Serious About Comedy was a British comedy discussion show on the digital radio station BBC7, hosted by Robin Ince (with two episodes guest hosted by Kevin Day in series three, and one by Justin Moorhouse in series five). It was broadcast at 08:30 and 22:00 on Fridays, and 03:00 on Saturdays, in series of 12 editions long. It started on 12 August 2005. The second series started on 10 February 2006. The third series started on 18 August 2006 and ended on 2 November. Series four started on 16 February 2007 and series five on 24 August 2007, with the last ever edition being broadcast on 9 November 2007.
On each show, guests from the comedy world, such as comedians, comedy writers and critics talked about what was going on in comedy that week. They reviewed shows on television, radio and new DVD and Audio releases.
Listeners could also contact the show to voice their opinions via the programme's website. Each week, some emails and posts on the BBC7 messageboard were read out by Ince. Also, members of the public could send in their own comedy recommendations. Several times, no-one sent in any recommendations, so they asked one of the Serious About Comedy staff to give theirs instead; this feature was dropped in the fifth (and final) series.
| 01 | 01 | 12 August 2005 | Robin Ince | The Ape That Got Lucky, How to Start Your Own Country, & Terry and June | Bruce Dessau, Stewart Lee, & Sue Perkins | |
| 02 | 19 August 2005 | Robin Ince | Bromwell High, & Bearded Ladies (radio show) | Natalie Haynes, Stephanie Merritt, & Dan Tetsell | ||
| 03 | 26 August 2005 | Robin Ince | Meet the Magoons, & Flight of the Conchords (radio series) | Steve Bennett, Neil Edmond, & Will Smith (comedian) | ||
| 04 | 02 September 2005 | Robin Ince | The Green Green Grass, & Still Game | Andrew Collins (broadcaster), Stephanie Merritt, & Joel Morris | ||
| 05 | 09 September 2005 | Robin Ince | Popetown, Quote... Unquote, & Nighty Night | Stephen Armstrong, Alun Cochrane, & Kevin Day | ||
| 06 | 16 September 2005 | Robin Ince | Tittybangbang, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, & Old Harry's Game | Bruce Dessau, Natalie Haynes, & Richard Herring | ||
| 07 | 23 September 2005 | Robin Ince | Dead Ringers (series), Bremner, Bird and Fortune, & Curb Your Enthusiasm | Hils Barker, Mitch Benn, & Dominic Maxwell | ||
| 08 | 30 September 2005 | Robin Ince | Spoons (TV series), Early Doors, & Miles Jupp's Real World | Julian Hall, Joel Morris, & Mark Watson | ||
| 09 | 07 October 2005 | Robin Ince | Love Soup, The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, & Paperback Hell | Steve Bennett, Alun Cochrane, & Chris Neill | ||
| 10 | 14 October 2005 | Robin Ince | Blessed (TV series), The Consultants, & The Complete Talking Heads (British TV series) | Stephen Armstrong, Andrew Collins, & Natalie Haynes | ||
| 11 | 21 October 2005 | Robin Ince | Stewart Lee Stand-Up Comedian, Genius (radio series), & The Thick of It | Justin Edwards (actor), Dominic Maxwell, & (not) Jon Holmes (booked but did not turn up) | ||
| 12 | 28 October 2005 | Robin Ince | Extras (TV series), The Daily Show, & Serious About Comedy | Alun Cochrane, Laurence Howarth, Roger Jenkins, & Stephanie Merritt | ||
| 02 | 01 | 10 February 2006 | Robin Ince | The IT Crowd, The Aristocrats (film), & Chain Reaction (radio programme) | Natalie Haynes, Dominic Maxwell, & Sue Perkins | |
| 02 | 17 February 2006 | Robin Ince | The Art of Harold Lloyd, Nebulous, & Stupid! | Steve Bennett, Phil Kay, & Howard Read | ||
| 03 | 24 February 2006 | Robin Ince | The Powder Room, Snuff Box (TV series), & The Mitchell and Webb Situation | Dick Fiddy, Stephanie Merritt, & James Rawlings | ||
| 04 | 03 March 2006 | Robin Ince | The Burkiss Way, May Contain Nuts, & My Family | Neil Edmond, Julian Hall, & Natalie Haynes | ||
| 05 | 10 March 2006 | Robin Ince | Ideal (TV series), King of the Hill, & Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! | Stephen Armstrong, Hils Barker, & Kevin Day | ||
| 06 | 17 March 2006 | Robin Ince | Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, Ayres On The Air, & Thin Ice | Bruce Dessau, Janey Godley, & Bruce Morton (comedian) | ||
| 07 | 24 March 2006 | Robin Ince | John Shuttleworth's Open Mind, Everybody Hates Chris, & Nightingales (British TV series) | Richard Herring, Jon Holmes, & Dominic Maxwell | ||
| 08 | 31 March 2006 | Robin Ince | Green Wing, A Bit of Fry & Laurie, & Political Animal (radio show) | Dick Fiddy, Natalie Haynes, & Chris Neill | ||
| 09 | 07 April 2006 | Robin Ince | Rob Newman's History of Oil, The Office (American TV series), & The Lee Mack Show | Stephen Armstrong, Laurence Howarth, & Sue Perkins | ||
| 10 | 14 April 2006 | Robin Ince | Bill Hicks Sane Man, My Name Is Earl, & Graham Chapman Another Brown Trouser Job | Bruce Dessau, Joel Morris, & Ged Parsons | ||
| 11 | 21 April 2006 | Robin Ince | No Commitments, Suburban Shootout, & American Dad! | Dominic Cavendish, Stewart Lee, & Dan Tetsell | ||
| 12 | 28 April 2006 | Robin Ince | Revolting People, Home Again (TV series), & Hoffnung at Large | Ed Byrne (comedian), Stephanie Merritt, & Danny Wallace (humorist) | ||
| 03 | 01 | 18 August 2006 | Robin Ince | You'll Have Had Your Tea, & Little Miss Jocelyn | Kate Copstick, Boothby Graffoe (comedian), & Karen Dunbar | |
| 02 | 25 August 2006 | Robin Ince | 15 Minute Musical, & Jammin' (radio programme) | Stephen Armstrong, Natalie Haynes, & Danny Robins | ||
| 03 | 01 September 2006 | Robin Ince | Grownups (2006 TV series), Respectable (TV series), & Not Today, Thank You | Laurence Howarth, Stephanie Merritt, & Chris Neill | ||
| 04 | 08 September 2006 | Kevin Day | Little Britain (TV series), That Mitchell and Webb Look, & 1966 and All That (radio) | Hils Barker, William Cook, & Dan Tetsel | ||
| 05 | 15 September 2006 | Kevin Day | Confetti (2006 film), The News Quiz, & Star Stories | Steve Punt, Dominic Maxwell, & Oriane Messina | ||
| 06 | 22 September 2006 | Robin Ince | Denis Leary Live, The World of Karl Pilkington, & The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists | Dick Fiddy, Josie Long, & Ben Moor (writer) | ||
| 07 | 29 September 2006 | Robin Ince | Undone (radio series), The Phil Silvers Show (aka Sgt Bilko), & The Ren & Stimpy Show | Julian Hall, Natalie Haynes, & Ewen MacIntosh | ||
| 08 | 06 October 2006 | Robin Ince | Not Going Out, & The Hollow Men | Marissa Burgess, Toby Foster, & Roger Monkhouse | ||
| 09 | 13 October 2006 | Robin Ince | Lead Balloon, & Erik the Viking | Dan Evans, Stephanie Merritt, & Sue Perkins | ||
| 10 | 20 October 2006 | Robin Ince | Live!Girls! present Dogtown, Man to Man with Dean Learner, & Bo' in the USA | Andrew Collins, Dominic Maxwell, & Henry Naylor | ||
| 11 | 27 October 2006 | Robin Ince | The Manchester Comedy Festival, The Party Line (radio), & Fear, Stress & Anger | Marissa Burgess, Toby Hadoke, & Mick Miller (comedian) | ||
| 12 | 03 November 2006 | Robin Ince | The Catherine Tate Show, The Scanner, & Police Squad! | Dominic Cavendish, Sarah Kendall, & Mark Watson | ||
| 04 | 01 | 16 February 2007 | Robin Ince | 15 Storeys High, Balls of Steel (TV series), & Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better | Lucy Porter, Andrew Marshall (screenwriter), & Kevin Day | |
