United in Laughter Trivia Quiz

Answer: Polly, the chambermaid

Cleese's cowriter was Connie Booth, who portrayed Polly Sherman, chambermaid, waitress and polyglot. Booth and Cleese were married at the time (they divorced in 1978). The show aired on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979 - each of the two seasons had six episodes. It was the BBC's most successful overseas program in the years between the two seasons. Multiple American-ized versions were attempted, none of them successful. One, with America's sweetheart Betty White, was never produced. "Amanda's", which had 10 episodes, aired out of 13 produced and flipped the genders, with Bea Arthur in the acerbic hotel manager role. "Payne" enlisted John Larroquette in the lead role in 1999, but flopped after 8 episodes aired.

Player pusdoc of Phoenix Rising's Red Crew owns the original on DVD and VHS.

Answer: Richard IV

Airing in 1983 on BBC One, "The Black Adder" follows the premise that Richard III survived on Bosworth Field, only to be assassinated (accidentally) by Edmund, second son of the now Richard IV, one of the princes in the tower. Edmund, of course, is the hapless soul (portrayed by Rowan Atkinson) who adopts the nickname "The Black Adder." He and his trusty servant Baldrick undertake several escapades in a quest to impress his father and hopefully gain the throne. Subsequent seasons in the series moved to other historic eras, with Edmund supposedly a future descendent of the original. Four seasons of six episodes plus several specials aired, and are available on VHS and DVD as well as streaming sites. The poignant final episode of "Blackadder Goes Forth," set in the trenches of World War I, is a perennial posting on social media, especially close to Armistice Day.

Player pusdoc of Phoenix Rising's Red Crew recorded this question with more historical veracity than the show.

Answer: Stan, Jack and Blakey

Reg Varney is Stan Butler, a good-natured but lazy bus driver for the Luxton and District Motor Traction Company. His conductor, Jack Harper is even more work-shy, he is also the depot shop steward. Stephen Lewis is the hapless Inspector Blake (Blakey) charged with keeping the buses on time and seeking efficiencies in the timetable.

Stan lives with his mum Mabel (Doris Hare), sister Olive (Anna Karen) and stuck-up brother-in-law Arthur ( Michael Robbins). Plots revolve around; finding ways to get out of work, womanising, and Stan trying to solve his family's problems. The comedy was filled with bawdy humour rooted in its working-class background.

Audiences loved it, but critics panned it. The humour reflected the era it was made: many occasions of sexism that were rife late 1960s and early 1970s, the period between the freedoms of sexual liberation, but prior to the rise of feminism. The frequent derision of female characters for being unattractive and the praise of much younger attractive females appealing to the middle-aged leads would be considered unacceptable storylines in contemporaneous society.

Question was driven into the quiz by Phoenix Rising's 1nn1.

Answer: Richard Briers

The British sitcom "The Good Life" was written for Richard Briers by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey. Mr. Briers starred as Tom Good, Felicity Kendal played his wife, Barbara Good and Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington took the roles as the next-door neighbors, Margo and Jerry Leadbetter. The show's inspiration was reportedly due to Mr. Larbey's milestone 40th birthday.

The opening episode set the stage for the show. Briers' character, Tom, had a mid-life evaluation on his 40th birthday. With the support of his wife Felicity, he left his meaningless job and began a self-sufficient lifestyle. The remaining episodes show the fun and hard work of self-sufficiency with farm animals, clothes making, and gardening. They also add homemade wine to the mix with comedic results.

Jaknginger of Phoenix Rising added this question to the team quiz.

Answer: Craggy Island

Craggy Island was the fictional setting for the series "Father Ted". It was a small island said to be off the coast of Ireland. Father Ted, Father McGuire, and Father Hackett had been banished to Craggy Island by Bishop Brennan. Their housekeeper was Mrs. Doyle. The other people on the island were Irish citizens, a community of Chinese, and one Maori.

Dermot Morgan starred as Father Ted. He was banished for stealing money from a child's fund. Ardal O'Hanlon played the role of Father Dougal McGuire who was sent to Craggy for what was known as the "Blackrock incident". Father Jack Hackett was played by Frank Kelly. Father Frank was an alcoholic, foul-mouthed womanizer.
"Father Ted" won two "Best Comedy Series" honors from the British Academy Television Awards. The series first aired in April 1995 and the last episode was May 1, 1998.

Phoenix Rising's jaknginger added this question to the team quiz.

Answer: Scutters

"Red Dwarf" is a cult British comedy that ran from 1988 to 2020. "Red Dwarf" referred to the mining ship that suffered a radiation leak that killed everyone on board except for Dave Lister (Craig Charles), a lowly technician who had been sentenced to a period of suspended animation due to him smuggling aboard a pregnant cat named Frankenstein. Once the danger of radiation had passed - 3 million years later- he is released but finds himself the only human alive. The onboard computer Holly (Norman Lovett) generates a holographic companion, Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie), Lister's previous superior and bunkmate. Rimmer is an insufferable, rule-bound character who clashes with Lister's laid-back, lazy personality. Also present is Cat (Danny John-Jules), a creature evolved from Lister's cat, Frankenstein. Cat is a self-absorbed, image obsessed humanoid who displays many cat-like mannerisms.

