Saturday Live
Comedy

Saturday Live

Saturday Live was a British television comedy and music show broadcast by Channel 4 from 1985 to 1987, and in 1988 as Friday Night Live. Influenced by the American show Saturday Night Live, it was produced by Paul Jackson.

The series made stars of Ben Elton, Harry Enfield, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, and featured appearances by Patrick Marber, Morwenna Banks, Chris Barrie, Emo Philips, Craig Ferguson, Craig Charles and many others. The show featured comic duo Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall in their act The Dangerous Brothers.

All episodes were transmitted live, although some material was pre-recorded. Recordings of shows were edited into compilation repeats, retitled Saturday Almost Live.

The show was succeeded by Friday Night Live, a shorter and slightly more tightly-formatted show with Elton as the permanent host, which ran for a single series in 1988. The show's titles consisted of reforming clay animations, highly comparable to early MTV idents.

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Created By

Paul Jackson

Status

Ended

Original Name

Saturday Live

First Air Date

January 25, 1986

Last Air Date

April 29, 1988

Seasons

3

Episodes

30

Language

English

Production Companies

LWT

Networks

Channel 4

S03E10

Episode 10

Ben Elton Intro and stand-up: Thatcher and the NHS (Almost:8) music Was (Not Was) Walk The Dinosaur (Almost:8) Harry Enfield Stavros (character): Arsenal v Luton (Almost:8) (DVD:FLEE) Barry Humphries Dame Edna (character): In the dressing room at the Strand Theatre Wendy Harmer Australian stand-up (Almost:8) Moray Hunter & Jack Docherty Donald & George (characters): House of commons music Harry Enfield Loadsamoney (character): Doin' Up The House (Almost:8) (DVD:FLEE) Josie Lawrence Florence from Cradley (character): UFOs and Doctor Who (Almost:8) Harry Enfield Buggerallmoney (character): Destroy Loadsamoney (Almost:8) (DVD:FNL, FLEE) Les Bubb Invisible piano Barry Humphries Dame Edna (character): Stand-up (Almost:8) (DVD:FNL) Doug Anthony Allstars Comedy songs (Almost:8) Ben Elton Stand-up: Nudist beaches (Almost:8) (DVD:FLEE) music Was (Not Was) Out Come The Freaks (Almost:8) Ben Elton Closes the series (Almost:8) (DVD:FNL)

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