British Comedy Guide or BCG (formerly the British Sitcom Guide or BSG) is a British website covering British comedies. BCG publishes guides to TV and radio situation comedy, sketch shows, comedy dramas, satire, variety and panel games. The website also runs The Comedy.co.uk Awards and hosts multiple podcast series.
Reportedly, British Comedy Guide attracts over 500,000 unique visitors a month, making it Britain's most-visited comedy-related reference website.
Background
The website was founded in August 2003 initially as the British Sitcom Guide (BSG), a website focused on British sitcom TV programmes. The website was created by Mark Boosey, a freelance web developer, originally as a hobby. However, in 2008, the remit of the website was relaunched as British Comedy Guide. Other features added since the site's re-launch in 2008 include a series of podcasts, a section featuring interviews with people working in the British comedy industry, and a Twitter-based news service.
The website went through another relaunch in 2016, where it underwent a redesign of the layout and a new logo which depicts a yellow crown on the word 'Guide'.
In 2015, BCG's data specialist Ian Wolf was awarded the inaugural "Unsung Hero" at the first FringePig Ham Fist awards for his work collating reviews during that year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Key people Ref Joined Person Job Title(s) 2003 Mark Boosey Site Editor 2005 Aaron Brown Note 2006 Ian Dunn (aka Ian Wolf) Data Specialist 2009 Si Hawkins Regular Columnist2026Tim DawsonEditor, BCG pro
Podcasts BCG hosts multiple podcasts, some of which have gone on to win awards. As It Occurs to Me was nominated for a Sony Radio Academy Award in 2010, Do the Right Thing won the Bronze Sony Award for "Best Internet Programme" in 2012, Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown won at the 2012 Loaded Lafta Awards for "Best Podcast", and Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast won the Bronze Sony Radio Award for comedy in 2013.
In June 2013, an episode of Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast saw host Richard Herring interviewing Stephen Fry, in which Fry revealed that he had attempted to commit suicide. The story has been reported in the BBC and Sky News.
The podcasts hosted by BCG are:
Name Year The Collings and Herrin Podcast 2008–2011 Richard Herring: As It Occurs to Me 2009–2011 What Are You Laughing At? 2011–2014 Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast 2011–present Me1 vs Me2 Snooker with Richard Herring 2011–present Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown 2011–present Do the Right Thing 2011–2019 Talking Cock with Richard Herring 2012–2013 Live from Kirrin Island 2012–2015 Mat Ricardo's London Varieties 2012–2013 No Pressure to Be Funny 2011–2015 Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast 2012–present The John Dredge Nothing to Do with Anything Show 2013–2020 The Comedian's Comedian with Stuart Goldsmith 2013–present Richard Herring: We're All Going to Die 2013 Margaret Thatcher Queen of Podcasts 2015 Sitcom Geeks 2015–2023 My Dad Wrote a Porno 2015–2022 ManBuyCow 2015–present Richard Herring: Happy Now? 2016 Isy Suttie's The Things We Do for Love 2016–present The Adventures of Grett Binchleaf 2016–present Hayley & Ruth: Two Stars 2016–present
See also Chortle (live comedy in the UK)
References
External links