WHAT'S FUNNY ABOUT...

To mark the 50th anniversary of RTS London, we’re hosting a live edition of What’s Funny About…, the hit BBC Radio 4 series presented by Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman.

Peter and Jon are taking over The Comedy Store for a special evening of television history, comedy, and conversation as they look back on five decades of satire on British television.

From That Was the Week That Was and Spitting Image to Have I Got News for You and The Thick of It, satire has been one of television's great British traditions.

Peter and Jon will be joined by two comedy producers who have had a hand in many of the finest satirical moments of the last 50 years.

Jimmy Mulville is the co-founder and Chief Executive of Hat Trick Productions. His hit shows include Have I Got News for You, Father Ted, Derry Girls, Outnumbered, and Episodes. In the US, Hat Trick launched Whose Line Is It Anyway? in 1997; it ran on ABC for seven years and was the first British series a British producer recreated for American network television.

John Lloyd is the man behind an enviable list of television hits. He was the producer of Not The Nine O’Clock News, Spitting Image, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Blackadder. And as if that wasn’t enough, he’s the creator and producer of QI, which has been a mainstay of the BBC schedules since 2003

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The panel will attempt to answer some pressing questions...

Has satire become harder to make? How has the relationship between comedy and politics changed? What happens when reality becomes stranger than fiction? And, in today's media landscape, is there still anything – or anyone – that can't be satirised?

And they’ll revisit the programmes, characters, and comic moments that have defined the last 50 years, with behind-the-scenes stories, classic clips, and plenty of debate about what makes good satire.

With The Comedy Store as our backdrop, expect an evening that is as entertaining as it is revealing. Come and celebrate five decades of British television's ability to laugh at power, challenge convention, and occasionally get itself into trouble.

Hosts:
Jon Plowman, film and television producer
Peter Fincham, television producer and executive, Expectation TV

Guests:
John Lloyd, producer and writer
Jimmy Mulville, comedy writer, producer and presenter