History Series / TheComicStripPresents

The core cast was a group of alternative comedians including Creator/RikMayall, Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Peter Richardson, Robbie Coltrane, and Keith Allen. As a result, a lot of the episodes were heavily satirical in nature.

* FruitOfTheLoon -- Jennifer Saunders as "Meryl Streep" as Mrs. Scargill in ''The Strike'' is never seen without an orange. Why? No reason, it's just... part of her character.

** ''Strike'' parodies Hollywood in general by featuring a writer's gritty KitchenSinkDrama about the 1984 Miner's Strike gradually become an over-the-top melodrama starring Al Pacino and Meryl Streep when Hollywood adapts it.

** ''The Hunt for Tony Blair'' is pretty [[AffectionateParody affectionate]] to the old 1950s-1960s style {{Film Noir}}s it parodies, but is not particularly affectionate towards Tony Blair himself.

* VomitIndiscretionShot -- many episodes. Not a good programme for emetophobes.

The core cast was a group of alternative comedians including Creator/RikMayall, Adrian Edmonson, Nigel Planer, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Peter Richardson, Robbie Coltrane, and Keith Allen. As a result, a lot of the episodes were heavily satirical in nature.

* AuthorAppeal -- several episodes written by Adrian Edmondson feature his long-term work partner Rik Mayall in various stages of makeup and femininity, a trope often seen in their other works.
* BiasSteamroller: ''Bad News Tour'' was well-reviewed in the UK press but one magazine in particular, ''Smash Hits'', compared it favourably to another Rock {{Mockumentary}} which had come out the same year, which the magazine criticised as an over-hyped Hollywood mess which relied on an "outdated idea of what bands like this are like". However, the reputation of ''Film/ThisIsSpinalTap'' has [[VindicatedByHistory survived]] the anti-Hollywood bias of the reviewer from ''Smash Hits''.
* BlackComedyRape -- Specifically, DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale.

* BlahBlahBlah -- ''Five Go Mad In Dorset''
* BolivianArmyEnding -- ''A Fistful of Travellers' Cheques''
* CardboardBoxes -- spoofed in ''The Bullshitters''

* ContrivedCoincidence / ShaggySearchTechnique

* TheDanza
* DealWithTheDevil -- in ''Demonella'' the devil (Jennifer Saunders) offers a record producer success, power and fame in exchange for [[spoiler: his mother's recipe for chicken soup]].
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: ''The Beat Generation'', ''The Hunt for Tony Blair''
* DyingDream -- [[spoiler: ''Les Dogs'']]
* ExactEavesdropping -- ''Five Go Mad In Dorset''
* FakeOutFadeOut -- ''Consuela''
* FluffyTheTerrible -- Jayne and Mr Lovebucket in ''Mr Jolly Lives Next Door''
* FruitOfTheLoon -- "Meryl Streep" in ''The Strike''
* HistoricalRecreation -- ''Summer School'' is an early send-up of the genre.
* HotAsHell
* HoYay -- Bonehead and Foyle in ''The Bullshitters''
** Colin Grigson and Vim Fuego in ''Bad News Tour/More Bad News''
* [[IllTakeTwoBeersToo I'll Take Two Beers Too]] -- with steaks in ''A Fistful of Travellers' Checks''

* MistakenMessage -- ''Mr Jolly Lives Next Door''
* {{Mockumentary}}
* MysteryMagnet -- Complained about in ''Five Go Mad in Dorset''

* ThisIsReality -- Lampshaded in ''Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown''
* ShirtlessScene -- ''The Bullshitters'', ''Five Go Mad In Dorset''
* SoundtrackDissonance

* TheMovie -- ''The Supergrass'', ''Eat the Rich''
* TransformationTrauma

* XMeetsY -- ''Detectives On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown'': Series/TheSweeney Teams up with Series/DepartmentS, Series/{{Spender}} and Series/TheProfessionals to find out who is killing TV Cops.

