There are a number of themes or types or techniques in British comedy that seem to survive any social or political upheaval. We love wordplay, we're suckers for Double entendre and while animals can be cute or terrifying, they can also make us laugh. In this series Ian Hislop looks back to try and find the first examples of these jokes or comedy genres. We love a good parody but when did that become a thing? Can we really find Anglo-Saxon Double Entendre? You bet we can, and filthy to boot, another trove of British Humour.
He visits libraries, museums and chapels, and also talks to comedy stars and writers of today like Nina Conti, Paul Whitehouse, comedy song writing duo Jo and Joan and parodist Craig Brown.

In the sixth programme Ian is in Aberdeen to see the University's famous Bestiary, a Medieval manuscript so richly illuminated that it attracted Henry VIII who borrowed it, permanently from its original home somewhere in the North of England. Now it resides in Aberdeen University's new library, complete with its illustrations and sermons about animals. It's all very straight, until you reach the Bonnacon, a mythical beast that appears to have no biblical message beyond its capacity to make the reader laugh. Ian also takes advice on our abiding comic relationship with animals from Nina Conti and Monkey, with whom she shares a sometimes fractious but always funny relationship.

Producer: Tom Alban Show less