C4 goes back to School

Full commission for kids' comedy

Channel 4 has commissioned a full series of School Of Comedy, the sketch show aimed at adults but performed by children.

A pilot recently aired as part of the broadcaster’s experimental Comedy Lab strand, and now a full six-part series has been ordered for broadcast next year.

The show is written by a team of leading live sketch performers, including Barunka O’Shaughnessy, Toby Davies, Watson And Oliver and Trippplicate. It was first performed at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe, before being picked up for TV.

Channel 4’s comedy commissioning editor Caroline Leddy said: ‘This idea was great on the page, fantastic live and really brilliant on the telly.’

Executive producer Andy Harries added: ‘School of Comedy is one of the most exciting and rewarding shows I have been involved in for years.

‘It’s brilliant to be in a room full of kids with such natural energy and comic talent. The TV pilot was created from scratch in just a few weeks and it was a stimulating and inspiring journey for everyone involved.

‘Its performance at its simplest and most natural, and the reaction to both the live shows and the pilot has been extraordinary. C4 have been tremendous supporters and it’s great to have an opportunity to really have some fun with a series on E4.’

Laura Lawson, who devised the show, said: ‘From the very first workshop when the youngest kids were only nine years old to the filming of the pilot this year I have had the journey of a lifetime.

‘The talent and drive of this amazing cast, and the younger children waiting to make their school of comedy debut, makes the past four years and the programme a joy to write and produce… From tiny acorns grew huge nuts, and boy they were fun!’

Channel 4’s Comedy Lab, now in its eleventh year, has previously helped discover such talent as Peter Kay, Jimmy Carr, Mitchell & Webb and Russell Brand.

Here is a clip from the pilot: