{{Short description|Website covering British comedy}} {{Use British English|date=March 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}} {{Infobox website | name = British Comedy Guide | logo = BCG 2016 Logo.jpg | screenshot = British Comedy Guide 2015.jpg | caption = Screenshot of the BCG homepage on 15 January 2016 | url = {{URL|http://www.comedy.co.uk/|comedy.co.uk}} | type = TV, radio, and film guide of British comedy | registration = Required to post (free) | owner = Mark Boosey and Aaron Brown | launch_date = August 2003 | current_status = Active }}
'''British Comedy Guide''' or '''BCG''' (formerly the '''British Sitcom Guide''' or '''BSG''') is a British website covering British comedies.<ref name="About">{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/about/|title=About the British Comedy Guide|publisher=British Comedy Guide|access-date=3 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://listorious.com/UKComedyNews |title=British Comedy Guide on Listorious |access-date=2010-02-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100918231852/http://listorious.com/UKComedyNews |archive-date=2010-09-18 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.suchsmallportions.com/person/mark-boosey|title=Mark Boosey|work=Such Small Portions |date=25 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160814214200/http://www.suchsmallportions.com/person/mark-boosey|archive-date=14 August 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Background== thumb|The logo for the British Comedy Guide between 11 May 2009 and 1 January 2011 thumb|The BCG logo between 2 January 2011 and 15 January 2016
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.<ref name="About"/> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/fringe/2015/features/fringe_pig_ham_fist_awards_2015/ |title=Inaugural FringePig Ham Fist Prize Winners Announced|publisher=British Comedy Guide|date=1 September 2015|access-date=23 November 2015}}</ref>
== Key people == {| class="wikitable" |- ! style="background-color: #6699CC" width=5% | Ref ! style="background-color: #6699CC" width=10% | Joined ! style="background-color: #6699CC" width=40% | Person ! style="background-color: #6699CC" | Job Title(s) |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | |<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/profile/mark/|title=Mark|publisher=British Comedy Guide|access-date=2 September 2009}}</ref> || 2003 || Mark Boosey || Site Editor |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | |<ref>{{cite web|last=Brown|first=Aaron|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/profile/aaron/|title=Aaron Brown|publisher=British Comedy Guide|access-date=9 July 2011}}</ref> || 2005 || Aaron Brown || Note |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | |<ref>{{cite web|last=Wolf|first=Ian|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/profile/ian_wolf|title=Ian Wolf|publisher=British Comedy Guide|access-date=2 September 2009}}</ref> || 2006 || Ian Dunn (aka Ian Wolf) || Data Specialist |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | |<ref>{{cite web|last=Hawkins|first=Si|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/live/circuit_training/|title=Circuit Training|publisher=British Comedy Guide|access-date=2 September 2009}}</ref> || 2009 || Si Hawkins || Regular Columnist |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | |<ref>{{Cite web |last=Guide |first=British Comedy |title=Tim Dawson |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/tim_dawson/ |access-date=2026-03-03 |website=British Comedy Guide |language=en}}</ref> |2026 |Tim Dawson |Editor, 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,<ref name="Sony">{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/news/story/00000279/sony_radio_awards_2010_nominees/|title=Sony Radio Award nominees announced|publisher=British Comedy Guide|date=6 April 2010|access-date=7 April 2010}}</ref> ''Do the Right Thing'' won the Bronze Sony Award for "Best Internet Programme" in 2012,<ref name="Internet Award">{{cite web|url=http://www.radioacademyawards.org/winners/2012/programme-awards/best-internet-programme/|title=Sony Radio Academy Award 2012: Best Internet Programme|publisher=Sony Radio Academy Awards|access-date=18 June 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224212911/http://www.radioacademyawards.org/winners/2012/programme-awards/best-internet-programme/|archive-date=24 December 2013}}</ref> ''Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown'' won at the 2012 Loaded Lafta Awards for "Best Podcast",<ref name="Loaded">{{cite news|last=Mann|first=Andrea|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/02/09/laftas-loaded-comedy-awards_n_1264817.html|title=The Laftas 2012: Who Won What At Loaded Magazine's Comedy Awards|work=The Huffington Post|date=9 February 2012|access-date=18 June 2013}}</ref> and ''Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast'' won the Bronze Sony Radio Award for comedy in 2013.<ref name="Sony Radio Academy Awards">{{cite web|url=http://www.radioacademyawards.org/winners/index.cfm?winners_year=2013&winners_award_group_id=4&winners_award_category_id=35|title=Sony Radio Academy Award 2013: Best Comedy|publisher=Sony Radio Academy Awards|access-date=12 June 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608134525/http://www.radioacademyawards.org/winners/index.cfm?winners_year=2013|archive-date=8 June 2013}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22782913|title=Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012 |publisher=BBC News|date=6 June 2013|access-date=12 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.sky.com/story/1099914/stephen-fry-reveals-2012-suicide-attempt|title=Stephen Fry Reveals 2012 Suicide Attempt|publisher=Sky News|date=6 June 2013|access-date=12 June 2013}}</ref>
The podcasts hosted by BCG are:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/podcasts/|title=Podcasts|publisher=British Comedy Guide|access-date=18 June 2013}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" |- ! style="background-color: #6699CC" width=75% | Name ! style="background-color: #6699CC" width=25% | Year |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | ''The Collings and Herrin Podcast'' || 2008–2011 |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | ''Richard Herring: As It Occurs to Me'' || 2009–2011 |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | ''What Are You Laughing At?'' || 2011–2014 |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | ''Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast'' || 2011–present |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | ''Me1 vs Me2 Snooker with Richard Herring'' || 2011–present |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | ''Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown'' || 2011–present |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | ''Do the Right Thing'' || 2011–2019 |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | ''Talking Cock with Richard Herring'' || 2012–2013 |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | ''Live from Kirrin Island'' || 2012–2015 |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | ''Mat Ricardo's London Varieties'' || 2012–2013 |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | ''No Pressure to Be Funny'' || 2011–2015 |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | ''Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast'' || 2012–present |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | ''The John Dredge Nothing to Do with Anything Show'' || 2013–2020 |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | ''The Comedian's Comedian with Stuart Goldsmith'' || 2013–present |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | ''Richard Herring: We're All Going to Die'' || 2013 |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | ''Margaret Thatcher Queen of Podcasts'' || 2015 |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | ''Sitcom Geeks'' || 2015–2023 |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | ''My Dad Wrote a Porno'' || 2015–2022 |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | ''ManBuyCow'' || 2015–present |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | ''Richard Herring: Happy Now?'' || 2016 |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | ''Isy Suttie's The Things We Do for Love'' || 2016–present |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | ''The Adventures of Grett Binchleaf'' || 2016–present |- style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | ''Hayley & Ruth: Two Stars'' || 2016–present |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | |}
==See also== *Chortle (live comedy in the UK)
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{Official website| http://www.comedy.co.uk/}}
Category:2003 establishments in the United Kingdom Category:British comedy websites Category:Internet properties established in 2003