The Comedians (1971 TV series)

The Comedians
Genre	Comedy
Directed by	Walter Butler/Dave Warwick
Starring	Russ Abbot Don Adams Lennie Bennett Stan Boardman Jim Bowen Jimmy Bright Duggie Brown Mike Burton Al Robbins Dave Butler Brian Carroll Frank Carson Johnnie Casson Eddie Colinton Mike Coyne Colin Crompton Bob Curtiss Pauline Daniels Charlie Daze Les Dennis Vince Earl Steve Faye Ray Fell Eddie Flanagan Stu Francis Mike Goddard Ken Goodwin Jackie Hamilton Jerry Harris Jimmy Jones Mike Kelly George King Bobby Knutt Bernard Manning Jimmy Marshall Mike McCabe Paul Melba Mick Miller Pat Mooney Hal Nolan Tom O'Connor Tom Pepper Bryn Phillips Don Reid Mike Reid George Roper Harry Scott Paul Shane Sammy Thomas Johnny Wager Roy Walker Jos White Charlie Williams Lee Wilson Lenny Windsor
Composer	Derek Hilton
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	12
No. of episodes	81 (including 3 specials)
Production
Producers	Ian Hamilton Johnnie Hamp
Production locations	Granada Studios, Manchester
Editors	D .L. Hayes Ron Swayne
Running time	30 minutes (including adverts)
Production company	Granada Television
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	12 June 1971 (1971-06-12) – 28 December 1993 (1993-12-28)

The Comedians is a British television show of the 1970s (later reprised in the mid-1980s and early 1990s) produced by Johnnie Hamp of Granada Television. The show gave a stage to nightclub and working men's club comedians of the era, including Russ Abbot, Jim Bowen and Bernard Manning. Filmed before a live audience in Manchester, comics each performed 20-minute sets, which were then edited together into half-hour shows featuring up to thirteen stand-up comics.

Working men's clubs were numerous in Britain, especially in the North of England and have been a useful training ground for artists, especially comedians. Most of these clubs are affiliated to the CIU (Working Men's Club and Institute Union) founded in 1862 by the Rev. Henry Solly. There are also political clubs, as well as Servicemen's Clubs affiliated to the Royal British Legion.

The Comedians began as an experiment for Granada TV and was popular during the earlier series, with an LP recording of the show reaching the best-seller charts, and several sell-out national tours following, including a season at the London Palladium. The programme won the Critics' Circle Award.

The comedy frequently took the form of anecdotes or jokes and often involved racist or sexist stereotypes. Like other British comedy successes of the day, notably, Love Thy Neighbour, this kind of entertainment was acceptable on British television during this period but would not be so today. Viewing the series in retrospect it stands as a major social document of the times.

Cast

Comedians appearing on the show included Russ Abbot (initially as Russ Roberts, later as Russ Abbott), Lennie Bennett, Stan Boardman, Jim Bowen, Jimmy Bright, Duggie Brown, Mike Burton, Dave Butler, Al Robbins, Brian Carroll, Frank Carson, Johnnie Casson, Eddie Colinton, Mike Coyne, Colin Crompton, Bob Curtiss, Pauline Daniels, Charlie Daze, Les Dennis, Vince Earl, Steve Faye, Ray Fell, Eddie Flanagan, Stu Francis, Mike Goddard (known as Mike Goodwin in the early years of the show), Ken Goodwin, Jackie Hamilton, Jerry Harris, Jimmy Jones, Mike Kelly, George King, Bobby Knutt, Bernard Manning, Jimmy Marshall, Mike McCabe, Paul Melba, Mick Miller, Pat Mooney, Hal Nolan, Tom O'Connor, Tom Pepper, Bryn Phillips, Don Reid, Mike Reid, George Roper, Harry Scott, Paul Shane, Pat Tansey, Sammy Thomas, Johnny Wager, Roy Walker, Jos White, Charlie Williams, Lee Wilson and Lenny Windsor.

Also featured on the series were Shep's Banjo Boys, a seven-piece band comprising (for the first five series) Charlie Bentley (tenor banjo), John Drury (sousaphone), Andy Holdorf (trombone), John Orchard (piano), John Rollings (drums), Graham Shepherd (banjo) and Howard Shepherd (lead banjo). In 1973, the line-up was Mike Dexter (banjo), Tony "Tosh" Kennedy (sousaphone), Ged Martin (drums), Tony Pritchard (trombone), Graham Shepherd (banjo) and Howard "Shep" Shepherd (lead banjo).

DVD releases

The first seven series including a DVD set (containing the first seven series broadcast 1971–74) have been released on DVD by Network.

Transmissions

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	12 June 1971	24 July 1971	7
2	18 September 1971	30 October 1971	7
3	19 February 1972	1 April 1972	7
4	7 July 1972	2 September 1972	8
5	10 November 1972	29 December 1972	8
6	6 April 1973	25 May 1973	8
7	26 January 1974	16 March 1974	8
8	21 July 1979	1 September 1979	5
9	23 November 1979	15 February 1980	8
10	2 June 1984	16 June 1984	4
11	1 June 1985	6 July 1985	6
12	9 June 1992	23 July 1992	5

Specials

Date	Entitle
24 December 1971	The Comedians' Christmas Party
22 December 1973	Christmas Special
28 December 1993	The Comedians' Christmas Cracker

See also

• The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club

External links

• The Comedians at IMDb.
• Classic Telly: Tributes to The Comedians.