Social & External
The people behind it
Val Doonican
Self - Host
In the fictional town of Fernwood, Ohio, suburban housewife Mary Hartman seeks the kind of domestic perfection promised by Reader’s Digest and TV commercials. Instead she finds herself suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune: mass murders, low-flying airplanes and waxy yellow buildup on her kitchen floor.
The Armando Iannucci Shows is a series of eight programmes focused on specific themes relating to human nature and existentialism, around which Iannucci would weave a series of surreal sketches and monologues. Recurring themes in the episodes are the superficiality of modern culture, our problems communicating with each other, the mundane nature of working life and feelings of personal inadequacy and social awkwardness. Several characters also make repeat appearances in the shows, including the East End thug, who solves every problem with threats of violence; Hugh, an old man who delivers surreal monologues about what things were like in the old days; and Iannucci's barber, who is full of nonsensical anecdotes.
Dolly is a television variety show that ran on ABC during the 1987-1988 season featuring Dolly Parton.
Absolutely is a popular UK television comedy sketch show shown on Channel 4 between 1989 and 1993. The cast and crew were mainly Scottish; the principal writers and performers were Moray Hunter, Jack Docherty, Peter Baikie, Gordon Kennedy, Morwenna Banks and John Sparkes. It was directed by Phil Chilvers, Alan Nixon, Alistair Clark, and Graham C Williams. The show's producers were Alan Nixon, and David Tyler
Investigative reporter Chris Morris puts modern Britain under the spotlight, and smacks the issues of the day till they bleed. He tackles weighty issues including animals, drugs, sex and skewered celebrities and politicians alike - and in a later episode in 2001, paedophiles.
Twenty years after seeing his family decimated by gunmen, Ben Silver returns to Albuquerque to take revenge on the person responsible for the massacre, but falls in love with his rival's daughter.
Frozen in ice since 1902 by his nemesis, Edwardian adventurer Adam Adamant is revived in 1966, where he must adapt to the 'Swinging Sixties' with the help of his new companion, Georgina Jones.
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.
The Huckleberry Hound Show is a 1958 syndicated animated series and the second from Hanna-Barbera following The Ruff & Reddy Show, sponsored by Kellogg's. Three segments were included in the program: one featuring Huckleberry Hound; another starring Yogi Bear and his sidekick Boo Boo; and a third with Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks, two mice who in each short found a new way to outwit the cat Mr. Jinks.
A satirical six-part sketch comedy.
The Carol Burnett Show is an American variety/sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33. The series won 25 prime time Emmy Awards, was ranked No. 16 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time in 2002 and in 2007 was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All Time."
The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show starred many notable comedians and entertainers of the era, including Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fred Allen, Donald O'Connor, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, Ray Bolger, Gordon MacRae, Ben Blue, Robert Paige, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb and Spike Jones and His City Slickers.
Magical girls: strong, cool, the ultimate dream job. College student Kana Sakuragi is job hunting - without much luck! One day, she is caught up in an attack by a "Kaii." Fiesty magical girl Hitomi Koshigaya flies to the rescue, and Kana uses her excellent memory to help her take it down. Hired as a magical girl by Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc., Kana takes her first step into the working world!
Aside from doubling the length of each episode, The New Scooby-Doo Movies differed from its predecessor in the addition of a rotating special guest star slot; each episode featured real-life celebrities or well known fictional characters joining the Mystery, Inc. gang in solving the mystery of the week. Some episodes, in particular the episodes guest-starring the characters from The Addams Family, Batman, and Jeannie, deviated from the established Scooby-Doo format of presenting criminals masquerading as supernatural beings by introducing real ghosts, witches, monsters, and other such characters into the plots.
The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show and Scrappy Too! is a package show produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1980 for ABC Saturday mornings. The program contained segments from Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo and Richie Rich. The Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo shorts represents the sixth show in which Scooby-Doo appears. This was the only Hanna-Barbera package series for which Scooby-Doo was given second billing and also notable for Richie Rich's debut in animation.
