The Comic Strip
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- This article is about the British comedy group. For the sequential art form, see Comic strip.
The Comic Strip is a group of British comedians, best known collectively for their television series The Comic Strip Presents.... The core members of the group are Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson and Jennifer Saunders, with frequent appearances by Keith Allen, Robbie Coltrane and Alexei Sayle.
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Early history
Most of the group started performing at the Comedy Store in London, before setting up their own premises called the Comic Strip in a nearby Soho strip club (the Raymond Revue Bar). The basic lineup consisted of three double-acts – Mayall and Edmondson ("The Dangerous Brothers"), Planer and Richardson ("The Outer Limits") and French and Saunders ("French and Saunders"). The other regulars were Arnold Brown, an older standup comic who did not fit so obviously into the alternative comedy scene, and Alexei Sayle, who acted as compere.
The show gained a reputation as one of the hottest things in town, and soon came to the attention of Jeremy Isaacs, head of the newly-formed Channel 4. Peter Richardson negotiated a deal with the channel for six self-contained half-hour films, using the group as comedy actors rather than standup performers. Almost simultaneously, the BBC signed up Edmondson, Mayall, Planer and Sayle to star in The Young Ones, a sitcom in the same anarchic style as the Comic Strip. Richardson was initially to have been involved too (in the role of Mike, ultimately played by Christopher Ryan), but dropped out of the project due to clashes between himself and the show's producer, Paul Jackson. Instead, with The Comic Strip Presents..., Richardson had creative control, and indeed had led the project from the beginning.
The Comic Strip Presents... debuted on November 2 1982 (the opening night of Channel 4). The first episode to be broadcast was "Five Go Mad In Dorset", a parody of The Famous Five, which drew anger from some viewers for the way it mercilessly satirised a children's classic (although the Enid Blyton estate had in fact given their permission for the broadcast). The series picked up a reputation for anti-establishment humour, and for parodies such as "Bad News Tour", a spoof rockumentary which had the misfortune to be upstaged by the movie This Is Spinal Tap several months later.
The final episode of the first series was to have been a spoof chat show called "Back to Normal with Eddie Monsoon" (referred to as "An Evening with Eddie Monsoon" by some sources). However, it was never produced, as it was considered too vulgar even for the avowedly "alternative" Channel 4 (not to mention possibly libellous). The script – which, uniquely for the Comic Strip, was written as a collaboration by the entire cast – was later published, along with the rest of the series, in book form.
A second series of seven episodes followed in 1983-84, including "Five Go Mad On Mescalin", a sequel to the first episode, and the newly-written "Eddie Monsoon – A Life?", a spoof documentary on the life and times of the title character, an obscene, drunken television host (played by Adrian Edmondson). Michael White, the theatre impressario who had been brought in by Richardson as executive producer on the series, appeared in this episode as Monsoon's producer, who had been responsible for axing Eddie's television comeback show – called, inevitably, "Back to Normal with Eddie Monsoon". The reasons given for the cancellation ("the things you said about Burt Reynolds") are presumably the same problems that led to the real "Back to Normal..." being dropped. (The name Eddie Monsoon – obviously a corruption of "Edmondson" – was later used by Jennifer Saunders, Adrian Edmondson's wife, for her character in Absolutely Fabulous.)
There then followed a four-year wait until the next series, during which the group made two feature films - The Supergrass (1985) and Eat The Rich (1987) - as well as three one-off Comic Strip Presents... episodes. The first of these, "The Bullshitters", was a parody of the television detective shows of the day (such as The Professionals). It was not broadcast under the Comic Strip name, partly because of the original group only Richardson appears (he is the only performer to have been in every single episode), and partly because co-star and co-writer Keith Allen did not want to be so closely associated with the group.
The third series was broadcast in 1988, and some episodes were allowed longer running times, mostly around 50 minutes. Five of the six episodes (all except "Funseekers") were given a limited theatrical release. They included "The Strike", which won the Golden Rose of Montreux; "More Bad News", a sequel to "Bad News Tour" showing the band reforming after five years to play at Castle Donington; and "Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door", written by Mayall and Edmondson in the violent and stupid style of their sitcoms Filthy Rich and Catflap and Bottom, which featured Peter Cook in a memorable role as a psychotic contract killer (the eponymous Mr. Jolly). Peter Richardson and his writing partner Pete Richens, who had written most of the earlier scripts, only contributed one episode this time round, allowing cast members such as Nigel Planer and Alexei Sayle to get their ideas on screen.
By now the show had proved itself as a cult hit, and several notable guest stars appeared in the later productions, including Leslie Phillips, Miranda Richardson, Lionel Jeffries, Nicholas Parsons, Lenny Henry, Richard Vernon, Ruby Wax, Graham Crowden, Elvis Costello, and Benjamin Zephaniah (as a Rastafarian police van driver).
The BBC and after
In 1990, the series transferred to BBC2. By now, all the regulars (with the conspicuous exception of Peter Richardson) had become more famous for their own shows, and more recurring performers such as Gary Beadle, Phil Cornwell, Steve O'Donnell and Doon Mackichan were brought in to fill in the gaps. Rik Mayall, in particular, was contracted to ITV's The New Statesman, and was only able to appear in two of the BBC productions ("GLC", and the Comic Relief special "Red Nose of Courage"). Richardson and Richens took over the bulk of the writing again, and Richardson also took over as director, having previously helmed the two feature films, as well as "The Strike". The six-part 1990 series was followed by three individual specials in 1992, and a final six episodes in 1993.
