All British Comedy Explained

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky 3.5 The New Statesman. Released 5 November 2026. Nearly ten years after he started appearing on television, Rik Mayall finally gets a starring role in his own sitcom, and he finds perfect writers in Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran who know just how far to push the surrealism of the situations and the nastiness of the main charact...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky Timothy Bentinck Explains The Thick of It. Released 29 October 2026. National treasure Tim Bentinck is known by voice to millions as David Archer on Radio 4, but his enormously long CV extends to almost all modes of performance, including his extraordinary curtain-raiser as doomed minister Cliff Lawton. We talk to him about stage...

Every month, our Patreon supporters at the £5 tier or above get a bonus episode and this month Abigoliah explains The Jeffersons to Tom. Enjoy the first 15 or so minutes and if you like what you hear, why not consider becoming a member? Join via Patreon https://patreon.com/BritishComedyPod Join via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@AllBritishComedyExplained/join Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priva...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky 3.4: The Thick of It. Released 22 October 2026. Armando Iannucci and an amazing team of writers and actors, plot, swear, improvise and panic their way through government in this sweaty sitcom which updates Yes Minister for the Blair years. Essential viewing. We’ll be watching the first ever episode and then we’ll meet Nicola Murr...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky 3.3: Not the Nine O’Clock News. Released 8 October 2026. An even earlier example of alternative comedy than The Young Ones, this took the moribund sketch comedy form and infused radical new life into it as well as kickstarting at least half a dozen comedy careers. We’re going to watch series three episode three and the final epis...

Every month, our Patreon supporters at the £5 tier or above get a bonus episode and this month Abigoliah explains The Smothers Brothers to Tom. Enjoy the first 10 or so minutes and if you enjoy what you hear, why not consider becoming a member? Join via Patreon https://patreon.com/BritishComedyPod Join via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@AllBritishComedyExplained/join Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky 3.2: That Was the Week That Was. Released 17 September 2026. The granddaddy of television satire, this landmark show only ran for two series, but it utterly changed the face of television comedy, on both sides of the Atlantic. Most episodes have similar virtues and issues, but we’ve gone for series 1, episode 9. Next time we’ll l...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky Steve Nallon Explains Spitting Image. Released 17 September 2026. Finding someone who could do the voice of Margaret Thatcher was key to the success of Spitting Image. Did they recruit Faith Brown? Ask Jessica Martin? See if Jan Ravens could pull it off? No, Steve Nallon recommended himself and it was an inspired booking. He tell...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky 3.1: Spitting Image. Released 10 September 2026. Our look at satire kicks off with the rubbery antics of Fluck and Law. We’ll look at a fairly early episode which includes one of its most memorable songs (series three, episode six) and then we’ll jump forward to series 12, episode one, transmitted days after the 1992 General Elec...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky AMA. Released 13 August 2026. For the last of our summer break episodes, we take questions from you, our loyal listeners. We’ll be back soon with our episode on The Fast Show in preparation for our live show, with special guest Paul Whitehouse. We’ll be watching season 1 episode 1 and season 3 episode 1. ·    ...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky The Comedy Bureau Explained – part two of one We’ve joined forces with our good friends at The Comedy Bureau to investigate the origins of the sitcom with stand-up comedian Laura Lexx and reader in comedy performance Oliver Double. We look at how this artform developed on both sides of the Atlantic and revisit both Hancock’s Half...

All British Comedy Explained… with Abigoliah Schamaun and Tom Salinsky I Love Lucy. Released 16 July 2026. Season Three is coming soon but in the meantime, Abigoliah is going to flip the script and talk Tom through the intricacies of a landmark American sitcom. Part two is a Patreon exclusive but there’s plenty of good stuff here for free. Here’s a long list of social media systems where you can f...