| 02 | 23 February 2007 | Robin Ince | Waiting for God (TV series), The Lawrence Sweeney Mix, & Saturday Night Live | Stephanie Merritt, Danny Robins, & Andrew Collins | ||
| 03 | 02 March 2007 | Robin Ince | Borat, The Charlotte Church Show, & Tight Spot | Stephen Merchant, Jason Byrne (comedian), & William Cook | ||
| 04 | 09 March 2007 | Robin Ince | Masters of Comedy, Witty and Twisted, & Kombat Opera Presents | Kate Copstick, Neil Edmond, & Steve Furst | ||
| 05 | 16 March 2007 | Robin Ince | Idiocracy, Red Nose Day, & Shelley (TV series) | Simon Munnery, David Reed (comedian), & Tommy Shepherd | ||
| 06 | 23 March 2007 | Robin Ince | The Goodies (TV series), Rush Hour (British TV series), & The Arts and How They Was Done | Stewart Lee, Chris Neill, & Dominic Maxwell | ||
| 07 | 30 March 2007 | Robin Ince | Extras (TV series), The Most Hated Family in America (Louis Theroux), & Mark Thomas: My Life in Serious Organised Crime | Sue Perkins, Dominic Cavendish, and Scott Capurro | ||
| 08 | 06 April 2007 | Robin Ince | Victoria Wood, All Bar Luke, & Best of Pete and Dud | Julian Hall, Orianne Messina, & Justin Edwards | ||
| 09 | 13 April 2007 | Robin Ince | Ruddy Hell, It's Harry & Paul!, Saturday Live (British TV programme), & Get a Grip (TV series) | Gillian Reynolds, Stewart Lee, & Paul Sinha | ||
| 10 | 20 April 2007 | Robin Ince | Peep Show (British TV series), Arrested Development, & Look Away Now | William Cook, Laurence Howarth, & Janey Godley | ||
| 11 | 27 April 2007 | Robin Ince | Monty Python's Flying Circus, Another Case of Milton Jones, & On the Blog | Kevin Day, Stephanie Merritt, & Rob Deering | ||
| 12 | 04 May 2007 | Robin Ince | Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, Cheers, Frasier, & Fabulous | Danielle Ward, Neil Edmond, & Andrew Marshall | ||
| 05 | 01 | 24 August 2007 | Robin Ince | The IT Crowd, & Saxondale | Sarah Kendall, Marcus Brigstocke, & Stephen Armstrong | |
| 02 | 31 August 2007 | Robin Ince | Outnumbered (British TV series), Bleak Expectations, & The Best of French and Saunders | Steve Hall, Natalie Haynes, & Dominic Maxwell | ||
| 03 | 07 September 2007 | Robin Ince | Bearded Ladies (radio show), The Howerd Confessions, & Mike Yarwood | Stephanie Merritt, Steve Punt, & Joel Morris | ||
| 04 | 14 September 2007 | Robin Ince | Drop Dead Gorgeous (TV series), Self Storage (radio series), & The Richard Lester Collection | Carrie Quinlan, Dick Fiddy, & Andrew Marshall | ||
| 05 | 21 September 2007 | Robin Ince | Vent (radio series), Flight of the Conchords (TV series), & Best of The Kids in the Hall | Danny Robins, Sue Perkins, & Chris Campling | ||
| 06 | 28 September 2007 | Justin Moorhouse | It's Adam and Shelley, Robin's Nest (TV series), & This is Your Life Radio 4 | John Bishop, Sarah Millican, & Marissa Burgess | ||
| 07 | 05 October 2007 | Robin Ince | Sean's Show, Genius (radio series), & The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle | Toby Hadoke, Janice Connolly, & Alfie Joey | ||
| 08 | 12 October 2007 | Robin Ince | The Peter Serafinowicz Show, Fonejacker, & Out to Lunch | Gillian Reynolds, Daniel Maier, & Kevin Day | ||
| 09 | 19 October 2007 | Robin Ince | Family Guy, Katy Brand's Big Ass Show, & Hazelbeach | Josie Long, Neil Edmond, & Stephanie Merritt | ||
| 10 | 26 October 2007 | Robin Ince | Rob Newman History of World Backwards, Doug Stanhope Comedy Lab, & Father Ted | James Bachman, Rob Deering, & Julian Hall | ||
| 11 | 02 November 2007 | Robin Ince | The Armstrong & Miller Show, The Omid Djalili Show, & The Fast Show | Chris Neill, Sue Perkins, & Andrew Marshall | ||
| 12 | 09 November 2007 | Robin Ince | Angelo's, The Mighty Boosh (TV series), & Vic Reeves' House Arrest | Ed Byrne, Sarah Kendall, & Dick Fiddy |