Dick and Dom's Funny Business is a British comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 television series for children, hosted by comic presenting duo Richard McCourt and Dominic Wood (Dick and Dom

Dick and Dom

Dick and Dom are a children's comic double act consisting of the presenters Richard McCourt and Dominic Wood. They are primarily known for presenting children's television, such as Dick and Dom in da Bungalow for 5 series between 2002 - 2006...

). The series is broadcast in a Saturday morning slot on BBC Two

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

 and simulcast

Simulcast

Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...

 on the CBBC Channel

CBBC Channel

CBBC is a BBC television channel aimed at 6 to 12 year olds. It complements the CBBC programming that continues to air on BBC One and BBC Two. Launched on 11 February 2002, it broadcasts from 7am to 7pm on Freeview, cable, IPTV and digital satellite, occupying the same bandwidth as, but a different...

, and is Dick and Dom's return to Saturday mornings following the success of Dick and Dom in da Bungalow

Dick and Dom in da Bungalow

Dick and Dom in da Bungalow was a CBBC children's entertainment television series presented by the duo Dick and Dom...

, which ended in Spring 2006. Unlike ...da Bungalow, which was largely broadcast live and ran for up to three hours with inserted content, ...Funny Business is a pre-recorded, self-contained one-hour programme. The first series began in January 2011 and is due to run for 13 episodes.

The format of the series is that Dick and Dom are the hosts of a comedy club-style event;
external shots of the theatre which supposedly hosts the venue are seen as establishing shots during the programme. The theatre's American owner is not himself seen on screen, though his daughter Kelly-Anne Manhattan is part of the recurring cast (played by Kelly-Anne Lyons

Kelly-Anne Lyons

Kelly-Anne Lyons is an American actress, model and television presenter, best known as the female lead in the BBC comedy Dick and Dom's Funny Business; first broadcast in 2011. Other roles played by Lyons include the title role in Chelsey: OMG!...

). The duo introduce a range of guest comedy acts who each perform an on-stage sketch/stand-up routine, and between these the viewer sees behind-the-scenes skits involving the duo, recurring characters and guests, and also interwoven into the show are a number of separate recorded skits and sketches featuring additional cast members and characters not featured in the main show.

The first series consisted of ten regular episodes and three clip shows

Clip show

A clip show is an episode of a television series that consists primarily of excerpts from previous episodes. Most clip shows feature the format of a frame story in which cast members recall past events from past installments of the show, depicted with a clip of the event presented as a flashback. ...

 featuring new links between previously-seen performances; the third clip show also featured some behind-the-scenes footage of guest performers from across the series.

Recurring features and sketches

Stage performances

Each week's show features several sketches performed live before the studio audience by guest comic troupes which have during the series included the likes of Pappy's, The Three Englishmen and Idiots of Ants

Idiots of Ants

Idiots of Ants are a London based comedy sketch group made up of Elliott Tiney, Benjamin Wilson, James Wrighton and Andrew Spiers. They have performed sketches on BBC Two, Fox News, BBC Three and BBC Radio 4.- History :...

.

The Devastation Brothers

Two wrestlers in green lycra bodysuits (played by Steven Burge and Tony Way

Tony Way

Tony Way is an English actor, comedian, and writer, who is best known for playing various characters, in the hit BBC sketch comedy TV series Tittybangbang and playing the character Dave in the hit comedy movie, Ali G Indahouse....

) send a video message in which they trash-talk Dick and Dom. There are also frequent fart

Fart

Fart is an English language vulgarism most commonly used in reference to flatulence. The word "fart" is generally considered unsuitable in a formal environment by modern English speakers, and it may be considered vulgar or offensive in some situations. Fart can be used as a noun or a verb...

 jokes in this segment.

Usherettes

Two usherettes at the theatre (male actors in drag

Drag (clothing)

Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...

) gossip and bicker with one another.

The History of Funny Business

A short skit looking at a comedic or slapstick device, demonstrated by Dick and Dom (as the silent "Subject A" and "Subject B") with the aid of narrator, Richard Mackney

Richard Mackney

Richard Mackney is an English journalist and broadcaster, probably best known as a reporter on ITV breakfast show, GMTV.-Background:Mackney was born in April 1971 in Emsworth, Hampshire...

.

The TV that switches itself on

Used as a means to introduce a selection of short independent sketches, generally unrelated to the main plot, into the programme. Recurring skits within this segment include:

• Super Granny Nanny, a parody of Supernanny
  Supernanny
  Supernanny is a reality TV programme which originated in the United Kingdom about parents struggling with their children's behaviour. The UK version has aired on Channel 4 with E4 showing repeats since 2004. The program returned in 2010...
  
   in which a behaviour coach tries to control a wayward OAP;
• Cubs, in which a cub scout
  Cub Scout
  A Cub Scout is a member of the section of the worldwide Scouting movement for young persons, mainly boys normally aged about 7 to 11. In some countries they are known by their original name of Wolf Cubs and are often referred to simply as Cubs. The movement is often referred to simply as Cubbing...
  
   now in his 40s and the last remaining member of his troop, is given tasks to do
• BEAR, a series of TV parodies featuring soft toys, in a similar vein to those seen in The Adam and Joe Show
  The Adam and Joe Show
  The Adam and Joe Show was a British television comedy show, written and presented by Adam and Joe, that is, Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish, which ran for four series on Channel 4 between 1996 and 2001...
  
