Radio comedy is comedy on radio.
Although comedy was once a significant part of American broadcast radio programming it is now mainly found in the archives of Old Time Radio enthusiasts and in internet streaming of comedy recordings. Exceptions to this are WSRN's "Audience of Two" and Garrison Keillor's work on Minnesota Public Radio: "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Comedy College".
In Britain and Canada, however, the BBC and CBC respectively have continued right on making new comedy and drama for radio up to the present day and into the forseeable future and there are always a few comedy shows in the week's programming on RTE in the Republic of Eire. British radio comedy also has a home on Australia's Radio National.
Many of the BBC's most successful television comedies began life as radio shows. These include Goodness Gracious Me, Knowing Me, Knowing You, The League Of Gentlemen, Whose Line Is It Anyway, Room 101, Have I Got News For You, (based on Radio 4's The News Quiz), Steptoe and Son, Dead Ringers and most recently Absolute Power. The science fiction comedy "Red Dwarf" was developed from ideas in a radio show called "Son Of Cliché". Another science fiction comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy went from radio to television but also to books, website and various forms including the h2g2 project (which is both like and unlike Wikipedia).
Examples of American radio comedy can be heard on streaming internet radio stations. Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" can be heard on public radio stations in the United States and a different version of the shows can be heard on BBC7 & RTE under the name "Garrison Keillor's Radio Show". Old shows can be listened to online at the websites of "A Prairie Home Companion" or RTE. British radio comedy can be heard on BBC Radio Four, BBC Radio Two and BBC7. Minnesota Public Radio maintains a website where it is possible to listen to episodes of "Comedy College". A British commercial station "Oneword" broadcasts American vintage radio comedy as part of their 24 hour-a-day programming of books, comedy and drama and this is streamed on the internet.
Interest in radio comedy and radio drama is currently enjoying a resurgence. Epguides.com ( http://www.epguides.com ) which provides encyclopedic information on television shows has recently begun to build a similar list of radio shows at: http://www.epguides.com/menu/radio.shtml .
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1.1 Produced by or for the CBC
2 External Links1.2 Produced by Minnesota Public Radio 1.3 Produced by or for RTE 1.4 Produced by or for the BBC |
List of Radio Comedies
Produced by or for the CBC
Produced by Minnesota Public Radio
Produced by or for RTE
Produced by or for the BBC
External Links