Where do I start with this one?

15 Years ago British comedy was edging towards a remarkable heyday; Blackadder had finished, Fry & Laurie’s sketch series had hit comedy fans squarely between the eyes, and new writers such as Charlie Higson were forging careers providing gags for newcomers Reeves & Mortimer.  Meanwhile on Radio One we had The Mary Whitehouse Experience, in which David Baddiel, Rob Newman, Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis worked in a bizarre duo of double acts in a format which soon translated to BBC Two.

All of this lead to the astonishing declaration in the New Musical Express that “Comedy is the New Rock n Roll!” with Newman & Baddiel going on tour and performing at Wembley, a move that was soon echoed by Charlie Higson and the rest of The Fast Show.

Comedy supergroups were all of a sudden the norm, and things were getting just a little bit bonkers, frankly.

Since those heady days, Little Britain has been on tour to audiences rivalling Newman & Baddiel, but it wasn’t really meant to be this way, was it? 

I can’t help but feel that as important as live comedy is, nothing is as important to the future of British comedy as the shared experience of watching the funniest series as a family or social group.  It seems that nowadays people have very particular funny bones, and this is only because comedy became “cool”. 

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