The Comic Strip Presents...

"The Comic Strip presents . . ." introduced a new crowd of "'varsity comics" (Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Ade Edondson, Rick Mayall, Robbie Coltrane) to British commercial television, and a fresh approach to the half-hour comedy format. Led (as performer, writer, and director) by Peter Richardson, the Channel 4 series broke away from the crazy-sketch format which had dominated the years since the debut of Monty Python, instead focusing each episode on a playful exploration of a particular film or TV genre, some quintessentially British ("Five Go Mad in Dorset," with its deadpan tweaking of Enid Blyton's wartime children's adventure books) to presciently contemporary ("Bad News Tour," which beat "Spinal Tap" to the screen by almost two years). Richardson's penchant for genre critique above all sometimes led to stylishly inert outings like "Beat Generation," but also to wildly idiosyncratic and memorable excursions like "Summer School," "Bullsh*tters," and "A Fistful of Traveler's Cheques." Unfortunately only available on DVD as a nine-count'em nine disc set in PAL format, The Comic Strip deserves a two or three disc compilation of its most marvelous episodes: After 25 years, many play better than most contemporary comedy today.

"The comic strip presents" team is made up of numerous hero's of British comedy, Rik Mayall, Ade Edmundson, French + Saunders, Peter Richardson and Nigel Planer to name just a few. Starting in The "Comic strip night club" in the early 80's they turned many a famous head. Getting their break with channel 4 was in my opinion, the best choice the channel has ever made. Ranging from famous five re-makes to posing as heavy metal super-stars, the comic strip team have excelled in over 30 TV films and a number of feature movies. Building a base for Mayall and Edmondson to leap foward, they have gone on to become household names appearing in such favourites as "Bottom" and "The young ones" (also with Nigel Planer.) All in all the comic strip team have achieved comic greatness at the very highest level. A shining example to young and old comedians.

I love the cast but the episodes are more miss than hit. There are a few gems but only for fans of goofy loud comedy.

I remember catching The Comic Strip back when it was first aired stateside. I waited with anticipation every week to see what the next show would conjure up. My favorite of the series was definitely "Bad News Tour", "More Bad News", and "The Supregrass" flick. These scamps were also responsible for aiding with the development of the phenomenal "Eat The Rich" film. Ade Edmondson, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan and Rik Mayall would go on to fame as "The Young Ones." Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French would go on to "French and Saunders" and eventually part ways for "Absolutely Fabulous" and "The Vicar of Dibley." Basic comparison as far as career launching would be comparative of "SCTV" or the original "Saturday Night Live" TV series here in the states. The shows and skits were very well written. Ade Edmondson and Rik Mayall would go on to do "The Dangerous Brothers," "Filthy, Madcap and Laughing" and "Bottom." Excellent stuff that is all well overdue for a region DVD reissue.

The first 'Comic Strip Presents ...' production came to our screens on the opening night of Channel 4 (I think) with one of the best editions, 'Five Go Mad In Dorset' (Peter Richardson as Julian, Ade Edmondson as Dick, Jennifer Saunders as Anne, Dawn French as George, and Ronald Allen aka David from Crossroads as Uncle Quentin. Also featured Daniel Peacock, now there's a blast from the past, as Toby).

Future editions were a bit hit and miss but I'm glad to have been around when these were new: 'The Bad News Tour' (including Rik Mayall and Nigel Planer as well as Ade from The Young Ones); 'Gino' (with Keith Allen and Robbie Coltrane); 'The Bullshitters' (the Professionals spoof with Keith Allen as Bonehead and Peter Richardson as Foyle; Scum's Julian Firth; Esther Freud as a backstage floozy, and Elvis Costello as an A&R man); 'The Strike' (following the miners' strike, this appeared - three Allens (Keith, Kevin, Ronald) and the loud Scouser Alexei Sayle); the wonderful 'Mr Jolly Lives Next Door' (Peter Cook, Nicholas Parsons, and I seem to remember Rowland Rivron in this?); and 'The Yob' (Keith Allen again; Julian Firth as a coke addict; Warren Clarke; Gary Olsen; and Derrick Branche).

By the mid-1990s though the series was looking tired - a new generation of comedians was starting to appear and the Comic Strip gang were all heading into their 40s and beyond. Some went on to greater things, some disappeared. I doubt a series like this would survive for nearly twenty years if it started now, with largely the same core cast. 'The Comic Strip Presents ...' was groundbreaking and largely a lot of fun.