Radio 2's History Of British Comedy

David Mitchell traces the history of British humour from the Second World War to the dawn of the 1960s. A look at catchphrases, ITMA, Take It From Here, and the BBC's 'Green Book'. Plus The Goon Show, The Windmill Theatre and Tony Hancock.

This episode looks at how the Variety Theatres were briefly closed - and then opened again to boost morale - and how radio became a nation's lifeline.

This was also the age of the catchphrase - and David asks how and why these devices came about, as well as tracing the lineage of 'I don't believe it' and 'You can't see the join' to those early catchphrases that were on everyone's lips!

The programme also looks at the venue that gave many performers their first post-war start - the Windmill Theatre - where the comic's job was to give the bill some respectability inbetween the nude tableaux that the entirely male audience had come to see! Tough, yes - but it enabled performers to learn their trade in a way that wasn't available again until the arrival of comedy clubs in the 1980s.

This is the era when The Goon Show changed everything - but also when Take It From Here, Variety Bandbox and the various forces programmes became a vital part of everyone's lives - and those changes ushered in the first signs of comedy that only appealed to certain generations.

David also looks at a series that started on the Light Programme, ran for half an hour a week and changed how we consumed our narrative comedy forever.