RTÉ/BAI’s Comedy Showhouse 2017 – 2020

Between 2017 and 2020, Sideline emerged as Ireland’s biggest independent radio comedy producer, with RTÉ broadcasting an average of 24 x 30-minute shows every year.

NB – RTE’s Comedy Showhouse (CS) was 80% funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), now Coimisiún na Meán, and gave a platform to Sean Hughes, Foil Arms & Hog, Deirdre O’Kane, Fiona Looney, Sharon Mannion, Andrew Maxwell, Karl Spain, Al Porter, Barry Murphy, Tara Flynn, Alison Spittle, Gearoid Farrelly, Eleanor Tiernan, Katherine Lynch, Rose Henderson, Colm O’Regan, Fred Cooke. The Nualas, John Colleary and many more.

It was often the act’s first appearance on RTÉ radio, and future award-winning screenwriters Patricia Kelly and Sarah-Jane Scott received their first-ever broadcast credit. It seemed like a no-brainer but …

… since Comedy Showhouse ended in 2020, there has been NO radio comedy on the Irish national radio broadcaster.

Throughout its broadcasting life, BBC Radio (again funded by the licence payer) recognised that its audio arm was a strategic and cost-effective way to grow new talent – and boost their comedy-writing muscles – before promoting them to TV. Comedy formats and scripts are tweaked without huge cost and a fresh broad range of comedy talent is invested in. Mistakes made, lessons learnt and new shows trialled without the glaring costs of TV. Of course there are some comedy writers who ONLY want to write for and perform on radio – but for others, the BBC provided a learning curve for TV comedy writers, sound designers, script editors and producers to hone their skills and utilise its radio arm to both develop new talent and new shows in a cost-effective process that has paid rich dividends.

e.g. The Goon Show (Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, and Harry Secombe) began on BBC radio; (Tony) Hancock’s Half Hour, the iconic BBC TV sitcom, found its legs on radio; Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge introduced Steve Coogan to the world; Little Britain was hothoused on BBC Radio 4 before moving to TV; and The Mighty Boosh – where Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding developed their distinct style – again was on BBC radio before landing a critically acclaimed TV series.

Does anything similar exist between RTE radio and TV? Or are both sides of the national broadcaster separate from each other?

Asking for a friend. Many friends.