First TV show for Pappy's

Commissioning editor Darren Smith said the troupe’s finished programme was a combination of the Muppets and the Monkees, adding: ‘It's got a Vic Reeves' Big Night Out feel to it, with a mixture of vaudeville and behind-the-scenes material.’

The pilot is being made by Roughcut TV, the company recently set up by The Office producer Ash Atalla.

Roughcut is also making another Comedy Lab, Mr and Mrs Fandango, in which real-life couple Tom Meeten and Barunka O'Shaughnessy play famous couples, from Adam and Eve to Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed.

Commissioner Shane Allen said the sketch show was an irreverent comedy ‘in the spirit of Kenny Everett’.

Of the six 30-minute pilots in the strand, five are sketch shows, including:

• Slaterwood, a showcase for comedian Peter Slater, one of the team behind The Unbroadcastable Radio Show, which has a monthly residency at the Manchester Comedy Store.

• School of Comedy, an adult sketch show performed by children.

• Headwreckers, from the Dublin-based comedy team of the same name, which combines sketches with footage from their writers' meetings. Here’s one of their scenes from YouTube:
  

Completing the line-up is Olivia Lee from Balls Of Steel, who landed her own prank show provisionally titled Olivia Lee's Naughty Bits.

The Comedy Labs will be aired as part of Channel 4’s new talent month in August, which will also feature a nightly topical comedy show and ten comedy shorts in E4's Funny Cuts strand.

Published: 10 Jul 2008