The skutters are maintenance robots, small dog sized droids with claw shaped heads, that roam the ship fixing things. There are supposedly numerous but they seem to roam in pairs, so you only ever see two. They display some quite cheeky behaviours and help Lister in his quest to keep annoying Rimmer.

In series two, Kryten (Robert Llewellyn), a humanoid sanitation android, is introduced. He is encouraged by Lister to rebel and break out of his service programming and live life to the full.

Red Crew's smpdit enjoys goldfish nibbling at her toes in the sun, sun, sun.

Answer: Bubble

"Absolutely Fabulous" followed the life of PR agent Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders), a drug and drink using attention seeker navigating the fashion world with her equally appalling best friend Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley). Reliant on her daughter Saffron (Julia Sawalha) to get through daily life, and frequent appearances by her dotty mother (June Whitfield). Jane Horrocks, as brainless Bubble completes the core cast.

Written by Saunders, the show ran from 1992 to 1996 and was revived in 2001 to 2004 and there were also 20th anniversary episodes that aired in 2011 to 2012. Jennifer Saunders has since stated she has no plans to write any more episodes.

Red Crew's smpdit's wheel was on fire, rolling down the road as she revisited this classic.

Answer: "The Young Ones"

"The Young Ones", which first aired in 1982, featured four University students who share a squalid house. The other core character is their rather strange landlord. A total of 12 episodes were produced for the two seasons, which aired in 1982 and 1984.

Most of the stars of the show, namely Adrian Edmonson (Vyvyan the punk), Rik Mayall (Rick the anarchist), Nigel Planer (Neil the hippie) and Alexei Sayle (Jerzei, their faux-Russian landlord) all worked together on the London Comedy circuit, along with Ben Elton. Fellow comedian Peter Richardson, was initially cast as Mike (the seemingly sensible one), but he left the group and was replaced by Christopher Ryan, the only non-comedian in the group.

The theme song "The Young Ones" was performed by Cliff Richard and the Shadows, and he is mentioned regularly in the series by Rick, who is a fan. Each episode, barring "Flood" (season 1 episode 6) contained a musical interlude where a musical group performed live inside the house or on the street, but was totally ignored by the rest of the cast. "Flood" featured a lion tamer instead.

Many famous British comedians appeared on the show, with the episode "Bambi" (season 2 episode 1) featured Robbie Coltrane, Hugh Laurie, Ben Elton, Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson.

Red Crew's leith90 came back from a Summer Holiday to sort this question.

Answer: "Little Britain"

Written and performed by Matt Lucas and David Walliams, "Little Britain" is a television series of comedy sketches which ran from 2003 to 2007. Initially the show aired on BBC Radio 4 in 2000, as two seasons of four episodes each, and continued until 2002. It then expanded to television in 2003.

The sketches revolve around everyday life in Britain, but as exaggerated parodies of people in various walks of life. Lucas and Walliams play the main recurring characters, and each sketch begins with a voice-over by narrator Tom Baker of "Dr Who" fame. Recurring characters such as Daffyd "The only gay in the village" Thomas, Vicky Pollard, a lower-class 'chav' and Andy Pipkin, who pretends to need a wheelchair are all portrayed by Matt Lucas. Pipkin's carer, the gullible Lou Todd, and Sebastian Love, infatuated aide de camp to the British PM are played by David Walliams.

Spin-offs include a Christmas special, several episodes for "Comic Relief", a live show and six episodes set in the USA (dubbed "Little Britain" Series 4).
As popular as the series was, it soon garnered heavy criticism as many thought the comedy was cruel, particularly to the disabled and transgender populations, misogynistic and encouraged copy-cat behaviour in schools.

Phoenix Rising's leith90, who is embarrassed to admit to watching this show in the past, was happy to dress up this question for the quiz

Answer: Bernard Woolley

"Yes, Minister" is the tale of the newly-elected minister career of Jim Hacker who struggles to devise and implement policy and government reforms which are actively opposed by the British Civil Service, in particular his Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby, who is determined to preserve the status quo. Hacker's Principal Private Secretary Bernard Woolley, played by Derek Fowlds, is nearly always caught between the two. His loyalties are split between his Minister and his Civil Service supervisor, Sir Humphrey. He is accountable to Hacker but in practice, it is Sir Humphrey who writes his performance reviews and coerces him into toeing the corporate line. Bernard represents the common sense everyman.

Question contributed by Phoenix Rising civil servant 1nn1.