Background and history

Although comedy was once the important a share of American broadcast radio programming it is now primarily detected in the archives of Old Time Radio enthusiasts and inside cyberspace streaming of comedy recordings. Exceptions to this come WSRN's "Audience of Two", Garrison Keillor's work in Minnesota Public Radio: "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Comedy College", and NPR's Car Talk, a comedy indicate thinly masked when car advice.

Inside Britain and Canada, however, a BBC and CBC respectively have continued making fresh radio comedy & drama. British radio comedy likewise has the residence in Australia's Radio National and in Ireland there are always two or three comedy shows in the week's programming in RTÉ.

Numbers of of the BBC's virtually all successful television comedies began life as radio shows. These include ''Hancock's Half Hour, Goodness Gracious Me!, Knowing Me, Knowing You, The League Of Gentlemen, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Room 101, Have I Got News For You'', (based on Radio 4's The News Quiz), Dead Ringers and most recently Absolute Power. A science fiction comedy Red Dwarf was developed from ideas inside the radio show called Son Of Cliché. A second science fiction comedy ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' went from radio to television but also to books, website and various forms including the h2g2 project (which is both like and unlike Wikipedia).

Examples of U.s. radio comedy may be heard in video internet radio stations. Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" can be heard on public radio stations in the United States and the different versiin of the shows may be heard on BBC7 and RTÉ under the title "Garrison Keillor's Radio Show". Old shows may be listened to on a internet at the websites of "A Prairie Home Companion" or even RTÉ. British radio comedy may be heard in BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 2 and BBC7. Minnesota Public Radio maintains a internet site in which these are conceivable to listen to episodes of "Comedy College". The British commercial station "Oneword" broadcasts American vintage radio comedy as part of their Xxiv hour-the-day programming of books, comedy & drama & this is streamed on the internet.

Interest inside radio comedy & radio drama is currently enjoying the revitalisation. Epguides.com ( http://www.epguides.com ) which will bring encyclopaedic references in television program has recently begun to build the similar listing of radio shows at: http://www.epguides.com/menu/radio.shtml .

Inside United states, newly groups keep close at hand formed to try to bring just about the renewed interest in the art-form. At a fore-front of this up to date wave of audio-sole comedic groups is Peeper Radio Theatre.

List of radio comedies

Produced Independently
The Sound of Young America Le Show

Produced by or for the CBC
CBC Festival of Comedy CBC Festival of Funny Chas Lawther's Stand Up Documentaries The Dead Dog Cafe Comedy Hour Double Exposure (comedy series) The Frantics' Frantic Times, Fran of A Fundy, & The Frantics View History Gary & Ivan's Winnebago Tour Great Eastern Growing Up and Having Babies The Happy Gang Here Come the Seventies (radio show) How to Seem Smart The Irrelevant Show Laugh in a Half Madly Off In All Directions Mr. Interesting's Guide to The Continental United States The Muckraker The Norm Rick and Pete Grow Up and Have Babies The Royal Canadian Air Farce Running with Scissors with Mr. Interesting Sunny Days and Nights This Hour Has 17 Programs Those People Across the Street The Vinyl Cafe What A Week

Produced by Minnesota Public Radio
A Prairie Home Companion Comedy College

Produced by or for RTÉ
The Apocalypse of Bill Lizard The Comedy Improv Radio Show Beyond the Back of Beyond

Produced by or for the BBC
4 At The Store The 99p Challenge

Absolute Power The Arthur Smith Lectures

Beat The Kids Boothby Graffoe, "In No Particular Order"

Concrete Cow The Consultants

Dad's Army Dead Ringers Delve Special

Giles Wemmbly Hogg Getting Nowhere Fast Goodness Gracious Me! The Goon Show

Hancock's Half Hour The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy The Hole In The Wall Gang The Hudson and Pepperdine Show

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again

Jackie Mason Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation Just a Minute

King Street Junior Knowing Me, Knowing You

The League Of Gentlemen Lines From My Grandfather's Forehead Linda Smith's Brief History of Timewasting Little Britain Loose Ends

The Mark Steel Lectures The Mark Steel Revolution The Mark Steel Solution The Mel and Sue Thing Mitch Benn's Crimes Against Music The Museum of Everything

The Navy Lark The News Quiz The Now Show

Old Harry's Game On The Hour

People Like Us

Quote Unquote

Radio Active The Remains of Foley and McColl Robin and Wendy's Wet Weekends Room 101 Ross Noble Goes Global Round the Horne

Steptoe and Son The Sunday Format

The Very World of Milton Jones

We've Been Here Before Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Yes Minister (Adapted from television) You'll Have Had Your Tea (a spinoff from I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue)

See Also:

Books on the radio