* ValuesDissonance: The Creator/EnidBlyton Literature/TheFamousFive parodies lampoon the racist & classist elements in the original works, such as having the Five mock a black baggage handler ("That man looks foreign!" "Yes, I expect his name's Golliwog!") and comment on how the villains are thick-lipped and bearded or have lower-class accents.

** In ''Detectives on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' the most effective detective turns out to be the Jason King expy, whose technique is to drive around at random sipping cocktails, yet somehow manages to end up in exactly the right place to solve the case.

* ContrivedCoincidence / ShaggySearchTechnique -- a brilliant lampshading in ''Five Go Mad in Dorset'', when the Five see the villains must have vanished into a secret passage and are wondering how to open it. "I'll try tugging this branch three times!" says Julian, selecting a random branch and doing so, which of course works.

By the way, not related to the 1987 ''TheComicStrip'' animated series.

* BlondGuysAreEvil

* ValuesDissonance: The Creator/EnidBlyton Literature/TheFamousFive parodies/lampoons the racist & classist elements in the original works, such as having the Five mock a black baggage handler ("That man looks foreign!" "Yes, I expect his name's Golliwog!") and comment on how the villains are thick-lipped and bearded or have lower-class accents.

* ValuesDissonance: The Creator/EnidBlyton Literature/TheFamousFive parodies lampoon the racist & classist elements in the original works, such as having the Five mock a black baggage handler ("That man looks foreign!" "His name must be Golliwog!") and comment on how the villains are thick-lipped and bearded or have lower-class accents.

Most episodes are standalone shorts, although some are connected, such as the two Famous Five parodies, and "Bad News Tour" / "More Bad News". Many episodes are pastiches of one or more standard genres, for example [[AwfulBritishSexComedy British sex comedies]] ("Dirty Movie"), spaghetti westerns ("A Fistful Of Travellers' Cheques", about British holidaymakers in Spain) or post-apocalyptic dramas ("The Slags"). As such, a lot of the humour is of the "clever" variety rather than the laugh-out-loud funny variety. Other episodes, such as "Five Go Mad In Dorset" and "Five Go Mad On Mescalin" are more direct parodies. Yet others, such as "Bad News Tour" and "Eddie Monsoon, A Life" are mockumentaries. The episodes are usually well shot in a cinematic, artistic style that echoes that of the genre in question.

* AffectionateParody -- "Detectives on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" is a mostly loving parody of the various cliches of 1970s detective shows (mainly the meandering plots interspersed with lots of pointless car chases, shooting and people shouting "Guv!" at each other). It's [[TakeThat less affectionate]] towards 1990s detective shows; the 1970s shows might be hokey, but they don't put people to sleep.

* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord -- In "Space Virgins From The Planet Sex" the kidnapped earthmen are informed that they will not be referred to as sex slaves, although until every woman aboard the ship is pregnant they will be forced to have sex with those who have yet to conceive.
* BlahBlahBlah -- "Five Go Mad In Dorset"

* BolivianArmyEnding -- "A Fistful of Travellers' Cheques"
* CardboardBoxes -- spoofed in "The Bullshitters"
* CensorshipBySpelling -- In "The Beat Generation":

* ContrivedCoincidence / ShaggySearchTechnique -- a brilliant lampshading in "Five Go Mad in Dorset", when the Five see the villains must have vanished into a secret passage and are wondering how to open it. "I'll try tugging this branch three times!" says Julian, selecting a random branch and doing so, which of course works.

* DealWithTheDevil -- in "Demonella" the devil (Jennifer Saunders) offers a record producer success, power and fame in exchange for [[spoiler: his mother's recipe for chicken soup]].
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: "The Beat Generation", "The Hunt for Tony Blair"
* DyingDream -- [[spoiler: "Les Dogs"]]
* ExactEavesdropping -- "Five Go Mad In Dorset"
* FakeOutFadeOut -- "Consuela"
* FluffyTheTerrible -- Jayne and Mr Lovebucket in "Mr Jolly Lives Next Door"
* FruitOfTheLoon -- "Meryl Streep" in "The Strike"
* HistoricalRecreation -- "Summer School" is an early send-up of the genre.

