British Comedy Trivia
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49 free British Comedy trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
British comedy has a habit of turning small things into national institutions: a bank manager with a platoon, a tailor's catchphrase, a tub of lard on a panel show, a radio game nobody can explain. Much of it was built on catchphrases, and much of the rest on characters who could not possibly exist yet somehow felt like your neighbours. These 49 questions range across seven decades: the classic sitcoms of the 1970s and 80s, the alternative wave that followed, sketch shows and their breakout characters, stand-up legends from Glasgow to Liverpool, panel games on television and radio, and the big-screen farces from Ealing to the 2000s. Every question carries a clue for the player who half-remembers, and every answer comes with the story behind it. It suits pub quiz rounds, family evenings and anyone who can still do the voices. Play on your phone with instant answers and explanations, or print it for the table.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Are You Being Served? menswear assistant, played by John Inman, answered every call with 'I'm free!'?
Mr Humphries
Mr Humphries' camp manner was reportedly modelled on someone John Inman had known in his window-dressing days.
Q 02Which fez-wearing magician-comedian collapsed and died on stage during ITV's Live from Her Majesty's in 1984?
Tommy Cooper
Tommy Cooper's fez began as a stand-in: performing in Cairo during the war, he had forgotten his pith helmet and borrowed one from a passing waiter.
Q 03Which conductor did Eric Morecambe grab by the lapels after being told he was playing 'all the wrong notes'?
André Previn
André Previn was introduced as 'Mr Andrew Preview' in the sketch, and decades later strangers in London would still shout 'Hey, Mr Preview' at him.
Q 04Which panel show replaced a no-show Roy Hattersley with a tub of lard in 1993?
Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You credited its stand-in as 'The Rt Hon Tub of Lard MP', after Hattersley had pulled out at the last minute three times.
Q 05Which Dad's Army character, the pompous bank manager played by Arthur Lowe, commands Walmington-on-Sea's platoon?
Captain Mainwaring
Captain Mainwaring appointed himself leader of the town's Local Defence Volunteers, in a show whose working title was The Fighting Tigers.
Q 06Which comedy team's 1975 episode 'Kung Fu Kapers' made a King's Lynn bricklayer laugh until his heart gave out?
The Goodies
The Goodies fan Alex Mitchell's laughing death was later linked to long QT syndrome, an inherited heart condition diagnosed in his granddaughter in 2012.
Q 07Which slapstick film star, the cloth-capped 'Gump' of 1950s Rank comedies, became a hero in Enver Hoxha's Albania?
Norman Wisdom
Norman Wisdom's films were among the few Western productions Hoxha's regime allowed, and when he later visited Albania he was mobbed by fans.
Q 08Which sketch series' schoolgirl Lauren, of 'Am I bovvered?' fame, sparred with Tony Blair himself on work experience?
The Catherine Tate Show
The Catherine Tate Show's 'bovvered' was named 2006's word of the year, and when Tate met the Queen as Lauren she asked, 'Is one bovvered?'
Q 09Alan Partridge named his spoof chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You, and his son Fernando, after songs by which group?
ABBA
ABBA are also the root of Alan Partridge's catchphrase 'Aha!', a tribute from a lifelong fan of the group.
Q 10Which Matt Lucas and David Walliams sketch show created chav Vicky Pollard and Daffyd, 'the only gay in the village'?
Little Britain
Little Britain was pulled from BBC iPlayer, Netflix and BritBox in June 2020 over its use of blackface.
Q 11Which Father Ted housekeeper, chanting 'go on, go on, go on', never takes no for an answer to a cup of tea?
Mrs Doyle
Mrs Doyle was devastated when Ted gave her an automated tea maker for Christmas, saying she liked the misery of making tea, and quietly sabotaged it.
Q 12Which Richard Curtis sitcom, born of the Church of England's 1993 move to ordain women, stars Geraldine Granger?
The Vicar of Dibley
The Vicar of Dibley's creators consulted Joy Carroll, one of the first female Anglican priests, who became the role model for Geraldine.
Q 13Which E4 sitcom follows Will, moved from private school after his parents' divorce, and mates Simon, Jay and Neil?
The Inbetweeners
Q 21In which 2007 Simon Pegg film is Nicholas Angel reassigned from London to the sleepy village of Sandford?
