''School of Comedy'' is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

character-based comedy

sketch show Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

which was turned into a television show after a successful run of review shows at the

Edinburgh festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

.Interview with Laura Lawson
. E4 Website. Retrieved on 16 June 2013. The cast was entirely made up from members of the after-school drama club of

The Harrodian School The Harrodian School is an independent day school in Barnes, South-west London. Formerly the site of Harrods Sports Club, the original premises have been extended and converted for educational purposes. The school opened in September 1993 with ...

in London, run by teacher Laura Lawson.Interview with Laura Lawson, Will Poulter & Beth Rylance
The show comprised sketches involving a very diverse group of characters; from a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

couple in 1940s war-time Britain, to a pair of South-African security guards. The show is different from other comedy sketch shows because even though the show's content is mature enough to need to be shown after the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

, the roles were all played by school-aged performers. The show ran for two series on E4 from 1 October 2009 to 18 October 2010. The show has been credited with starting the careers of

Will Poulter William Jack Poulter (born 28 January 1993) is a British actor. He first gained recognition for his role as Eustace Scrubb in the fantasy adventure film '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'' (2010). He received critical ...

Charlie Wernham Charlie Wernham (born 3 October 1994) is an English comedian and actor who is known for auditioning on the second series of the ITV talent show ''Britain's Got Talent'' and for his role as Robbie Roscoe in ''Hollyoaks''. He also played Mitch ...

and

Jack Harries JacksGap is a British inactive YouTube channel which is owned by identical twins Jackson Frayn "Jack" Harries and Finnegan Charles Frayn "Finn" Harries (born 13 May 1993). Originally created by Jack Harries to document his gap year in mid-2011, th ...

. Poulter has gone on to star in films such as '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'' and ''

We're the Millers ''We're the Millers'' is a 2013 American crime comedy film directed by Rawson M. Thurber and starring Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, Will Poulter, Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, Molly Quinn, and Ed Helms. The film's screenplay w ...

'', while Harries went on to start a

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channel named "JacksGap", which had over 4 million subscribers and made Harries both well-known and popular on the internet. Wernham has gone on to play parts in ''Bad Education'', ''Some Girls'' and ''

The Inbetweeners ''The Inbetweeners'' is a British coming-of-age television teen sitcom, which originally aired on E4 from 2008 until 2010 and was created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris. The series follows the misadventures of suburban teenager ...

'', and Robbie Roscoe in ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

''. Beth Rylance has since had a lead role in ''

The Ministry of Curious Stuff ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' and has had various guest and advertising roles.

Cast / Character(s)

*Africa NileSchool of Comedy - Production Details
British Comedy Guide. (2008) *Lilly Lucia Ainsworth *Ella Ainsworth *Grace Vance *Max Langdale Brown *Joe Taylor *Hector McCormick *

*Evie Henderson *Arthur Sturridge *Olivia Archer-Deakin *Lacey-Ann Walsh *Finn Harries

References

External links

*
''School of Comedy''
at E4.com
''School of Comedy''
The actual 'School of Comedy' in London *{{British Comedy Guide, tv, school_of_comedy
''School of Comedy'' stage clip from ''Comedy Shuffle''
on BBC YouTube channel *Matthewman, Scott (25 August 2010).

. The Stage Online. Retrieved on 26 August 2010. 2009 British television series debuts 2010 British television series endings 2000s British television sketch shows 2010s British television sketch shows E4 sketch shows Television series by Left Bank Pictures