* HoYay -- Bonehead and Foyle in "The Bullshitters"
** Colin Grigson and Vim Fuego in "Bad News Tour/More Bad News"
* [[IllTakeTwoBeersToo I'll Take Two Beers Too]] -- with steaks in "A Fistful of Travellers' Checks"
* ImprobableAimingSkills -- Spoofed in "Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown", when the Seventies TV detective's aiming skills stop working because he's shooting at a Nineties TV detective who uses different conventions.

* MarsNeedsWomen -- The premise behind "Space Virgins From The Planet Sex" is that the last man on an alien world is too old to procreate but they have been lucky enough to find the voyager probe with its illustration of what naked human look like and it seems their men will suffice.
* MistakenMessage -- "Mr Jolly Lives Next Door"

* MysteryMagnet -- Complained about in "Five Go Mad in Dorset"

* ThisIsReality -- Lampshaded in "Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown"
* ShirtlessScene -- "The Bullshitters", "Five Go Mad In Dorset"

** ''Gregory: Diary of a Nutcase'' parodies ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' by contrasting the flashy, glamourised Hollywood take on a serial killer with the squalid reality of a deeply disturbed man who genuinely needs help.

* RealDreamsAreWeirder -- "Didn't You Kill My Brother?"

A series of 39 short British TV comedy films, mostly produced in the 1980s and early 1990s but running intermittently until 2011. A retrospective was produced in 2005. The programmes were originally shown on Channel 4 (the first aired on the channel's opening night), though one season aired on TheBBC and the most recent episode appeared on Gold.

The core cast was a group of alternative comedians including Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmonson, Nigel Planer, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Peter Richardson, Robbie Coltrane, and Keith Allen. As a result, a lot of the episodes were heavily satirical in nature.

* XMeetsY -- ''Detectives On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown'': TheSweeney Teams up with Series/DepartmentS, Series/{{Spender}} and Series/TheProfessionals to find out who is killing TV Cops.

* [[HeyItsThatGuy Hey, It's That Guy!]] -- Anthony Head in a couple of episodes. (Also these days Robbie Coltrane is Hagrid, of course, although probably unrecognisable so this may not count...). Soap star Ronald Allen, well-known from ''{{Crossroads}}'' in his day, also appeared in some early episodes.

* XMeetsY -- ''Detectives On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown'': TheSweeney Teams up with Series/DepartmentS, {{Spender}} and Series/TheProfessionals to find out who is killing TV Cops.

A series of 39 short British TV comedy films, mostly produced in the 1980s and early 1990s but running intermittently until 2011. A retrospective was produced in 2005. The programmes were originally shown on Channel 4, though one season aired on TheBBC.

* ContrivedCoincidence -- a brilliant lampshading in "Five Go Mad in Dorset", when the Five see the villains must have vanished into a secret passage and are wondering how to open it. "I'll try tugging this branch three times!" says Julian, selecting a random branch and doing so, which of course works.

The core cast was a group of alternative comedians including Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmonson, Nigel Planer, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Peter Richardson, Robbie Coltrane, and Keith Allen.

* XMeetsY -- ''Detectives On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown'': TheSweeney Teams up with Series/DepartmentS, {{Spender}} and TheProfessionals to find out who is killing TV Cops.

* XMeetsY -- ''Detectives On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown'': TheSweeney Teams up with DepartmentS, {{Spender}} and TheProfessionals to find out who is killing TV Cops.

* RapeAsComedy (specifically DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale)

* RapeAsComedy (specifically RapeIsFunnyWhenItIsMaleOnMale)