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34-536: Big Bite was an Australian sketch comedy television series which ran on the Seven Network from 8 May 2003 to 4 March 2004 in a prime time timeslot on Thursdays. Since the end of the series, episodes have been repeated on the Foxtel cable channel, The Comedy Channel and 7Two . Only moderately successful on its initial broadcast and despite an initially mixed reception, the show has gradually developed something of

68-751: A brief run in Brighton garnered a lukewarm response. When the revue transferred to the Fortune Theatre in London, opening in early May 1961, in a revised production by Donald Albery and William Donaldson and directed by Eleanor Fazan , it became a true sensation. This was helped in large part by a favourable review by Kenneth Tynan . In 1962, the show transferred to the John Golden Theatre in New York, with its original cast. President John F. Kennedy attended

102-479: A cult following, due to having begun the careers of a number of now prominent performers, directors and writers. Andrew O'Keefe started his television career on the show and went on to host Deal or No Deal , Dragons' Den , The Rich List , Weekend Sunrise and The Chase Australia . Chris Lilley 's character Mr G first appeared here; he subsequently appeared in Summer Heights High and released

136-540: A higher weekly fee for him, but by the time the agent's fee was deducted Cook actually earned less than the others from the initial run. The majority of the sketches were by Cook and were largely based on material written for other revues. Among the entirely new material were "The End of the World", "TVPM" and "The Great Train Robbery". Cook and Moore revived some of the sketches on their later television and stage shows, most famously

170-535: A jazz band while at university in Oxford . Moore in turn recommended Alan Bennett , who had had a hit at the Fringe a few years earlier. Bassett also chose Jonathan Miller , who had been a Footlights star in 1957. Miller recommended Cook. Bennett and Miller were already pursuing careers in academia and medicine respectively, but Cook had an agent, having written a West End revue for Kenneth Williams . Cook's agent negotiated

204-648: A minimal set, looking at events of the day and, with Shakespeare, the past. It effectively represented the views and disappointments of the first generation of British people to grow up after World War II , and gave voice to a sense of the loss of national purpose with the end of the British Empire . Although all of the cast contributed material, the most often quoted pieces were those by Cook, many of which had appeared before in his Cambridge Footlights revues. The show broke new ground with Peter Cook's impression of then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan ; on one occasion, this

238-595: A novelty single. Other performers on the show included improvisational comedian Rebecca De Unamuno , experimental theatre star Melissa Madden Gray (now known internationally for her cabaret character 'Meow Meow'), Kate McCartney (who would go on to star in The Katering Show and Get Krack!n ), Richard Pyros (today a member of The Sydney Theatre Company 's 'Residents' acting ensemble) and Jake Stone, former lead singer of popular Australian funk pop rock band Bluejuice . Other television personalities associated with

272-650: A number of musical items in the show, using Dudley Moore's music, most famously an arrangement of the Colonel Bogey March which resists Moore's repeated attempts to bring it to an end. The show prefigured the Satire Boom of the 1960s. Without it, there might not have been either That Was the Week That Was or Private Eye , the satirical magazine which originated at the same time, that partially survived due to financial support from Peter Cook, and that served as

306-432: A performance on 10 February 1963. The show continued in New York, with most of the original cast, until 1964, when Paxton Whitehead replaced Miller, while the London version continued with a different cast until 1966. The revue was widely considered to be ahead of its time, both in its unapologetic willingness to debunk figures of authority, and by virtue of its inherently surrealistic comedic vein. Humiliation of authority

340-615: A version starring Kevin Bishop as Moore, Tom Goodman-Hill as Cook, Fergus Craig as Alan Bennett and Colin Hoult as Jonathan Miller. It subsequently embarked on a nationwide tour. The creation, performance and aftermath of the show is covered in the 2004 film Not Only But Always . Good Evening , Roy Smiles' play about the Beyond The Fringe team was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2008, with Benedict Cumberbatch as Dudley Moore. In 2017, Beyond

374-490: The Beyond the Fringe team said that they were not ridiculing the efforts of those involved in the war, but were challenging the subsequent media portrayal of them. Beyond the Fringe was a forerunner to British television programmes That Was the Week That Was , At Last the 1948 Show , and Monty Python's Flying Circus . As with the established comedy revue, it was a series of satirical sketches and musical pieces using

