One of the prevailing memories of my childhood is consuming a bowl of soup at the kitchen table to the ever-so-slightly fuzzy sound of the whistle and cheering crowd of Just A Minute, the Radio 4 show that began in 1967 and continues today. My parent’s raucous laughter would frequently obscure the next joke.
The comedy panel show is an indisputably British institution. Though panel shows actually originated in the US (the first known TV version was Play the Game, based on charades, in 1946), single-host chat shows have overtaken them in popularity (The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon enjoy widespread cultural influence across the Atlantic). Just as the patter of Radio 4 is a common reference point for middle-class childhoods across the UK, so, too, is the comedy panel show, which prevails in numerous iterations across radio and television.
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