Hot Fuzz
Hot Fuzz turned Wells in Somerset into Sandford, with the city's famous cathedral digitally removed to keep a small-town feel.
Q 22Which 2001 film's casting of American Renée Zellweger as a quintessentially British heroine stirred controversy?
Bridget Jones's Diary
Bridget Jones's Diary's Renée Zellweger deliberately gained weight for the role, transforming herself into Bridget.
Q 23Which Roy Clarke sitcom's Hyacinth answers the phone 'The Bouquet residence, the lady of the house speaking'?
Keeping Up Appearances
The Inbetweeners was remade for American TV by MTV, which scrapped the remake after a single series.
Q 14Which Graham Linehan sitcom's Roy answers the phone with a recorded 'Have you tried turning it off and on again?'?
The IT Crowd
The IT Crowd's premiere drew a disappointing 1.8 million viewers, yet Linehan played the long game and the show ran for four series.
Q 15Which sitcom's café owner René Artois hides two British airmen and 'The Fallen Madonna' painting in occupied Nouvion?
'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo! was devised as a parody of Secret Army, a straight wartime drama about the Resistance.
Q 16Which Lisa McGee sitcom makes Michelle's English cousin James the first boy at Our Lady Immaculate College?
Derry Girls
Derry Girls sends James to the girls' school over fears his English accent would cause trouble at the boys' school, and a mural of its characters now draws tourists to Derry.
Q 17Which charity, founded in 1985 in response to the Ethiopian famine, stages the Red Nose Day telethon every March?
Comic Relief
Comic Relief was launched live on BBC1 on Christmas Day 1985, broadcast from a refugee camp in Sudan.
Q 18Which comedian's TV show typically ended with a sped-up chase set to Boots Randolph's 'Yakety Sax'?
Benny Hill
Benny Hill's show was a long-running ratings hit for Thames, yet the company axed it in 1989 as audiences fell and costs soared.
Q 19Which panel show, hosted by Stephen Fry then Sandi Toksvig, names each series after the next letter of the alphabet?
QI
QI gives points not only for correct answers but for interesting ones, true to its belief that everything is interesting if you look at it the right way.
Q 20Which Greg Davies-fronted comedy show began at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe?
Taskmaster
Taskmaster's creator appears on screen as Greg Davies's assistant rather than as the Taskmaster himself.
Keeping Up Appearances' Bucket-or-Bouquet joke came from Roy Clarke meeting people surnamed Bottom who insisted it was pronounced 'Bo-tome'.
Q 24Which anarchic 1982 sitcom follows Scumbag College students Rick, Vyvyan, Neil and Mike in a squalid shared house?
The Young Ones
The Young Ones featured a live band in almost every episode, so the BBC classed it as variety and gave it a bigger budget than a sitcom.
Q 25Which Glasgow comedian played banjo beside Gerry Rafferty in the Humblebums before turning to stand-up?
Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly's national fame arrived in 1975, when he told a famously bawdy joke on Michael Parkinson's chat show.
Q 26Which 1988 John Cleese heist comedy won Kevin Kline a supporting-actor Oscar as the Anglophobe weapons expert Otto?
A Fish Called Wanda
A Fish Called Wanda's four stars, Cleese, Curtis, Kline and Palin, reunited in 1997 for its spiritual successor, Fierce Creatures.
Q 27Which foul-mouthed Number 10 enforcer, played by Peter Capaldi in The Thick of It, terrorises the ministers of DoSAC?
Malcolm Tucker
Malcolm Tucker is widely compared to Alastair Campbell, yet Peter Capaldi has insisted the character was not based on Tony Blair's spin doctor.
Q 28Which Absolutely Fabulous fashion director, Edina's best friend, claims not to have eaten anything since 1973?
Patsy Stone
Patsy Stone's Joanna Lumley almost quit before the pilot, ringing her agent after an awkward read-through to ask to be pulled out.
Q 29Which Netflix comedy-drama stars Ricky Gervais as Tony Johnson, a suicidal widowed reporter on the Tambury Gazette?
After Life
After Life's graveside bench scenes inspired Netflix to install benches from the show in towns around the UK.
Q 30Which Bain and Armstrong sitcom cast David Mitchell and Robert Webb as dysfunctional flatmates Mark and Jeremy?
Peep Show
Peep Show drew just 1.3 million viewers a week for its third series, but strong DVD sales persuaded Channel 4 to keep recommissioning it.