All British Comedy Explained… with Abigoliah Schamaun, Tom Salinsky and special guest Tom Watts Jackass. Released 2 July 2026. While we wait for Season Three to cook, here’s the first of an occasional series in which Abigoliah will explain American comedy to Tom Salinsky. This time around it’s Jackass. The first part, with all the background to the show, is right here. Part two, which includes Tom...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky Carry On Cleo. Released 25 June 2026. In a special crossover episode while we take a summer break from the regular pod, Abigoliah and Tom welcome the hosts of Tom’s other podcast Best Pick and we sample a British comedy classic that… might not have aged as well as we had hoped. For more Best Pick, click here: https://bestpickpod....

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky 2.9: Season 2 reviewed. Released 11 June 2026. Our second season consisted of eight classic BBC sitcoms. Next time, we’re going to finally include some ITV and Channel 4 shows, and we’ll be tackling the thorny question of SATIRE . 1.      Spitting Image – the ferociously topical puppet show which taught g...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky 2.8: Dad’s Army. Released 28 May 2026. Where else could we finish but with a trip to Warmington-on-Sea? Some of its creators’ later projects may now be banned from the airwaves (fairly or unfairly is for you to decide) but the first outing is still just possibly their best. We watched series 2 episode 4, “Sgt Wilson’s Little Secr...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky 2.7: Yes (Prime Minister). Released 14 May 2026. Rather more sharply satirical than was usual for a mainstream BBC sitcom, this became a staple partly because it never picked favourites when it came to the two main parties, partly because it was so expertly hilarious every single week. We’ll watch the very first episode “Open Gov...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky Rev Sara Chesterfield Terry Explains The Vicar of Dibley. Released 7 May 2026. Our guest today is the person Abigoliah describes as the most interesting person she’s ever met. Sara is a Church of England vicar and lifelong British comedy. With a background that includes policing and civil engineering alongside ministry, Sara offe...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky 2.6: The Vicar of Dibley. Released 30 April 2026. With the powerhouse combo of Richard Curtis writing and Dawn French leading an ensemble cast, this one couldn’t really miss. We’ll watch the second episode of the first series, “Songs of Praise” and the 2004 Christmas special just called “Merry Christmas”. Next time, we’ll swap re...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky 2.5: Hancock’s Half Hour. Released 16 April 2026. The ur-text for countless sitcoms that followed, the brilliance of Hancock’s acting and the deftness of Galton and Simpson’s writing paved the way for comedy borne of character and situation not wordplay and silliness. We’ll watch series 5 episode 1, “The Economy Drive” and series...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky David Tennant Explains The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. Released 9 April 2026. We normally try and sit down for a chat with someone who was involved in the making of the show we're watching, but very nearly everyone who worked on this show is long dead, and so we've made do with popular actor and comedy fan David Tennant. Ho...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky 2.4: The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. Released 2 April 2026. The dark flipside to the sunny optimism of The Good Life , this is definitely one of the weirder offerings to go out on the BBC in the mid-1970s, but the prevalence of easily-remembered catchphrases would have no doubt helped it catch on. Next time we’ll go back to...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky James Lance Explains Absolutely Fabulous. Released 26 March 2026. James Lance is one of British television’s most recognisable faces, not least for his scene-stealing appearance as Trent Crimm in the global hit Ted Lasso. But did you also know that 18-year-old James Lance made one of his first television appearances in the first...

We’ve just released a Patreon bonus episode on the launch of SNL UK and this is a short extract from the start of that conversation. In this opening section, we go back to 1975 and the origins of Saturday Night Live , looking at how the show actually evolved (rather than being designed), and why it’s proved so hard to replicate, especially in the UK. If you want the full episode including our brea...

All British Comedy Explained… to Abigoliah Schamaun, by Tom Salinsky 2.3: Absolutely Fabulous. Released 19 March 2026. Jennifer Saunders’s wild hedonistic comedy series hit television screens like a tidal wave and made instant stars of Jane Horrocks and Julia Sawalha while introducing legends Joanna Lumley and June Whitfield to whole new generations. We watched series 1 episode 4 “Iso Tank”, and s...