Comedy returns to R1

Comedy is returning to Radio 1 for the first time in seven years - but listeners will have to stay up to 3am to hear it.

Several leading names from the stand-up circuit have already contributed to a pilot edition of the as-yet-untitled show, which will hit the air in late July or early August

Radio 1 experimented sporadically with comedy throughout the early Nineties, helping the careers of Chris Morris, Lee and Herring, Alan Davies and Newman and Baddiel, among others.

To fit into the station’s output, the new hour-long show will feature music and comedy, with DJ Osmyso mixing tracks around the sketches.

Comics who took part in the pilot include Tony Law, Mark Watson, Dan Antopolski, Russell Howard and Radio 4 sketch troupe The Consultants.

Producer Colin Anderson said the ‘ambitious’ show would be “a mixture of characters, sketches, dialogues, non-sequitur one-liners and stand up, incorporated into an hour-long music mix”.

“We're hoping to help break lots of new talent as well as providing an exciting new output for more established comedians and writers. “

Published: 1 Jun 2004