The Comic Strip's Peter Richardson - Appearing at QUAD 5 November

On Thursday 5 November QUAD will be celebrating classic comedy series The Comic Strip Presents and Stella Street with guests Peter Richardson and Phil Cornwell present to share insider anecdotes, favourite clips, and full footage of the game-changing TV series as compiled by Peter.

In the run up to the event Peter spoke to cult film historian Darrell Buxton and you can see their conversation below.

Peter Richardson - A Short Bio by Darrell Buxton

It’s no exaggeration to claim that Peter Richardson may well be the most vital figure in British comedy of the past fifty years. And while Peter’s Wikipedia entry states that “he did not reach the same level of public recognition as some of his contemporaries”, he nevertheless discovered, promoted, and brought fame to countless major laughter-makers. Imagine a world without Peter – we’d also potentially have had no ‘The Young Ones’, no French & Saunders, no ‘Stella Street’, no Robbie Coltrane, no Doon Mackichan, no Bad News, etc, etc, and the seismic effect might also have taken out a couple of future generations of funny. Pivotal, enthusiastic, essential, Peter Richardson may not be a household name but is undoubtedly the powerhouse behind modern mirth.

Influenced early on by Frank Zappa’s ability to combine experimental rock with satire, Peter teamed up with fellow music fan Nigel Planer on various fringe theatrical pursuits, leading to their formation of duo The Outer Limits, who became one of the hit sensations among patrons of London’s The Comedy Store in the late 1970s.
These pioneers paved the way for a new breed of comedy, non-sexist, non-racist, youth culture-focused, post-punk, and fully accepting and embracing of gender, appearance, background, providing you were daring in your approach to humour. The emergence of Channel 4 in 1982 prompted Peter to pitch a series of short television films, ‘The Comic Strip Presents…’, and when the first of these, ‘Five Go Mad in Dorset’, proved the highlight of the fledgling channel’s opening night’s programming, everything changed.

Peter has rather remained in the engine room of British comedy, ever-keen to push forward the talents of other budding stars, though his own occasional onscreen performances have proved enduringly memorable – who can forget his scene-stealing faux-swarthiness in the classic spaghetti western spoof ‘A Fistful of Traveller’s Cheques’?

After more than half-a-century in ‘showbiz’, Peter has decided that the time is right to celebrate his career and legacy, and frankly no-one deserves to do so more than him. On the road with compadre Phil Cornwell, the pair are touring UK venues with their ‘The Comic Strip Presents…’ showcase, a mixture of onstage chat, classic TV episodes, Rik Mayall tributes, impersonations, and a gala salute to what was once termed ‘alternative comedy’ but which has without doubt heavily influenced and shifted the mainstream. Peter and Phil’s travels bring them to QUAD in Derby on November 5th, so anticipate fireworks on what is certain to be an evening to remember.

Tickets to the special event on 5 November can be found at this page.