Game for a Laugh
Encyclopedia
Game For A Laugh was a popular British
TV light entertainment
show which ran for 56 editions and 4 specials between 26 September 1981 and 23 November 1985, made by London Weekend Television
for the ITV
network.
was called Gotcha and was designed as a BBC TV series to be presented by Paul Daniels
, David Copperfield
(the British comedian) and Pamela Stephenson
. The pilot show
was rejected, allegedly, for being 'too vulgar'. Jeremy Beadle
then re-wrote the format - with producer Michael Hill in the US.
According to the show's original producer, Brian Wesley, in his 1982 book on the series, "The Game for a Laugh birthplace was the Hollywood office of producer Michael Hill." Jeremy Beadle and Hill's Los Angeles
based TV production company Hill-Eubanks Group Inc envisaged a show in which "the people were the stars". Hill developed the eventual show with Beadle and with Jeremy Fox, head of London
-based Action Time Ltd. Fox then presented the format to LWT. Jeremy Fox also brought to the show a wealth of stunts from Truth or Consequences
, a show created by Ralph Edwards
Productions in Hollywood from whom LWT bought rights
. At LWT, Head of Light Entertainment
Alan Boyd put the finishing touches to it.
, Henry Kelly
(no relation) and Sarah Kennedy
. When both Kellys & Kennedy left, the hosts were Jeremy Beadle, Martin Daniels
(son of Paul Daniels), Rustie Lee
, Lee Peck. The final series was hosted by Beadle, Daniels and Debbie Rix. The show revolved around a variety of practical jokes, either in game-type formats played out within the studio or as often elaborate set-ups on unsuspecting members of the public, either studio-based or shot on location. Each segment would end with the victim being made aware of the joke by a presenter, who would then announce that the person had proved to be "game for a laugh".
The production team for the series overlapped with the later Surprise, Surprise, which was originally a spin-off format from Game For a Laugh, designed by Alan Boyd to comprise the 'surprising', bizarre and humorous 'real people' elements from Game For a Laugh.
Henry - "Watching us..."
Sarah - "Watching you..."
Matthew - "Watching us..."
Jeremy - "Watching you...."
(all) - "GOODNIGHT!"
! and became strongly identified with the genre in the UK.
Sarah Kennedy had started her career as a newsreader for BBC Radio 1
. She now presents a show on BBC Radio 2
, The Dawn Patrol.
Henry Kelly went on to present the BBC TV pan-Europe
an quiz Going for Gold
. In 2001 it was voted as one of the worst programmes of all time. Kelly is now a Sunday morning presenter on the British radio station Classic FM
.
Matthew Kelly started his career as a stooge to Hylda Baker
. Dressed in drag, he played Cynthia, whom Hylda was always telling to "be soon".
, in a sketch showing a man (Rowan Atkinson
) returning home from work to find his wife brutally beheaded. He runs out into the street screaming before being approached by the crew who then shout "Game for a Laugh", whereupon they all share the joke, despite the fact that the man's wife is very obviously dead.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
TV light entertainment
Light entertainment
Light entertainment is a term used to describe a broad range of usually televisual performances. These include comedies, variety shows, quiz/game shows, sketch shows and people/surprise shows.-Light entertainment in Britain:...
show which ran for 56 editions and 4 specials between 26 September 1981 and 23 November 1985, made by London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
for the ITV
ITV
ITV 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...
network.
Origins
It has been said that the original formatTV program format
A TV format describes the overall concept, premise and branding of a copyrighted television program.The format is licensed by TV networks, so that they may produce a version of the show tailored to their nationality and audience. Formats are a major part of the international television market...
was called Gotcha and was designed as a BBC TV series to be presented by Paul Daniels
Paul Daniels
Paul Daniels, born Newton Edward Daniels on 6 April 1938, is a British magician and television performer. He achieved international fame through his television series The Paul Daniels Magic Show, which ran on the BBC from 1979 to 1994.-Early life:...
, David Copperfield
David Copperfield (comedian)
David Copperfield is best known from the BBC 1980s sketch show Three of a Kind, in which he starred alongside Tracey Ullman and Lenny Henry. His real name is Stanley Barlow. He was born and raised in Yorkshire, where he began his professional career performing in various cabaret venues. His big...
(the British comedian) and Pamela Stephenson
Pamela Stephenson
Pamela Helen Stephenson Connolly is a New Zealand-born Australian clinical psychologist and writer now resident in the United Kingdom. She is best known for her work as an actress and comedian during the 1980s...
. The pilot show
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
was rejected, allegedly, for being 'too vulgar'. Jeremy Beadle
Jeremy Beadle
Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle MBE was an English television presenter, writer and producer. During the 1980s, he was a regular face on British television and in two years appeared 50 weeks of the year. His shows regularly topped the charts beating Coronation Street and EastEnders on one...
then re-wrote the format - with producer Michael Hill in the US.
According to the show's original producer, Brian Wesley, in his 1982 book on the series, "The Game for a Laugh birthplace was the Hollywood office of producer Michael Hill." Jeremy Beadle and Hill's Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
based TV production company Hill-Eubanks Group Inc envisaged a show in which "the people were the stars". Hill developed the eventual show with Beadle and with Jeremy Fox, head of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based Action Time Ltd. Fox then presented the format to LWT. Jeremy Fox also brought to the show a wealth of stunts from Truth or Consequences
Truth or Consequences
Truth or Consequences is an American quiz show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards and later on television by Edwards , Jack Bailey , Bob Barker , Bob Hilton and Larry Anderson . The television show ran on CBS, NBC and also in syndication...
, a show created by Ralph Edwards
Ralph Edwards
Ralph Livingstone Edwards was an American radio and television host and television producer.-Early career:Born in Merino, Colorado , Edwards worked for KROW-AM in Oakland, California while he was still in high school...
