In the league table of the funniest universities in the world, Cambridge wears the crown. Home of Britain's oldest student sketch comedy troupe, the Cambridge Footlights, it has been a veritable conveyor belt of comic talent that's been rolling for more than a century.
From Monty Python, The Goodies and Not the Nine O'Clock News to Peep Show, QI and The Great British Bake-Off, its alumni are behind many of the shows that have entertained audiences from the 1960s to today. This book tells the story of the Footlights, chronicling its evolution from its creation in the 1880s to the present.
The Footlights has long been a potential portal to fame: talent scouts, especially from the BBC, were in the habit of coming up to Cambridge on the lookout for comedy writers and material. This book traces the journeys of its most distinguished alumni, including Germaine Greer, John Cleese, Douglas Adams, Peter Cook, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Miriam Margolyes, Emma Thompson, Richard Ayoade, David Mitchell and Sue Perkins, among many others.
Featuring interviews with numerous former Footlights alumni, and accounts of routines and revues, it vividly captures the desire of each successive intake to make their comic mark. Through examining the impact of the Footlights on British popular culture and comedy over the last 60 years, it demonstrates how its farces, musical comedies, pantomimes and the famous May Week revues have both reflected the tastes of the times and served as a 'nursery' for generations of comic writers and performers. In the world of comedy, it is a unique institution.
- 289 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
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Information
Subtopic
RadioTable of contents
- Cover
- Halftitle page
- Dedication page
- Title page
- Copyright page
- CONTENTS
- ILLUSTRATIONS
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- Introduction
- 1 Beyond the Fringe
- 2 Cheer-Oh Cambridge
- 3 Cabbages and Kings
- 4 The Last Laugh
- 5 I Thought I Saw It Move
- 6 A Clump of Plinths
- 7 Stuff What DreamsAre Made Of
- 8 Supernatural Gas
- 9 Norman Ruins
- 10 A Kick in the Stalls
- 11 The Cellar Tapes
- 12 Hawaiian Cheese Party
- 13 Another Fine Mess
- 14 Back and Beyond
- 15 Barracuda Jazz Option
- 16 Emotional Baggage
- 17 Far Too Happy
- 18 Devils
- 19 Are We There Yet?
- 20 Gone with the Clappers
- NOTES
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- INDEX
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Yes, you can access The Cambridge Footlights by Robert Sellers in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & Radio. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.