Fry and Laurie
Encyclopedia
Fry and Laurie, Stephen Fry
and Hugh Laurie
, were a successful English comedy double act
, mostly active in the 1980s and 1990s. Having met in 1980 through mutual friend Emma Thompson
(whilst all attended the University of Cambridge
), Fry and Laurie have since collaborated on numerous projects together, including Jeeves and Wooster
, in which Laurie portrayed Bertie Wooster
and Fry portrayed Wooster's valet Jeeves
. They also gained prominence through their own sketch show, A Bit of Fry & Laurie.
Although they have accomplished numerous successful solo projects (in the fields of acting and writing, among others), and it has been a while since they have actively collaborated, both have expressed interest in a continued partnership and reunited for a retrospective show in 2010 titled Fry and Laurie Reunited.
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
and Hugh Laurie
Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...
, were a successful English comedy double act
Double act
A double act, also known as a comedy duo, is a comic pairing in which humor is derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin and profession, but drastically different personalities or behavior...
, mostly active in the 1980s and 1990s. Having met in 1980 through mutual friend Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...
(whilst all attended the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
), Fry and Laurie have since collaborated on numerous projects together, including Jeeves and Wooster
Jeeves and Wooster
-External links:*—An episode guide to the series, including information about which episodes were adapted from which Wodehouse stories.*—Episode guides, screenshots and quotes from the four series....
, in which Laurie portrayed Bertie Wooster
Bertie Wooster
Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of...
and Fry portrayed Wooster's valet Jeeves
Jeeves
Reginald Jeeves is a fictional character in the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse, being the valet of Bertie Wooster . Created in 1915, Jeeves would continue to appear in Wodehouse's works until his final, completed, novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen in 1974, making him Wodehouse's most famous...
. They also gained prominence through their own sketch show, A Bit of Fry & Laurie.
Although they have accomplished numerous successful solo projects (in the fields of acting and writing, among others), and it has been a while since they have actively collaborated, both have expressed interest in a continued partnership and reunited for a retrospective show in 2010 titled Fry and Laurie Reunited.
Television programmes
- Cambridge Footlights RevueCambridge Footlights RevueThe Cambridge Footlights Revue is an annual revue by the Footlights Club - a group of comic writer-performers at the University of Cambridge. Two of the more notable revues are detailed below.-"A Clump of Plinths" — "Cambridge Circus":...
(1982) (BBC2) - There's Nothing to Worry About (1982)
- Alfresco (1983) (ITVITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
) - The Crystal Cube (1983) (BBC2)
- The Young OnesThe Young Ones (TV series)The Young Ones is a British sitcom, first broadcast in 1982, which ran for two series on BBC2. Its anarchic, offbeat humour helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers...
(1984) (BBC2) (appearing in the episode "BambiBambi (Young Ones episode)"Bambi" was the seventh episode of British sitcom The Young Ones. It was written by Ben Elton, Rik Mayall and Lise Mayer, and directed by Geoff Posner. It was first aired on BBC2 on 8 May 1984...
") - Weekend In Wallop (1984) (ITVITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
) - Saturday Live (1986) (C4Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
) - Blackadder II (1986) (BBC1) (two episodes together)
- Filthy Rich & CatflapFilthy Rich & CatflapFilthy Rich & Catflap was a BBC sitcom produced in 1986 and broadcast early the next year.The series featured former The Young Ones stars Nigel Planer, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson as its three title characters respectively...
(1987) (BBC2) (appearing in the second episode) - First Aids (1987) (ITVITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
) - Blackadder the Third (1987) (BBC1) (one episode together)
- The Secret Policeman's Third BallThe Secret Policeman's BallsThe Secret Policeman's Balls is the collective name informally used to describe the long-running series of benefit shows staged in England to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International...
(1987) (ITVITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
) - A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1987 pilot, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995) (BBC2, BBC1)
- Hysteria! Hysteria! Hysteria! (1988)
- Blackadder's Christmas CarolBlackadder's Christmas CarolBlackadder's Christmas Carol is a one-off episode of Blackadder, a parody of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It is set between Blackadder the Third and Blackadder Goes Forth , and is narrated by Hugh Laurie...
(1988) (BBC1) - The New StatesmanThe New StatesmanThe New Statesman is an award-winning British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time...
(appearing in the episode "The Haltemprice Bunker") (1989) - A Night Of Comic Relief 2 (1989) (BBC1)
- Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) (BBC1)
- The Secret Policeman's Biggest BallThe Secret Policeman's BallsThe Secret Policeman's Balls is the collective name informally used to describe the long-running series of benefit shows staged in England to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International...
(1989) (ITVITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
) - Hysteria 2 (1989) (C4Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
) - Jeeves and WoosterJeeves and Wooster-External links:*—An episode guide to the series, including information about which episodes were adapted from which Wodehouse stories.*—Episode guides, screenshots and quotes from the four series....
(1990–93) (ITVITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
) - Comic Relief - 1991 (1991) (BBC1)
- Hysteria III (1991) (C4Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
) - Fry and Laurie Host A Christmas Night with the StarsChristmas Night with the StarsChristmas Night with the Stars was a variety television show broadcast each Christmas night by the BBC from 1958 to 1972 and also in 1994. The show featured the top stars of the BBC as they appeared in short versions of their programmes, typically five to ten minutes long. The show was voted 24th...
(1994) (BBC2) - Live from the Lighthouse (1998)
- The Nearly Complete And Utter History Of EverythingThe Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything (film)The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything is a collection of sketches broadcast in two parts on 2 and 4 January 2000 on BBC 1.-External links:...
(2000) (BBC1) - Blackadder: Back & ForthBlackadder: Back & ForthBlackadder: Back & Forth is a 1999 short film based on the BBC mock-historical comedy series Blackadder that marks the end of the Blackadder saga...
(2000) (Sky OneSky OneSky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...
) - Fortysomething (2003) (one show together)
- QIQIQI is a British comedy panel game television quiz show created and co-produced by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry, and featuring permanent panellist Alan Davies. Most of the questions are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given...
(2003) (BBC2) (one show together) - Fry and Laurie Reunited (2010) (GOLD)
- Fry and Laurie worked with magician and sceptic James RandiJames RandiJames Randi is a Canadian-American stage magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of paranormal claims and pseudoscience. Randi is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation...
on an episode of Randi's British television show.
Radio shows
- Saturday Night FrySaturday Night FrySaturday Night Fry was a six-part comedy series on BBC Radio 4, first broadcast between the 30th of April and the 4th of June 1988. Episode One had previously been broadcast as a pilot on 19 December 1987, under the title 'Fry on Saturday'....
on BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
in 1988 (five shows together) - Whose Line is it Anyway?Whose Line Is It Anyway?Whose Line Is It Anyway? is a short-form improvisational comedy TV show. Originally a British radio programme, it moved to television in 1988 as a series made for the UK's Channel 4, for a 10 series run...
on BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
in 1988 (one show together)
Published materials
Published television scripts- A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1990)
- A Bit More Fry & Laurie (1991)
- 3 Bits of Fry & Laurie (1992)
- Fry & Laurie Bit No. 4 (1995)
Miscellaneous
Fry and Laurie have also appeared together in various television advertisements, interviews, audio books and other projects.External links
- Review of 1982 Cambridge Footlights show
- Stephen Fry's Official Website
- The BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
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