Wednesday 5th February 2020
UKTV announces today that Comedians Giving Lectures, hosted by Sara Pascoe, is returning to Dave for two brand new series (2 x 6x40'). The UKTV Original series, produced by 12 Yard Productions, was one of the top performing commissions on Dave in 2019 attracting an audience of over half a million.
Sara Pascoe said:
I love hosting the show, mainly to see my peers trying to be clever and failing hilariously.
Comedians Giving Lectures is commissioned for UKTV by Iain Coyle, head of comedy entertainment, and Luke Hales, Dave channel director, and ordered by Richard Watsham, director of commissioning, and Steve North, genre general manager for comedy and entertainment. The series is exec produced for 12 Yard Productions, the ITV Studios owned indie, by Michael Mannes and Paul McGettigan. ITV Studios will also handle international distribution.
Iain Coyle said:
I'm delighted that we're doing this again. It feels like a really fresh way of doing stand-up on telly. It's a real challenge for the comics and really helps us bring new and diverse voices to the channel."
Luke Hales said:
We love this format as it really gives comics the challenge of adding their own humour to some pretty random topics. It was fantastic to see the response from Dave viewers for series one, so we can't wait to give them more.
Paul McGettigan, Head of Comedy Entertainment at 12 Yard said:
We loved making our first ever series for Dave and are thrilled with the order for two more. We're already scouring the archives for more brilliant lecture titles for our comedians to take on.
Comedians Giving Lectures joins an array of UKTV Originals coming to Dave in 2020, including Hypothetical S2, Meet The Richardsons, Sliced S2 starring and co-written by BAFTA-nominated Samson Kayo, and the upcoming Comedy Against Living Miserably, a series of stand-up specials in partnership with CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably).
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Praise for the first series of Comedians Giving Lectures:
- "It's inventive, fast and - at times - quite filthy" Radio Times
- "A fresh twist of stand-up comedy format" , "You won't likely learn anything, but you will laugh a lot" Daily Mirror
- "Another original Dave show that's simple but effective" Sun TV Magazine
For more information, please contact:
About Dave
Freeview 19, Sky 111, Virgin 127, YouView 19, Freesat 157, BT & TalkTalk 19
On demand on UKTVPlay
Ever since it was knee high to a TV remote, Dave had an idea. It wanted to be the first place viewers would come for brand-new, award-winning comedy entertainment from the biggest and brightest stars and production companies in the UK. And in the years since, it has launched some of the most exciting and best-loved titles on TV, including the launch of Taskmaster. The channel's critically-acclaimed established comedy hits Hypothetical, Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier and Comedians Giving Lectures will shortly welcome the forthcoming Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable. And it's not just in front of the camera where the comic genius lies either, with a wealth of scripted treasure such as Sliced, the upcoming Meet the Richardsons and a first ever feature-length special for Red Dwarf.
Dave's not content on just making you laugh and share gags with your mates though. Expedition with Steve Backshall and Hurricane Man show off regions and aspects of the earth never before seen on TV while the resurrection of the hit series World's Most Dangerous Roads promises to test some of the UK's biggest comedic friendships to their absolute limits. Eddie Eats America and Big Zuu's Big Eats deliver mouth-watering food shows with a Dave twist while Red Bull Soapbox continues to delight with its boundless capacity for invention.
The partnership between Dave and CALM continues to grow, having launched the "Be The Mate You'd Want" campaign, the Conversations Against Living Miserably podcast and its first commission on the horizon, Comedy Against Living Miserably for three stand-up specials.
Reaching 20million viewers a month, Dave's come a long way, but it's only just getting warmed up.
dave.uktv.co.uk / @davechannel
About UKTV
UKTV has been at the forefront of branded television for over 25 years, entertaining the nation with programmes they love. Its leading brands - Dave, Gold, W, Drama, Alibi, Eden and Yesterday - span comedy, entertainment, natural history, factual and drama, and are delivered to audiences through UKTV Play, Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView, Freesat and Amazon Fire. The broadcaster is a significant investor in British creativity and is committed to working with new and established writers, directors and programme-makers.
UKTV is part of BBC Studios, the UK's most-awarded production company, a world-class distributor with international branded services, and a commercial subsidiary of the world's leading public service broadcaster, the BBC.