The Frost Report On Everything   Item Specifics - Records Writers:  Category: Comedy Label: Astor Catalogue #: PLP 1243 Format: LP Record (33rpm) Condition: Good Publication Year:    

THE FROST REPORT

BBC-1 Series, 1966-67.

Starring: David Frost, John Cleese, Ronnie Barker
See also THE FROST PROGRAMME on Rediffusion (with Cleese and Tim Brooke-Taylor).


A relatively short-lived but highly influential sketch show, The Frost Report was presented by David Frost.

Among regular performers were John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett.

Among the writers were many who later became the leading authors of British comedy television programmes. John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, headwriter Marty Feldman, David Nobbs and Peter Tinniswood (among others) all contributed sketches for the programme.

Each programme had a distinct satirical, political or social "theme", with sketches and monologues written accordingly.

A mixture of monologue, sketch and music, The Frost Report was one of the last such comedy shows to be broadcast live as a matter of course. Each edition of the show took on a different topic - authority, holidays, sin, elections, class, the news, education, love, law, leisure, medicine, food and drink, trends, money, women, the forces, Parliament, the countryside, industry, culture, crime, and others - and sketches were woven accordingly around those subjects. Frost would appear at his desk, saying links that would cut to short and longer sketches. (This writing process began with Antony Jay writing David Frost's linking script, prompting others to provide skits to be performed by the regular cast.) Music was provided by the acerbic comic Tom Lehrer and the folk singer Julie Felix.

The front man, David Frost, who had first crashed into the public consciousness with That Was The Week That Was experienced great fortunes at this time, enjoying transatlantic success as a TV presenter/host, success that crystallised with his UK and US chat-shows later in the 1960s and succeeding decades. The Frost Report proved to be an important step too in the development of British TV comedy, bringing together for the first time the writing team (Palin, Jones, Cleese, Chapman and Idle) who would go on to create Monty Python's Flying Circus

The very young Pythons often felt that their contributions as writers were undervalued - David Frost was an endless self-promoter, and his name would flash on the screen in huge letters in the credits, with the writers' names zipping by in tiny letters below. The Pythons later made fun of Frost on their own shows ... most notably by Eric Idle in Monty Python sketches like "The Timmy Williams Show" and "It's a Tree." On Eric Idle's own show, Rutland Weekend Television, David Battley played Frost on "It's the David Frost Show Again," with the host asking the audience "How many of you are still awake?"

The show was able to boast some of the countries top comedy writers and performers (Anthony Jay, Keith Waterhouse, Willis Hall, Denis Nordern, Frank Muir and many others) but where it became seminal in the history of TV comedy was is in the fact that both in front and behind the camera it gave rise to some of the entertainment worlds ascending talents. Writers like John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle would soon move in front of the camera (Cleese was the first to do so), to develop and star in series' such as At Last The 1948 Show, Do Not Adjust Your Set and Monty Python's Flying Circus (each of which would discover even more stars), Marty Feldman would very soon become a star in his own right and two of the shows leading performers, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett formed the foundation of a long standing partnership that what would eventually be known as The Two Ronnies.

Of all the send-up's that appeared on The Frost Report, the best remembered, and often held as representative of the shows style was the Marty Feldman/John Law penned sketch about class. This involved 6ft 5inch Cleese standing next to 5ft 8inch Barker who in turn stood next to 5ft 1inch Corbett, and using each man's height to illustrate their standing in society. Middle-Class Barker explains: 'I look up to him (Cleese) because he is upper class but I look down on him (Corbett) because he is lower class.' Corbett: 'I know my place.' The sketch lasted no more than a few minutes but remained in the memory for so long that some thirty or more years later Ronnie Barker came out of retirement to make an updated version for a TV special with Ronnie Corbett (John Cleese was unavailable so Stephen Fry stood in for him).

There was 2 series comprising 26 shows and two specials between 1966 and 1967 and the first of these specials, Frost Over England, was a compilation of highlights from the first 13 with some newly scripted material, which won the prestigious Golden Rose at the Montreux Festival in 1967. (The second special was called Frost Over Christmas). The format returned in 1969 as Frost On Sunday (although now switching channels to ITV).

A special edition of the series, Frost Over England, which compiled highlights from the first 13 programmes with newly scripted material, won the Golden Rose at the Montreux Festival in 1967.

Cast
David Frost
John Cleese
Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Corbett
Sheila Steafel
Nicky Henson

Crew
Marty Feldman - Writer
John Law - Writer
Antony Jay - Writer
John Cleese - Writer
Graham Chapman - Writer
Michael Palin - Writer
Terry Jones - Writer
Keith Waterhouse - Writer
Willis Hall - Writer
David Nobbs - Writer
Peter Tinniswood - Writer
Frank Muir - Writer
Denis Norden - Writer
Eric Idle - Writer and others
James Gilbert - Producer

Transmission Details
Number of episodes: 28 Length: 26 x 25 mins 1 x 35 mins 1 x 40 mins
Series One (13 x 25 mins) 10 Mar-9 June 1966 BBC1 Thu mostly 9pm
Special (35 mins) Frost Over England 26 Mar 1967 BBC1 Sun 7.25pm


Series Two (13 x 25 mins) 6 Apr-29 June 1967 BBC1 Thu mostly 9.05pm

Special (40 mins) Frost Over Christmas 26 Dec 1967 BBC1 Tue 7.30pm


RECORD ALBUMS:

The Frost Report on Britain (1966)
Parlophone PMC 7005

Features John Cleese and Jean Hart. Produced by James Gilbert; writing credits: David Frost and John Cleese, with Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graham Chapman, Barry Cryer, Tony Hendra, Terry Jones, Herbert Kretzner, Peter Lewis and Peter Dobereiner, David Nobbs, Bill Oddie and Ludwig Van Beethoven.

SIDE ONE :
Matter of Taste (Cleese); Schoolmaster (Cleese); Just Four Just Men (Cleese); Internal Combustion; Deck of Cards; Top of the Form (Cleese); Unknown Soldier (Cleese)

SIDE TWO :
Scrapbook (Cleese); Adventure (Cleese); Numbers; Bulletin; Hilton; Zookeeper (Cleese)

The Frost Report on Everything (1967)
Janus JLS-3005

Features David Frost, Ronnie Barker, John Cleese, Ronnie Corbett and Sheila Steafel. Writing credits include Frost, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman and John Cleese (misspelled "Clease").

SIDE ONE :
The State of England; Theatre Critic (Cleese); Frost, What People Really Mean; Three Classes of People (Cleese); Narcissus Complex (Cleese)

SIDE TWO
Frost on Agriculture, Speech; The Secretary (Cleese); Frost on Commercials; Selling String; Executive and the Teaman; Three Classes (Cleese)

A must for fans of British Comedy

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