Its been a long time since they were shown but Sean Hughes passing reminded me that there was that interesting period in the early 90s where stand up comics were getting their own multi-episode TV series run, usually on Channel 4. Sean Hughes had Sean's Show, and Paul Merton during the height of his 'surreal' period had The Paul Merton Show. Jo Brand got a self-titled show too. Jack Dee and Jeremy Hardy did a couple of one-off team ups. And of course there was the anarchic team of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer transferring their stage show into a series with very few changes.Cameron Swift wrote:Sean Hughes at 51. His standup success came a little before my time, so my memories of him are mostly as a team captain on panel show Never Mind The Buzzcocks.
Lots of these 'edgy' performers (as with Graham Norton in the chat show field) transferred over to the BBC over the course of the 90s to do work in the same vein but a bit 'safer' with the rougher edges sanded off, and one of the safest ways it seemed for comedians to get consistent and reliable work, and perhaps more importantly to keep themselves visible in the public eye, was to be on panel quiz shows either as a team captain (as Sean Hughes was for a while) or a regular semi-permanent guest spot. Of course Vic & Bob exploded the panel show even whilst working at the 'safer' BBC with their absurd Shooting Stars series! (Though they did pave the way for the likes of Keith Lemon currently, so I'm wary of entirely celebrating their legacy!)
There certainly would be an interesting piece to be written on that period of the 'alternative' stand up comedians becoming the new establishment (epitomised perhaps by Eddie Izzard becoming a political and campaigning figure whilst simultaneously going Transatlantic, almost embodying New Labour!), seeing how those they replaced fared (Bob Monkhouse adapted amazingly well, but Jasper Carrott and the more militant 80s figures like Alexei Sayle didn't seem to thrive as much), and how they all adapted to having been in some ways co-opted!