British Comedy Guide
British Comedy Guide
Graham McCann
Graham McCann

Graham McCann

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Graham McCann features - page 5

The Undiscovered Tony Hancock. Tony Hancock. Copyright: Getty Images Features

Comedy Chronicles: Tony don't fall backwards - Hancock at the Royal Festival Hall

Sunday 19th September 2021

Tony Hancock was one of the most successful comedians of his generation, but a combination of personal problems and increasingly erratic professional decisions turned his 1966 'comeback' at the Royal Festival Hall into an unfortunate night to forget...

Image shows from L to R: Dave Allen, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore Features

Comedy Chronicles: Just very naughty boys - Dave Allen, Peter Cook & Dudley Moore Down Under

Sunday 5th September 2021

Censorship can seem to be ever-growing in modern times: new "woke" sensibilities clashing with long-established political correctness, and both in turn with classical liberalism - but it is nothing new, as Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Dave Allen found out 50 years ago this month on Australian television.

Peter Cook. Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: I can't talk now, 'cos he's here - The true story of Peter Cook's Where Do I Sit?

Sunday 22nd August 2021

In an age that sees television celebrated when chaotic and rough-around-the-edges, we look back to 1971 and Peter Cook's chat show, Where Do I Sit? - deemed such a disaster it was cancelled after just three episodes.

Ever Decreasing Circles. Image shows from L to R: Howard Hughes (Stanley Lebor), Martin Bryce (Richard Briers). Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: It Just Is Cricket - British comedy's sport of choice

Sunday 8th August 2021

The cross-over between sport and comedy is more often than not one destined to failure; but one game more than any other seems to lend itself very well. Dust down your whites and dive into the realm where cricket and comedy mix.

Image shows from L to R: Bruce Forsyth, Jimmy Tarbuck, Ronnie Corbett Features

Comedy Chronicles: Lost Balls - When British comedy went golf mad

Sunday 25th July 2021

Graham McCann says: "There used to be few things more frightening for television viewers than the sight of a comedian in a Pringle sweater. It meant that he was almost certainly about to talk about golf..."

Chic Murray Features

Comedy Chronicles: Très Chic - The unique comic genius of Chic Murray

Sunday 11th July 2021

A profile of "the funniest man on Earth", Scottish comedian Chic Murray. Graham McCann says "That he isn't better known these days is nothing short of shameful."

Come Back Mrs. Noah. Mrs Gertrude Noah (Mollie Sugden). Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: Stranger Things - When sitcoms strain to be different

Sunday 27th June 2021

Difference is good. Experimentation is to be lauded. But in a handful of cases, television sitcoms have made difference itself their raison d'être, rather than a factor in their storytelling.

Four Comedy Stooges Features

Comedy Chronicles: That's Me In The Corner - Four Comedy Stooges

Sunday 13th June 2021

You don't really see them these days: those odd, idiosyncratic, seldom-speaking comic characters whose entire raison d'être is to be the recurring butt of a well-known comedian's jokes. Go back forty years or more, however, and they were a common sight. Graham McCann looks at the careers of Jackie Wright, Johnny Vyvyan, Arthur Tolcher and Johnny Hutch.

Frankie Howerd Features

Comedy Chronicles: The life and times of Frankie Howerd's toupée

Sunday 30th May 2021

What a strange job it was, being Frankie Howerd's wig. It had to rest there on top of his head, doing its best to seem subtle and discreet, whilst its owner regularly blew its cover by scratching it, flipping it and skewing it...

Flanders & Swann Features

Comedy Chronicles: The remarkable legacy of Flanders & Swann

Sunday 16th May 2021

Which bona fide comedy double act has had the biggest and broadest influence on British popular culture? Graham McCann puts forward the case for musical duo Flanders & Swann.

Cheese & Onion Features

Comedy Chronicles: Falling out of flavour - The curious career of Cheese & Onion

Sunday 2nd May 2021

Morecambe & Wise. The Two Ronnies. Little & Large. Mike & Bernie Winters. But what ever happened to Cheese & Onion?

The Ghost Of Peter Sellers. Image shows from L to R: Peter Sellers, Peter Medak, Spike Milligan Features

Comedy Chronicles: Close but no cigarette - When Milligan & Sellers met Benson & Hedges

Sunday 18th April 2021

103 years after his birth, Comedy Chronicles recounts the remarkable tale of Spike Milligan's involvement with Peter Sellers and an advertisement for cigarettes.

Beryl Vertue Features

Comedy Chronicles: Beryl Vertue - The woman who changed her world

Sunday 4th April 2021

Accidentally falling into a job with the likes of Sykes, Milligan, Galton, Simpson and Howerd, Beryl Vertue quickly became a one-woman powerhouse, transforming the British television industry with changes that remain to this day.

Bob Hope. Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: Sounds Familiar - The secret history of US comedy on UK radio

Sunday 21st March 2021

Having addressed Billy Connolly's knack for adaptation, Comedy Chronicles takes a look at another form of joke "theft": appropriation, and the secret story of US comedy on British radio.

Billy Connolly Features

Comedy Chronicles: The Big Spin - Billy Connolly and the art of adaptation

Sunday 7th March 2021

Joke theft is generally perceived to be one of the worst acts any comic can commit. But there is a difference in execution between imitation and adaptation, and a certain Scotsman is a master of the latter.

Margaret Thatcher Features

Comedy Chronicles: Margaret Thatcher - sitcom star

Sunday 21st February 2021

The politics of the 1980s fuelled the alternative comedy scene, making stars for decades to come. But have you heard the one about the Prime Minister saving a sitcom great from an unjustly early demise?

Le Petomane. Joseph Pujol (Leonard Rossiter) Features

Comedy Chronicles: Classical gas - Galton & Simpson's Le Pétomane

Sunday 7th February 2021

This edition of Comedy Chronicles turns to one of Galton & Simpson's least-well-known works: a short comic film biopic of a famed French farter.

Potter. Redvers Potter (Arthur Lowe). Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: Ill-advised revivals - The sitcom's living dead

Sunday 24th January 2021

Over the decades, television sitcoms have been revived, remade, and reimagined. Some work; but many fall far short of the much-loved originals.

An early BBC microphone. Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: Opportunity Knocked - Auditions, comedians and the BBC

Sunday 10th January 2021

The need to audition is a common obstacle in many a performer's career; but for comics hoping to secure BBC airtime from the 1940s onwards, they could be particularly demanding - and with little chance of success.

Dinner For One. Image shows from L to R: James (Freddie Frinton), Miss Sophie (May Warden) Features

Comedy Chronicles: Freddie Frinton's Dinner For One

Sunday 27th December 2020

A once much-loved British comedy sketch has acclaimed cult status on the continent whilst fading into obscurity in its home nation. This is the story of Freddie Frinton and Dinner For One.

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