In 1998 the original team reunited and returned to Channel 4 for a one-off special, "Four Men In A Car". This was followed in 2000 by a less well-received sequel, "Four Men In A Plane". After another long hiatus, another 60-minute one-off, "Sex Actually", was made in 2005. It starred Sheridan Smith (Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps) and Tamer Hassan (Layer Cake) alongside several of the regular cast members.
New episodes are likely to continue to be rare now that all the group are well-established in their own right. Ironically, the only member who is not generally well known is the show's driving force, Peter Richardson, who has built his career as a writer-director, with the TV series Stella Street and films such as Churchill: The Hollywood Years. Richardson has not ruled out the possibility of a whole new series of The Comic Strip Presents... featuring more younger cast members. [1]
Video and DVD releases
The Channel 4 episodes were released on VHS, two episodes per tape, in the early 1990s. The Supergrass was subsequently released on Region 2 DVD.
A 9-disc Region 2 DVD set, The Comic Strip Presents: The Complete Collection was released in July 2005. This included all of the Channel 4 and BBC episodes plus The Supergrass across 8 discs, but did not include Eat the Rich. Most of the episodes in this set seem to have been transferred to video without any effort to remaster the picture or sound quality. The 9th disc includes a retrospective documentary, live Comic Strip performances from 1981 and cast and crew interviews.
List of Comic Strip films
| # | Episode | Writers | Directors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series 1 (1982-83) | |||
| 1.1 | Five Go Mad in Dorset | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Bob Spiers |
| 1.2 | War | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Bob Spiers |
| 1.3 | The Beat Generation | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Bob Spiers |
| 1.4 | Bad News Tour | Adrian Edmondson | Sandy Johnson |
| 1.5 | Summer School | Dawn French | Sandy Johnson |
| Series 2 (1983-84) | |||
| 2.1 | Five Go Mad on Mescalin | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Bob Spiers |
| 2.2 | Dirty Movie | Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall | Sandy Johnson |
| 2.3 | Susie | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Bob Spiers |
| 2.4 | A Fistful of Travellers' Cheques | Rik Mayall, Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Bob Spiers |
| 2.5 | Gino: Full Story and Pics | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Bob Spiers |
| 2.6 | Eddie Monsoon - A Life? | Adrian Edmondson | Sandy Johnson |
| 2.7 | Slags | Jennifer Saunders | Sandy Johnson |
| Special (1984) | |||
| The Bullshitters: Roll out the Gunbarrel | Peter Richardson, Keith Allen | Stephen Frears | |
| Feature Film (1985) | |||
| The Supergrass | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson | |
| Specials (1986) | |||
| Consuela, or The New Mrs Saunders | Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders | Stephen Frears | |
| Private Enterprise | Adrian Edmondson | Adrian Edmondson | |
| Feature Film (1987) | |||
| Eat the Rich | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson | |
| Series 3 (1988) | |||
| 3.1 | The Strike | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson |
| 3.2 | More Bad News | Adrian Edmondson | Adrian Edmondson |
| 3.3 | Mr Jolly Lives Next Door | Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Rowland Rivron | Stephen Frears |
| 3.4 | The Yob | Keith Allen, Daniel Peacock | Ian Emes |
| 3.5 | Didn't You Kill My Brother? | Alexei Sayle, David Stafford, Pauline Melville | Bob Spiers |
| 3.6 | Funseekers | Nigel Planer, Doug Lucie | Baz Taylor |
| Series 4 (1990) | |||
| 4.1 | South Atlantic Raiders | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson |
| 4.2 | South Atlantic Raiders: Argie Bargie! | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson |
| 4.3 | GLC: The Carnage Continues... | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson |
| 4.4 | Oxford | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson |
| 4.5 | Spaghetti Hoops | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson |
| 4.6 | Les Dogs | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson |
| Specials (1992) | |||
| Red Nose of Courage | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson | |
| The Crying Game | Peter Richardson, Keith Allen | Peter Richardson, Keith Allen | |
| Wild Turkey | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson | |
| Series 5 (1993) | |||
| 5.1 | Detectives on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown | Peter Richardson, Keith Allen | Peter Richardson, Keith Allen |
| 5.2 | Space Virgins from Planet Sex | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson, Keith Allen |
| 5.3 | Queen of the Wild Frontier | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson |
| 5.4 | Gregory: Diary of a Nutcase | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson |
| 5.5 | Demonella | Paul Bartel, Barry Dennen | Paul Bartel |
| 5.6 | Jealousy | Robbie Coltrane, Morag Fullarton | Robbie Coltrane |
| Special (1998) | |||
| Four Men in a Car | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson | |
| Special (2000) | |||
| Four Men in a Plane | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson | |
| Special (2005) | |||
| ...Sex Actually | Peter Richardson, Pete Richens | Peter Richardson | |
Trivia
- The map featured at the beginning of the early episodes is that of a section of north Dorset and southern Wiltshire, centred on the town of Shaftesbury.