BFI announces a bumper batch of events across the UK

The BFI has announced a three-month series which it has dubbed ‘the UK’s greatest ever celebration of film and TV comedy’.

As well as a plethora of talks and screenings at its home on London’s Southbank, the Comedy Genius initiative also boasts events across the UK.

The Southbank season will feature Jennifer Saunders, Tracey Ullman, Lenny Henry, Jo Brand, Henning Wehn, Vic and Bob and Nish Kumar, as well as the casts and crews of Nighty Night, including star Julia Davis, and People Just Do Nothing.

Additional guests introducing some of their favourite comedies and appearing in onstage Q&As will include Sandi Toksvig, David Walliams, David Schneider, John Landis, Joe Thomas, Morwenna Banks, Felicity Kendal, Marc Wootton Hattie Hayridge, Steve Nallon, John Lloyd Jim Howick and Mathew Baynton.

The 1980 feminist comedy 9 to 5, featuring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton and Billy Wilder’s 1959 classic comedy caper Some Like It Hot with Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe are also to be re-released as part of the initiative.

Heather Stewart, the BFI’s creative director said: ‘In a divided Britain, in a world where we may be uncertain about what we’re allowed to find funny anymore, we need a laugh more than ever. Just seeing Sid James holding a sausage roll or the sight of Jack Benny at the front of a bunch of goose-stepping Nazis in To Be or Not to Be, cheers me up.

‘Whether it’s Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin indulging in a drug-fuelled fantasy of bringing down their sexist boss, Peter Sellers’s maniacal Dr Strangelove, Buster Keaton’s deadpan face, Sharon Horgan’s hilariously frank take on family and relationships, or Tiffany Haddish’s grapefruit tutorial, we think there is enough wisecracking, slapstick, satire, smut and innuendo in our Comedy Genius season for everyone.’

Nationwide highlights:

• A curated tour of comedy films, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Tampopo that will visit cinemas, film societies and community screens across the UK.

The Great British Holiday, a weekend of nostalgic films at Pontins Brean Sands, near Weston-Super-Mare, from November 16 to 18, including screenings of Withnail & I , Kevin & Perry Go Large and Sightseers, as well as stand-up, club events and more.

• Lighten Up!, a series of classic comedy screenings at UK cathedrals and churches, launching at Derby Cathedral on November 21.  Films include Sister Act and  Monty Python’s Life of Brian – once considered blasphemous.

• Gay as in Hysterically Funny, a touring programme of comedy films featuring LGBT characters.

Barbershops and Black Comedy Legends, a series of immersive pop-up barbershop installations inspired by Channel 4 comedy Desmond’s featuring episodes of the classic sitcom

•  A celebration of the twisted comedic mind of Alice Lowe, dubbed Alice Lowe-en, to include screenings of her 2016 film Prevenge plus a mystery feature presented by Lowe, who will take part in an extended Q&A

• A series celebrating Asian comedy including screenings of The Big Sick, Four Lions  and Bhaji on the Beach  follwoed by Q&As at venues across the Midlands at the Midland Arts Centre, The Mockingbird Cinema and Electric Cinema

• Venues in Wales, including Pontio in Bangor and Galeri in Caernarfon will present special screenings of writer Meic Povey’s classic Welsh-language biopic Ryan a Ronnie (The Life of Ryan and Ronnie), celebrating the legacy of funnyman Ryan Davies, which will be accompanied by live stand-up performances by new Welsh-language comedians

• Broadway Nottingham will present a Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959) ‘strum-along’ for ukulele enthusiasts, as well as a mini-season celebrating French comedy

• The Duke Cinema Lancaster will host a screening of Mel Brooks’ homage to horror Young Frankenstein in a spooky historic location

At BFI Southbank

• Events with Jennifer Saunders, Tracey Ullman and Jo Brand: talking about their careers

• Director John Landis and his wife, the costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis, will take part in a Q&A following a screening of Coming to America

• A season of Father Ted Talks with comedy greats mounting provocative talks on subjects close to their hearts, kicking off with Lenny Henry, who will address the lack of black British comedians who have made it to thebig screen.

• Stand-up Henning Wehn will host a session looking at funny German films, including a screening of Manta, Manta (1991) as well as a Q&A with its director Wolfgang Büld

•   Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer will take part in a Q&A following a TV preview of Vic and Bob’s Big Night Out

• A debate entitled It’s Political Correctness Gone Mad that will question whether there’s a line that comedy shouldn’t cross

•  Pass the Mic: The Black Comedy Revolution, a day celebrating black performers including the BBC sketch show The Real McCoy

• Celebrations of TV shows including I Love Lucy, The Young Ones and Nighty Night

• The Mash Report’s Nish Kumar will host The New Wave of Satire on TV looking back at great satirical shows such as Spitting Image, Time Trumpet and Brass Eye and address how they influenced current satirical shows .

Trailblazing Women, a selection of films from female talent, from 1918 Mabel Normand silent romcom Mickey, via May West, Lily Tomlin, Whoopi Goldberg and Tina Fey’s Mean Girls to last year’s hit Girls Trip ( featuring a star-making performance from Tiffany Haddish

Agents of Chaos, a series of anarchic comedies include What’s Up Doc? , The Cable Guy, Dr Strangelove, Duck Soup and The Jerk.

• Stoner Saturdays, late-night screenings of Serial Mom, Airplane, House Party, This Is Spinal Tap and Stir Crazy

• Screwball Sundays with Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, The Lady Eve and more.

• A slapstick programme including  Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, The Pink Panther Strikes Again introduced by David Walliams, and shorts programmes dedicated toBuster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin

 • Fun With Nazis! Featuring screenings of Chaplin’s The Great Dictator, Ernst Lubitsch’s To Be or Not to Be and Mel Brooks’ s The Producers. 

• Great British Smut, a day of saucy and risqué humour on November 10 including a screening of Carry On Cleo to mark the 60th anniversary of the franchise; The Joy of Smut, a clip-based event celebrating the kings and queens of British smut such as Benny Hill, Frankie Howerd and Beryl Reid; and Should We Still Be At It? will be a panel discussion addressing the place of smut in comedy and in the modern world

•English Eccentrics, a strand featuring Withnail & I, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Belles of St Trinians, Life of Brian with more work appearing on the BFI Player on-demand service.

 • Christmas Comedies including Trading Places and Elf.

Published: 23 Aug 2018