# Why do the British have so many sketch shows? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** talk-variety-show\ **Created:** [October 24, 2022, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693 "2022-10-24T03:36:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/1 "2022-10-24T03:36:18Z")
If there is one thing British TV seems to have had a huge number of, it’s sketch comedy shows. Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Alas Smith and Jones, Mitchell and Webb, Not the Nine O’Clock News, Big Train, Little Britain, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, French and Saunders… that’s maybe a third of them. It’s as if pretty much anyone with sketch comedy ideas could get a show. Then after the show is over the cast get to make appearances on another uniquely British sort of show, the “It’s Sort of A Game Show But Really It’s Just An Excuse For Comedians to Kid Around And Get Paid,” like QI or Would I Lie To You. US and Canadian TV seems a little short in this regard. There’s Saturday Night Live, and of course Mad TV was a thing, and we had Royal Canadian Air Farce and SCTV here, now both gone. Cable pops a few up now and then, but they’re just not seemingly as common. Why is that? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/2 "2022-10-24T03:48:52Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > another uniquely British sort of show, the “It’s Sort of A Game Show But Really It’s Just An Excuse For Comedians to Kid Around And Get Paid,” like QI or Would I Lie To You. it’s called a panel show, and it’s hardly unique to UK. America had What’s My Line, I’ve Got a Secret, Hollywood Squares, etc. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/3 "2022-10-24T03:53:53Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > it’s called a panel show, and it’s hardly unique to UK. America had What’s My Line, I’ve Got a Secret, Hollywood Squares, etc. Those are all gone now, and Hollywood Squares, at least, was a real game show with real contestants playing for money. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/4 "2022-10-24T04:08:01Z")
The BBC has been scouting the Edinburgh Fringe for cheap entertainment since the 1950s. For these college students and struggling actors, sketch comedy was an accessible entree into the world of entertainment and Edinburgh was where TV and film scouts would go each year to see the cream rise to the top of the barrel. > **[Edinburgh Festival Fringe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Festival_Fringe?wprov=sfti1)** > > The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 different shows in 322 venues. Established in 1947 as an alternative to (and on the fringe of) the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place in Edinburgh every August. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has become a world-leading celebration of arts It is... ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/5 "2022-10-24T04:10:57Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Those are all gone now Gone now on TV, but U.S. public radio has several panel shows, such as “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/6 "2022-10-24T04:12:47Z")
By comparision the US produces scads of sitcoms - Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Families. That’s not to say that the UK doesn’t produce sitcoms (Blackadder, The Office) or the US doesn’t produce sketch shows (SNL) but their respective television industries seem to have different comparative advantages. There may be cultural reasons for this, or it might just be a case of early random hits, followed by success breeding success. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/7 "2022-10-24T04:25:13Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > we had Royal Canadian Air Farce and SCTV here, now both gone. And Wayne & Schuster and Kids in the Hall (not to mention lesser known shows like Smith & Smith, CODCO, Four on the Floor, Baroness von Sketch Show and Bizarre). Aren’t all of the British shows you mention in your post also gone? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/8 "2022-10-24T04:34:09Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > And Wayne & Schuster and Kids in the Hall (not to mention lesser known shows like Smith & Smith, CODCO, Four on the Floor, Baroness von Sketch Show and Bizarre). And, for that matter, even discounting relatively recent cable sketch shows (which the OP mentioned), if we’re going back decades, the U.S. also had In Living Color, Fridays, The Carol Burnett Show, Not Necessarily the News, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/9 "2022-10-24T04:35:50Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Hollywood Squares, at least, was a real game show with real contestants playing for money But the main interest was the celebs banter. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/10 "2022-10-24T06:12:09Z")
Radio comedy is very strong in Britain - lots of short form, short run shows on BBC Radio, which must run through dozens of comedians annually. Radio comedy is the place where you can give your find from Edinburgh Fringe the chance to impress and build an audience before unleashing them onto TV. Its also easy to build panel and ensemble shows in that format when you need to go beyond your own three funny voices. Mitchell and Webb and lots of others came through that route. US comedians don’t seem to play well together. Although this is based mainly on suffering through some of those appalling ‘comedy’ roasts, there is little sense of serving the show - feeding lines for others to get the laugh, knowing when to shut up, bantering, not being so full of yourself etc, which is minimum entry-level for Brit panel shows. Perhaps its a stronger theatrical tradition - many British comedians are also proper actors, and can take direction. I think stand-up in the US gives you different skills but may not crush your desire to be centre stage. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/11 "2022-10-24T10:03:42Z")
As ever, Wikipedia provides a vast list of [notable sketch comedy television series by country.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sketch_comedy_television_series#United_Kingdom) The biggest surprise is the large numbers, from both Britain and the US, that I have never even heard of let alone seen. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/12 "2022-10-24T10:48:31Z")