The fortunes of a former chat show host who is reduced to a lowly slot on Radio Norwich. Alan Partridge is divorced, living in a travel tavern, and desperate for a return to television.
Cher and Sonny Bono starred in this quintessentially '70's TV comedy/variety show. Sonny and Cher's hit songs featured prominently on the show, as they would often sing and perform them between short skits.
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! is an American sketch comedy television series, created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, which premiered February 11, 2007 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim comedy block and ran until May 2010. The program features surrealistic and often satirical humor, public-access television–style musical acts, bizarre faux-commercials, and editing and special effects chosen to make the show appear camp. The program featured a wide range of actors, spanning from stars such as Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Will Forte and Zach Galifianakis, to alternative comedians like Neil Hamburger, to television actors like Alan Thicke, celebrity look-alikes and impressionists. The creators of the show have described it as "the nightmare version of television."
Mock the Week is a British topical celebrity panel game hosted by Dara Ó Briain. The game is influenced by improvised topical stand-up comedy, with several rounds requiring players to deliver answers on unexpected subjects on the spur of the moment.
A comedic talk show from an alternate reality featuring unstable hosts, a variety of celebrities—both real and fake—and unusual studio action.
A British sketch comedy series with the shows being composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines.
Comedian Billy Eichner, unfiltered and unapologetic, hits the streets of New York City to test unsuspecting strangers on their knowledge of music and pop culture. With microphone in hand and money in tow, Eichner gives contestants the chance to win cash by answering a series of hilarious and spontaneous questions. The catch? The final round is subjective - Don't agree with Billy? You lose.
A British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s, combining surreal sketches and situation comedy.
The Benny Hill Show is a British comedy television show that starred Benny Hill and aired in various incarnations between 15 January 1955 and 30 May 1991 in over 140 countries. The show focused on sketches that were full of slapstick, mime, parody, and double-entendre. Thames Television cancelled production of the show in 1989 due to declining ratings and large production costs at £450,000 per show.
The misadventures of four lunatic students who live in a shared student house. There's Rick, the overblown political one addicted to Cliff Richard, Vyvyan the experimental scientific one/part-time anarchist, Neil the worried hippy, and Mike the ladies' man (at least he is in his mind).
There is no such thing as an ordinary interaction in this offbeat sketch comedy series that features a deep roster of guest stars.
Comedy sketch show set in the fictional Scottish town of Burnistoun near Glasgow. The show follows the exploits of characters such as an aspiring girl band and a serial killer who is unhappy at his portrayal in the local media.
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.
French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring comic duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It is also the name by which the performers are known on the occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act.
Nick Cannon and an A-list celebrity lead a team of improv comedians as they compete against each other.
Celebrity pairings ride along in a car together as they sing tunes from their personal playlists and surprise fans who don't expect to see big stars belting out tunes one lane over.
A zany comedy show with Matt Lucas and David Walliams, featuring characters from all over Little Britain.
A narrative series set in a limitless magical reality full of dynamic, hilarious characters and celebrity guests presenting sketches performed by a core cast of black women.
Satirical sketch comedy set and filmed in Portland, Oregon that explores the eccentric misfits who embody the foibles of modern culture.
A sketch comedy series starring and hosted by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. The pair introduce most episodes as heightened versions of themselves before transitioning to a mixture of live sketches and pre-taped segments.
Created by stars Keenen Ivory Wayans and Damon Wayans, this Emmy-winning sketch series offers cutting-edge satire and features a host of talent, including Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey, David Alan Grier and Tommy Davidson.
Shooting Stars is a British television comedy panel game broadcast on BBC Two as a pilot in 1993, then as 3 full series from 1995 to 1997, then on BBC Choice from January to December 2002 with 2 series before returning to BBC Two for another 3 series from 2008 until its cancellation in 2011. Created and hosted by double-act Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, it uses the panel show format but with the comedians' often slapstick, surreal and anarchic humour does not rely on rules in order to function, with the pair apparently ignoring existing rules or inventing new ones as and when the mood takes them.