  

Finale

Each edition of ...Funny Business closes with a musical comedy sequence featuring improvisational comedy duo Abandoman, performing with Dick and Dom and the special guest. The duo invite the guest and the audience members to submit phrases to be included in their improvised performance. A running gag

Running gag

A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....

 is that Kelly-Anne Manhattan asks to perform in this sequence and is usually given a minor or unusual instrument to close the performance with.

Series 1

Episode	Description	Special guest	Airdate
1.1	Dick and Dom find a baby at the theatre, and inadvertently teach it its first word.	Stephen K. Amos Stephen K. Amos Stephen Kehinde Amos is a British stand-up comedian of Nigerian origin. A regular on the international comedy circuit, he is known for including his audience members during his shows...	8 January 2011
1.2	Dick and Dom find a list of demands which they believe is Gordon Kennedy's rider Rider (theater) In theater , a rider is a set of requests or demands that a performer will set as criteria for performance.-Hospitality Rider:The hospitality rider is a list of requests for the comfort of the artist on the day of the show... .	Gordon Kennedy Gordon Kennedy (actor) Gordon Kennedy is a Scottish actor. Kennedy grew up in Tranent, East Lothian, and attended George Watson's College in Edinburgh...	15 January 2011
1.3	The theatre suffers a rodent Rodent Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....  infestation.	Warwick Davis Warwick Davis Warwick Ashley Davis is an English actor. He is most notable for playing the title characters in Willow and the Leprechaun film series, as well as for his roles in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and the Harry Potter movies. Davis currently stars in the sitcom Life's Too Short, written...	22 January 2011
1.4	Dick and Dom are struggling to pay the theatre's bills Bill (payment) A bill or invoice is a document requesting payment for an order previously supplied. Presentation of a bill is common practice on the part of credit card companies, utilities, and other service providers... .	Tracy Ann Oberman	29 January 2011
1.5	Dick and Dom open a gym Gym The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...  and spa at the theatre.	Debra Stephenson Debra Stephenson Debra Stephenson is an English actress, comedian, impressionist and singer.-Career:At the age of fourteen Stephenson appeared on BBC TV's Opportunity Knocks, winning her way through to the All-Winners' Final, broadcast live from the London Palladium...	5 February 2011
1.6	Dick becomes obsessed with topping the league in a new computer game.	Tim Vine Tim Vine Timothy "Tim" Mark Vine is an English actor, writer and comedian. He has released a number of DVDs of his stand-up comedy, as well as starring in the successful series Not Going Out with Lee Mack on the BBC...	12 February 2011
1.7	In order to convince his grandmother that he is married Marriage Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found... , Dom persuades Dick to dress as a woman.	Steve Furst Steve Furst Steven Larry Furst is a comedian, actor and writer. Furst says his father told him that he arrived as an immigrant from Hungary with "nothing but a violin under my arm"...	19 February 2011
1.8	Dick becomes obsessed with entering competitions.	Jessica Hynes	26 February 2011
1.9	Dick is offered a job working for the Queen.	Catherine Tate Catherine Tate Catherine Tate is an English actress, writer, and comedian. She has won numerous awards for her work on the sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and four BAFTA Awards...	5 March 2011
1.10	Dick and Dom attempt to clean up the theatre's image ahead of the "Theatre of the Year" awards.	Jason Byrne Jason Byrne (comedian) Jason Byrne is an Irish comedian born in Ballinteer, Dublin, Ireland. In August 2008, he made his twelfth Edinburgh Fringe Festival appearance and is a regular at the Kilkenny Cat Laughs comedy festival....	12 March 2011
1.11	An estate agent Estate agent An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting or management of properties, and other buildings, in the United Kingdom and Ireland. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent...  attempts to sell the theatre, prompting Dick and Dom to reminisce.	None (clip show Clip show A clip show is an episode of a television series that consists primarily of excerpts from previous episodes. Most clip shows feature the format of a frame story in which cast members recall past events from past installments of the show, depicted with a clip of the event presented as a flashback. ... )	19 March 2011
1.12	Dom is hit with a fish Fish Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...  and forgets how to put on a show.	None (clip show Clip show A clip show is an episode of a television series that consists primarily of excerpts from previous episodes. Most clip shows feature the format of a frame story in which cast members recall past events from past installments of the show, depicted with a clip of the event presented as a flashback. ... )	26 March 2011
1.13	A film-maker has left his tapes Videotape A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...  for a documentary Documentary film Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...  on Dick and Dom in the theatre.	None (clip show Clip show A clip show is an episode of a television series that consists primarily of excerpts from previous episodes. Most clip shows feature the format of a frame story in which cast members recall past events from past installments of the show, depicted with a clip of the event presented as a flashback. ... )	2 April 2011