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408-617: The Head Crusher from The Kids in the Hall ; Martin Short 's Ed Grimley , a recurring character from both SCTV and Saturday Night Live ; The Nerd from Robot Chicken ; and Kevin and Perry from Harry Enfield and Chums . Recurring characters from Saturday Night Live have notably been featured in a number of spinoff films, including The Blues Brothers (1980), Wayne's World (1992) and Superstar (1999). The idea of running characters

442-622: The two-hander " One Leg Too Few ". Miller told the press in March 1960 that the show would "be anti-establishment, anti-capital punishment, anti-colour bar and anti-1960. But it will be all very serious stuff, sharp, bitter and to the point." The show's run in Edinburgh was immensely successful. Before beginning its run in the West End, the show had great success at the Cambridge Arts Theatre, but

476-567: The 1960 Edinburgh Festival and went on to play in London's West End and then in America, both on tour and on New York 's Broadway in the early 1960s. Hugely successful, it is widely regarded as seminal to the " satire boom ", the rise of satirical comedy in 1960s Britain. The idea for Beyond the Fringe came from Robert Ponsonby , who was the director of the Edinburgh International Festival from 1956 to 1960. Ponsonby's idea

510-603: The 1970s and 1980s include If You Don't Stop It... You'll Go Blind and the sequel Can I Do It... 'Til I Need Glasses? , The Groove Tube , Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) , The Kentucky Fried Movie and its sequel Amazon Women on the Moon , and Monty Python 's And Now for Something Completely Different and The Meaning of Life . More recent sketch films include The Underground Comedy Movie , InAPPropriate Comedy , Movie 43 and Livrés chez vous sans contact . Many of

544-613: The 1970s, largely growing out of The Second City in Chicago and Toronto , which was built upon the success in Minneapolis of The Brave New Workshop and Dudley Riggs . Notable contemporary American stage sketch comedy groups include The Second City, the Upright Citizens Brigade , and The Groundlings . In South Bend, Indiana , area high school students produced a sketch comedy series called Beyond Our Control that aired on

578-469: The Broadway performance was said to have stood up and shouted 'rotters!' at a sketch he found distasteful, before apparently sitting down again and enjoying the remainder of the show, while another, at the first performance in Edinburgh, allegedly stood up and declared that the 'young bounders don't know the first thing about it!' and promptly left the auditorium. In response to these negative audience reactions,

612-628: The Fringe was not owned by the BBC, however, the quartet enjoyed relative carte blanche. The only protocol they were obliged to adhere to was that, by law, their scripts had to be sent to the Lord Chamberlain for approval prior to performance, a requirement abolished in 1968. Most specifically, its lampooning of the British war effort in a sketch titled "The Aftermyth of War" was scorned by some war veterans for its supposed insensitivity. One British visitor to

646-478: The National Touring Company took it on a nationwide tour for six months as Beyond the Fringe '65 under the auspices of Alexander H. Cohen, with the cast consisting of Bob Cessna , Donald Cullen, Joel Fabiani , and James Valentine . Slight changes were made to adapt the show for American audiences, for instance the opening number (discussing America) was retitled "Home Thoughts from Abroad". The show

680-463: The Nine O'Clock News (and its successor Alas Smith and Jones ), and A Bit of Fry and Laurie . An early, perhaps the first, televised example of a sketch comedy show is Texaco Star Theater aka The Milton Berle Show 1948–1967, hosted by Milton Berle . In Mexico, the series Los Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada , created by Mexican comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños under the stage name Chespirito ,

714-715: The early years of BBC 2 , took its title from this production. It consisted of performances of material that was popular in theatrical revue before the advent of Beyond the Fringe . The show's success was not limited to the UK. In 1962, it also opened in South Africa. Next it arrived in the US. First the Broadway Company opened on 27 October 1962, then it was performed by the National Company in 1963. Subsequently, opening on 8 October 1964,

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748-540: The local NBC affiliate WNDU-TV from 1967 to 1986. Warner Bros. Animation made two sketch comedy shows, Mad and Right Now Kapow . Australian television of the '80s and '90s featured several successful sketch comedy shows, notably The Comedy Company , whose recurring characters included Col'n Carpenter , Kylie Mole and Con the Fruiterer . An early British example is the influential The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959). Sketch films made during

782-406: The model for the later American Spy magazine. Cook and Moore formed a comedy duo and appeared in the popular television show Not Only... But Also , and the 1967 film Bedazzled . Cook also launched his club, The Establishment , around this time. Many of the members of Monty Python recall being inspired by Beyond the Fringe . The retrospective show Before the Fringe , broadcast during