My sense is that comedy sketch shows are actually a bit out of fashion in the UK right now. I can’t think of any notable new ones, certainly not up there with the flood we had from the 70s to the 90s. I wonder if that’s anything to do with sketch shows often leaning heavily on their references to current affairs, and with streaming, that’s harder to pull off. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/13 "2022-10-24T13:12:23Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > US and Canadian TV seems a little short in this regard. There’s Saturday Night Live, and of course Mad TV was a thing, and we had Royal Canadian Air Farce and SCTV here, now both gone. Cable pops a few up now and then You may be too dismissive of US cable sketch comedy. Dave Chapelle’s show was huge in its day, and just off the top of my head the sketch shows by Amy Shumer, Key & Peele, and Bob & David (Odenkirk and Cross) are fairly well known. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > The BBC has been scouting the Edinburgh Fringe for cheap entertainment since the 1950s. For these college students and struggling actors, sketch comedy was an accessible entree into the world of entertainment and Edinburgh was where TV and film scouts would go each year to see the cream rise to the top of the barrel. Yeah, I think this may be one big factor. > [@Banksiaman](#): > > Radio comedy is very strong in Britain - lots of short form, short run shows on BBC Radio, which must run through dozens of comedians annually. Radio comedy is the place where you can give your find from Edinburgh Fringe the chance to impress and build an audience before unleashing them onto TV. And that’s another big factor. Scripted radio shows in general stayed alive and well in Britain long after they died out in the US, and, with a very few exceptions, radio sketch comedy has never really been a thing here. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/14 "2022-10-24T19:27:14Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Dave Chapelle’s show was huge in its day, and just off the top of my head the sketch shows by Amy Shumer, Key & Peele, and Bob & David (Odenkirk and Cross) are fairly well known. I totally forgot about Mr. Show. I love that show. I also forgot about A Black Lady Sketch Show (the co-winner, along with Saturday Night Live, for Most Literally Named Television Program) and Baroness Von Sketch. The point about Britons loving radio sketch comedy’s a good one; I know Mitchell and Webb started there. Radio skit shows sound so old school to me - but David Mitchell and Robert Webb are a little younger than I am, and essentially their entire fame was built in the 21st century. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/15 "2022-10-24T19:39:26Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > > > it’s called a panel show, and it’s hardly unique to UK. America had What’s My Line, I’ve Got a Secret, Hollywood Squares, etc. > > Those are all gone now, and Hollywood Squares, at least, was a real game show with real contestants playing for money. Remove the tic-tac-toe concept and you get [Funny You Should Ask.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funny_You_Should_Ask_(2017_game_show)) ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/16 "2022-10-24T19:55:10Z")
My immediate reaction to the OPs question was: Cambridge Footlights. > **[Footlights](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footlights)** > > Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University. > Footlights' inaugural performance took place in June 1883. For some months before the name "Footlights" was chosen, the group had performed to local audiences in the Cambridge area (once, with a cricket match included, at the "pauper lunatic asylum"). They wished to go wider than the ... The BBC (particularly) has historically cherry picked comedians from the Footlights, and the Footlights do (I presume this is still true) sketch comedy. These comedians then carry on doing the same things they’ve always done when they appear on TV. After this pattern has been set, if you didn’t go to Cambridge but are looking to break into TV, copying the format is an obvious strategy. Here’s a list former Footlights members who went on to better things. Many of these names appeared in sketch shows. > **[List of former Footlights members](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_former_Footlights_members)** > > This is a list of former Footlights members who have achieved notability after graduating from the University of Cambridge. The careers of many prominent figures in the world of entertainment began in Footlights, while prominent figures in other industries also took part in Footlights. They include: I can’t prove this is the reason; but as I said, it was my first thought. j ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/17 "2022-10-24T20:07:53Z")
Yes, I think that would explain it ! ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/18 "2022-10-24T20:08:49Z")
The Oxford Revue (Michael Palen, Terry Jones, Dudley Moore, Rowan Atkinson, etc) is the other half of that equation. The Fringe is where the Cantabs and Oxonians went to show up each other. > **[The Oxford Revue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oxford_Revue)** > > The Oxford Revue is a comedy group primarily featuring students from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University, England. Founded in the early 1950s, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians, actors and satirists. The Revue writes, produces and performs several shows each term in the pubs and theatres around Oxford, as well as touring to cities in the United Kingdom and performing a month-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival every year. > Former members include: > In Augus... ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/19 "2022-10-25T00:59:36Z")
Dozens and dozens of sketch shows have appeared on American Television. Here’s a list of [Comedy Central’s top ten](https://screenrant.com/comedy-central-best-sketch-shows-according-to-imdb/), only a couple of which have been mentioned. [Rolling Stone did an all-time top 40](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-lists/40-greatest-sketch-comedy-tv-shows-of-all-time-142581), most of which are American, though not all at what we now consider sketch shows. [Wikipedia does the longest list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sketch_comedy_television_series#United_States) of American sketch shows, longer even than their list of British shows. Of course, being Wikipedia, it includes some doubtful entries. [Canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sketch_comedy_television_series#Canada) may have more proportional to population. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2022, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693/20 "2022-10-27T14:37:08Z")
I was delighted to find that BBC4 has been producing some wonderful sketch comedy… on the radio! Besides being a beloved format, it means I can listen on my phone as I go about my day. My favorite is _John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme_. And his “sitcom” _Cabin Pressure_, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Roger Allam. Reminded me a bit of _Mitchell and Webb,_ and I found out that Finnemore wrote some of their best sketches. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-british-have-so-many-sketch-shows/973693.md?page=2)