The Oxford Comedy Archive
A COMEDY COLLECTION LIKE NO OTHER
UPDATE - Unique deal signed with Warner Music UK Limited!
After a lot of work behind the scenes, we're pleased to announce the OFFICIAL licensing of the 1966 album 'Four Degrees Over', for inclusion in this archive until July 2026. This musical comedy record (by David Wood OBE, Sir Bob Scott, Adele Geras and John Gould) represents one of the final examples of the 'British satire boom' of the early 1960s - a comedy revue monetarily supported by the Hollywood superstar couple Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, and recorded/produced by the 'fifth Beatle' George Martin (just after his work on 'Eleanor Rigby' and 'Yellow Submarine'). As far as we know, the Archive is the only place 'Four Degrees Over' is available online legally.
Click here to find out more about 'Four Degrees Over' and here to listen to this historical album in its entirety [some songs contain uncensored discriminatory language and depictions].
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The Oxford Comedy Archive is a unique online museum for the last 70 years of Oxford-associated comedy.
The city's comedy heritage is well-known, yet other publications tend to skim over important details or reproduce inaccurate information. The Archive thus acts as the first definitive account of some of the most interesting periods of Oxford's recent cultural history - from the origins of 'Beyond The Fringe', to the rise of Monty Python and Rowan Atkinson, to the Internet fame of the 'Gap Yah' sketch.
Here, you will find a wealth of rare audio recordings from the 1950s to the present day, many of which have never been legally published anywhere before. 102 highlight clips are found in the seven main 'exhibits', while the 'Library' contains many complete shows. The Archive also includes over 11 hours of world-exclusive audio interviews with the people who were actually there, along with a snapshot into Oxford's present-day stand-up scene ('City 2023').
We hope to show how UK culture has progressed via an all-important lens - young people and what they did to make each other laugh. We also discuss how Oxford alumni have changed British entertainment, and whether said influence is even warranted.
The Oxford Comedy Archive will be updated with new content over time, so check back for more exhibits soon! For further information or enquiry, contact rainstopsplayproductions@gmail.com.
The Archive contains foul language, and references to sex, violence, drugs and discrimination throughout. Some material in the 'Library' contains uncensored discriminatory language and depictions. As an accurate record of the past, it is important for this collection to acknowledge and discuss the impact of this content - as, in many ways, we are yet to properly learn from it.
