A Bit of Fry and Laurie
| A Bit of Fry & Laurie | |
|---|---|
Title screen from the first series of A Bit of Fry & Laurie
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| Created by |
Stephen Fry Hugh Laurie |
| Written by | Stephen Fry Hugh Laurie |
| Starring | Stephen Fry Hugh Laurie Deborah Norton (Series 1) Geoffrey McGivern (Series 2) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 26 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Kevin Bishop Roger Ordish Nick Symons |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC1, BBC2 |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | 13 January 1989 – 2 April 1995 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
A Bit of Fry & Laurie is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring former Cambridge Footlights members Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, broadcast on both BBC1 and BBC2 between 1989 and 1995. It ran for four series and totalled 26 episodes, including a 36-minute pilot episode in 1987.
As in The Two Ronnies, elaborate wordplay and innuendo were staples of its material. It frequently broke the fourth wall; characters would revert into their real-life actors mid-sketch, or the camera would often pan off set into the studio. In addition, the show was punctuated with non-sequitur vox pops in a similar style to those of Monty Python's Flying Circus, often making irrelevant statements, heavily based on wordplay. Laurie was also seen playing piano and a wide variety of other instruments and singing comical numbers.
The 36-minute pilot was broadcast on BBC1 at 11.55pm on Boxing Day 1987, although it was later edited down to 29 minutes for repeat transmissions (including broadcasts on the Paramount Comedy Channel). The full version is intact on the Series 1 DVD. It was the first pilot Fry and Laurie had produced for the BBC since 1983; their previous attempt, The Crystal Cube, had not met with the BBC's approval.
The show began its full run at 9pm on Friday 13 January 1989. The first three series were screened on BBC2, the traditional home for the BBC's sketch shows, while the fourth series switched to the mainstream BBC1. The last series was the least well-received, for a number of reasons: BBC1 was not the best place to showcase Fry and Laurie's arch humour; it featured celebrity guests in all but one episode, an addition which neither Fry nor Laurie approved; and it was shown not long after Stephen Fry's nervous breakdown in 1995, which cast a shadow over the series. One reviewer said that, perhaps owing to this, Fry got more of the laughs, while Laurie was increasingly relegated to the "straight man" role.
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