816-568: The series' original run. Sketch comedy Sketch comedy has its origins in vaudeville and music hall , where many brief humorous acts were strung together to form a larger programme. In Britain , it moved to stage performances by Cambridge Footlights , such as Beyond the Fringe and A Clump of Plinths (which evolved into Cambridge Circus ), to radio, with such shows as It's That Man Again and I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again , then to television, with such shows as Not Only... But Also , Monty Python's Flying Circus , Not

850-434: The show included The Comedy Channel presenter Cameron Knight , comedian Charlie Pickering and actor Charlie Clausen . Many of the actors from this series would later appear on The Hamish and Andy Show . Regular cast member Tristan Jepson , who wrote and played Tom Gleisner in the show's acclaimed parody of The Panel , committed suicide at the age of 26 in late 2004 after suffering from clinical depression. During

884-633: The sketch comedy revues in Britain included seasons at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival . Since 1999, the growing sketch comedy scene has precipitated the development of sketch comedy festivals in cities all around North America. Noted festivals include: Beyond the Fringe Beyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Alan Bennett , Peter Cook , Jonathan Miller , and Dudley Moore . It debuted at

918-482: The television broadcast of the 2005 Australian Film Institute Awards , he was honoured among the roll call of performers to have died in the previous year. The show's co-creators included Andrew Jones and head writer Rick Kalowski , who have gone to success as a sought-after writing team. The show's directors included Ted Emery ( Fast Forward , The Micallef Program , Kath & Kim ) and Matthew Saville ( Noise , We Can Be Heroes , The King ). Big Bite

952-536: Was broadcast between 1968 and 1973, creating such famous characters as El Chavo del Ocho and El Chapulín Colorado . While separate sketches historically have tended to be unrelated, more recent groups have introduced overarching themes that connect the sketches within a particular show with recurring characters that return for more than one appearance. Examples of recurring characters include Mr. Gumby from Monty Python's Flying Circus ; Ted and Ralph from The Fast Show ; The Family from The Carol Burnett Show ;

986-470: Was nominated for Best Television Comedy Series at the 2003 Australian Film Institute Awards , becoming the first commercial network comedy series ever nominated in any category of those awards. A two-DVD set of the entire series (13 half-hour episodes) was released in Australia on 6 November 2006. This included the so-called 'lost' final episode of the series, which had not aired on Australian television during

1020-465: Was performed with Macmillan in the audience, and Cook added an ad lib ridiculing Macmillan for turning up to watch. The show is credited with giving many other performers the courage to be satirical and more improvisational in their manner, and broke the conventions of not lampooning the Royal Family or the government of the day. Shakespearean drama was another target of their comedy. There were also

1054-502: Was revived in slightly altered form in Los Angeles in 2000 and 2001 by Joseph Dunn's ReEstablishment Theater to critical acclaim. The four original members of Beyond the Fringe feature prominently as characters in the play Pete and Dud: Come Again , by Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde . Appropriately, that comedy-drama had a sellout run at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe before transferring to London's West End at The Venue, in 2006, in

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1088-603: Was something only previously delved into in The Goon Show and, arguably, Hancock's Half Hour , with such parliamentarians as Sir Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan coming under special scrutiny—although the BBC were predisposed to frown upon it. Macmillan—according to Cook—was not particularly fond of the slurred caricature and charade of senile forgetfulness (marked by a failure to pronounce 'Conservative Party' coherently) handed down on him in Cook's impersonation. Since Beyond

1122-431: Was taken a step further with shows like The Red Green Show and The League of Gentlemen , where sketches centered on the various inhabitants of the fictional towns of Possum Lake and Royston Vasey , respectively. In Little Britain , sketches focused on a cast of recurring characters. In North America , contemporary sketch comedy is largely an outgrowth of the improvisational comedy scene that flourished during

1156-648: Was to bring together the best parts of the revues staged by the Cambridge Footlights and The Oxford Revue at the Edinburgh Fringe in previous years. He said that the Festival should put on a late-night revue "to beat The Fringe at its own game." By 1960, the Festival was so firmly established that "it required for its health some good-humoured self-mockery." Ponsonby's assistant, John "Johnny" Bassett , recommended Dudley Moore , who had played with Bassett in

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