Productions in Hollywood from whom LWT bought rights
Rights
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
. At LWT, Head of Light Entertainment
Light entertainment
Light entertainment is a term used to describe a broad range of usually televisual performances. These include comedies, variety shows, quiz/game shows, sketch shows and people/surprise shows.-Light entertainment in Britain:...
Alan Boyd put the finishing touches to it.
Production
The hosts for its first few series were Beadle, Matthew KellyMatthew Kelly
Matthew Kelly is an English television presenter and Olivier-award winning actor. Having been trained as a theatre actor, he first came to public prominence as a television presenter of ITV light entertainment shows such as You Bet! and Stars in Their Eyes...
, Henry Kelly
Henry Kelly
Patrick Henry Kelly is an Irish television presenter and radio DJ.Henry Kelly was born in Athlone, Co Westmeath, Ireland. He was educated at Belvedere College SJ, and at University College Dublin where he was Auditor of the Literary and Historical Society...
(no relation) and Sarah Kennedy
Sarah Kennedy
Sarah Mary Kennedy MBE is a British TV and radio broadcaster. She presented her own daily early morning radio show, The Dawn Patrol, on BBC Radio 2 from 1993, before announcing her decision to leave the show on 3 September, 2010.Kennedy was honoured in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2005, when...
. When both Kellys & Kennedy left, the hosts were Jeremy Beadle, Martin Daniels
Martin Daniels
Martin Daniels is an English magician and entertainer.The second son of famous UK magician Paul Daniels from his first marriage to Jacqui Skipworth, Martin worked alongside his father on The Paul Daniels Magic Show, but he also took singing, dancing and music lessons, in addition to magic.Martin...
(son of Paul Daniels), Rustie Lee
Rustie Lee
Rustie Lee is a television chef and actress in the United Kingdom, most famous for her appearances in the 1980s on morning station, TV-am. She was born in Jamaica, but moved to Birmingham with her family as a child. Following her successful stint as a chef on TV-am in 1983, Lee took over from...
, Lee Peck. The final series was hosted by Beadle, Daniels and Debbie Rix. The show revolved around a variety of practical jokes, either in game-type formats played out within the studio or as often elaborate set-ups on unsuspecting members of the public, either studio-based or shot on location. Each segment would end with the victim being made aware of the joke by a presenter, who would then announce that the person had proved to be "game for a laugh".
The production team for the series overlapped with the later Surprise, Surprise, which was originally a spin-off format from Game For a Laugh, designed by Alan Boyd to comprise the 'surprising', bizarre and humorous 'real people' elements from Game For a Laugh.
Catchphrase
The series' (rather incomprehensible) catchphrase was spoken by the four presenters at the end of the show - "Join us again next week when we very much hope you'll be..." then each of the four would intone, one by one:Henry - "Watching us..."
Sarah - "Watching you..."
Matthew - "Watching us..."
Jeremy - "Watching you...."
(all) - "GOODNIGHT!"
Presenters
Although the other presenters went on to other different types of show, Jeremy Beadle went on to present several more practical-joke type shows, including Beadle's AboutBeadle's About
Beadle's About was a British television programme hosted by the late Jeremy Beadle, where members of the public became victims of practical jokes behind hidden cameras...
! and became strongly identified with the genre in the UK.
Sarah Kennedy had started her career as a newsreader for BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
. She now presents a show on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
, The Dawn Patrol.
Henry Kelly went on to present the BBC TV pan-Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an quiz Going for Gold
Going for Gold
Going for Gold is a British television game show that originally aired on BBC1 between 12 October 1987 and 9 July 1996.It has since been revived for Channel 5 from 13 October 2008 to 20 March 2009...
. In 2001 it was voted as one of the worst programmes of all time. Kelly is now a Sunday morning presenter on the British radio station Classic FM
Classic FM (UK)
Classic FM, one of the United Kingdom's three Independent National Radio stations, broadcasts classical music in a popular and accessible style.-Overview:...
.
Matthew Kelly started his career as a stooge to Hylda Baker
Hylda Baker
Hylda Baker was a British comedienne, actress and music hall star.-Early life and career:Baker was born in Farnworth, near Bolton, Lancashire, the first of seven children. Her father, Harold Baker, was a painter and signwriter, who also worked part-time in the music halls as a comedian...
. Dressed in drag, he played Cynthia, whom Hylda was always telling to "be soon".
Parody
Game for a Laugh was spoofed in Not the Nine O'Clock NewsNot the Nine O'Clock News
Not the Nine O'Clock News is a television comedy sketch show which was broadcast on BBC 2 from 1979 to 1982.Originally shown as a comedy "alternative" to the BBC Nine O'Clock News on BBC 1, it featured satirical sketches on current news stories and popular culture, as well as parody songs, comedy...
, in a sketch showing a man (Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...
) returning home from work to find his wife brutally beheaded. He runs out into the street screaming before being approached by the crew who then shout "Game for a Laugh", whereupon they all share the joke, despite the fact that the man's wife is very obviously dead.
Original series
| Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 September 1981 | 19 December 1981 | 13 |
| 2 | 11 September 1982 | 4 December 1982 | 13 |
| 3 | 10 September 1983 | 26 November 1983 | 12 |
| 4 | 20 January 1985 | 7 April 1985 | 11 |
| 5 | 12 October 1985 | 23 November 1985 | 7 |
Specials
| Date | Entitle |
|---|---|
| 25 December 1981 | Christmas Special |
| 11 April 1982 | Easter Special |
| 25 December 1982 | Christmas Special |
| 25 August 1984 | The Best Of Game For A Laugh |