and greeted by the line 'Thank God you're here!'. They must improvise their way through the sketch with the other actors onstage until a judge sounds a horn. The guest proclaimed the winner by judge Dave Foley takes home a cheap trophy -- and, of course, bragging rights. Based on the Australian series of the same name.
The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting aspires to take sketch comedy in a different direction. With longer-form scenes, less traditional material, and surprising cast, it will be at times random, often ridiculous and occasionally surreal.
The Mario Rosenstock Show is an Irish topical sketch comedy show that first aired on RTÉ Two television in Ireland on 12 November 2012. The show features Mario Rosenstock's performing as characters from the world of sports, politics and entertainment. A second series of the show had been confirmed in December 2012. The second series began on Monday 16 September 2013.
Multi-talented Kate Robbins and her comedian brother Ted appeared in their own Saturday night tea-time show from Granada TV. Here Kate impersonates, amongst others, Victoria Wood, Cilla Black, Tina Turner, Carmen Miranda and Fergie, Duchess Of York!
A groundbreaking, splendidly silly, surreal sketch comedy series written by and starring The Goodies' Tim Brooke-Taylor, Monty Python's Graham Chapman and John Cleese, and comedy legend Marty Feldman.
A British comedy television series with turns of phrase and elaborate wordplay, written by and starring former Cambridge Footlights members Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.
Chewin' the Fat is a Scottish comedy sketch show, starring Ford Kiernan, Greg Hemphill and Karen Dunbar. Comedians Paul Riley and Mark Cox also appeared regularly on the show. Chewin' the Fat first started as a radio series on BBC Radio Scotland. The later television show, which ran for four series, was first broadcast on BBC One Scotland, but series three and four, as well as highlights from the first two series, were later broadcast to the rest of the United Kingdom. Although the last series ended in February 2002, 6 Hogmanay specials were broadcast and offered on DVD when purchasing the Scottish Sun between 2000 to 2005, one every year. Chewin' the Fat gave rise to the spin-off show Still Game, a sitcom focusing on the two old male characters Jack and Victor. The series was mostly filmed in and around Glasgow and occasionally West Dunbartonshire. The English idiom to chew the fat means to chat casually, but thoroughly, about subjects of mutual interest.
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 features regular comedy partners Anna Crilly and Katy Wix, with regular guests including Lee Mack, whose sitcom Not Going Out Wix also stars in.
Twisted and original sketch show from the minds of Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, starring Simon Pegg, Kevin Eldon and Mark Heap.
Wonder Showzen is an American sketch comedy television series that aired between 2005 and 2006 on MTV2. It was created by John Lee and Vernon Chatman of PFFR. The show is rated TV-MA. The show's format is that of educational PBS children's television shows such as Sesame Street and The Electric Company, parodying the format with adult-oriented content. In addition to general controversial comedy, it satirizes politics, religion, war, sex, and culture with black comedy. Every episode begins with a disclaimer, accompanied by the sound of someone screaming "Don't eat my baby!", which reads: "Wonder Showzen contains offensive, despicable content that is too controversial and too awesome for actual children. The stark, ugly and profound truths Wonder Showzen exposes may be soul-crushing to the weak of spirit. If you allow a child to watch this show, you are a bad parent or guardian."
The Kids in the Hall is a Canadian sketch comedy group formed in 1984, consisting of comedians Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson.
Explore different periods of human history through a variety of sketches.
Two bourgeois-bohemians struggle to stay on the cutting edge of trends and fashion while never sacrificing a single ounce of comfort, style or social conscience.
Them From That Thing is a sketch show featuring a host of Channel 4 comedy stars. The series features Blake Harrison (The Inbetweeners), Kayvan Novak (Facejacker), Sally Phillips (Smack The Pony) and Morgana Robinson (Very Important People) alongside with a host of famous faces from the world of drama. Set in the modern world where serious characters say and do very stupid things, Them From That Thing combines the look and feel of great British drama with a silly and slightly unhinged comic sensibility.
The episode was made by Sunil Grover for Salman Khan, where Khan promoted his film Tubelight.