Charitable Benefit Appearances

Hugh appeared on several charitable benefit programs in the UK during the 1980s and 90s. Some of these programs were released on VHS or DVD (most in the UK and now out of print); others are only available as aging VHS recordings of over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts. Fortunately some fellow fans have provided copies of their recordings and permission to post AVI conversions.

For more information about the clips & screencaps on this site, please visit the welcome page.

Program Aired Description File Size (MB) Links
Secret Policeman's Third Ball 1987 3:04 "Hedge Sketch" featuring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. The video is a bit jittery in places, but worth a look as this was not included on the "Comedy" VHS released by Virgin.

captured from OTA VHS recording supplied by Tourmaline.

23.6 AVI
screencaps
4:56 segment with Fry & Laurie presenting an award to "Jim" Cleese. More or less... let's just say that I wouldn't want them presenting an award to me :)

captured from VHS released by Virgin Video (now out of print).
resolution: 512 x 384

38.0 SendSpacePro
screencaps
Comic Relief Feb 1988 3:40 segment of Fry & Laurie manning the Gunk Tank. First BBC Children's TV presenter Andy Crane is gunked by Stephen Fry. Then Hugh dumps Mike {somebody} in the tank.

Capped from NTSC DVD of PAL recordings by Cathie.

28.7
36.9
AVI
MOV
screencaps
2:04 complete 2nd segment with Fry & Laurie manning the Gunk Tank & dumping BBC Radio 1 DJ Mike Smith into the tank. Hugh gets to talk a bit more in this complete segment.

Clipped from MP4 of VHS recording supplied by an anonymous fan.

17.1
6.66
8.70
AVI
FLV
IPOD
Hysteria! Hysteria! Hysteria! 1988 5:30 R-rated introduction to the program by Stephen Fry, followed by the "Safe Sex" sketch performed by Stephen, Hugh, Dawn French, and "Mr. R."

captured from VHS released by Palace Video (now out of print).
resolution: 512 x 384

42.4 SendSpacePro
screencaps
5:06 "Piano Master Class" sketch performed by Fry & Laurie.

captured from VHS released by Palace Video (now out of print).
resolution: 512 x 384

39.5 SendSpacePro
screencaps
Comic Relief Mar 1989 2:59 "Critics" sketch performed by Fry & Laurie.

captured from OTA VHS recording supplied by Tourmaline.
resolution: 512 x 384

23.0 SendSpacePro
screencaps
Hysteria 2! 1989 2:54 segment of Hugh Laurie singing "Mystery."

Re-encoded from MPEG supplied by lozz (edge noise removed).
resolution: 512 x 384

22.6 SendSpacePro
screencaps
5:50 "Shakespeare" sketch featuring Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Laurie.

captured from VHS released by Palace Video (now out of print).
resolution: 512 x 384

45.1 SendSpacePro
screencaps
The "Shakespeare" sketch was included in audio form on The Comedians Guide to Royalty and on a BBC radio Monday Night Standup program on Rowan Atkinson.

captured from BBC Radio 7
MP3 file, 96kbps

4.04 SendSpacePro
5:10 segment of Stephen Fry filling space and time while waiting for "two dearest ex-friends" Rowan and Hugh to be ready with the "Shakespeare" sketch.

captured from VHS released by Palace Video (now out of print).
resolution: 512 x 384

40.1 SendSpacePro
2:07 "Language" sketch with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie discussing how the meaning of words gets perverted.

captured from VHS released by Palace Video (now out of print).
resolution: 512 x 384

16.4 SendSpacePro
screencaps
Secret Policeman's Biggest Ball 1989 5:43 "Headmaster & Pupil" sketch with Stephen Fry as the headmaster and Hugh Laurie as Terry, winner of the school poetry prize.

captured from DVD (SVideo/stereo) released by Umbrella Entertainment.
resolution: 512 x 384

44.2 SendSpacePro
screencaps
Comic Relief Mar 1991 2:33 segment of Stephen Fry ("Tall-and-Cleverer-Man-Than-You") and Hugh Laurie ("Tall-and-Just-as-Clever-as-Him-Honest") manning the Gunk Tank. The person in the hot seat is Sarah Greene, a children's TV presenter.

captured from OTA VHS recording supplied by Tourmaline.
resolution: 512 x 384

19.8 SendSpacePro
screencaps
5:02 "Masturbation" sketch with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie seated on the horns of a dilemma. (Ouch!) A 1:13 segment from this sketch was included on The Very Best of Comic Relief; this clip is the complete sketch.

captured from OTA VHS recording supplied by Tourmaline.
resolution: 512 x 384

38.8 SendSpacePro
screencaps
1:50 "Newsreader" sketch performed by Hugh. The sports portion of this sketch is available on The Pick of the Nose and an even shorter bit from the sports portion is on Seriously Funny.

Capped from NTSC DVD of PAL recordings by Cathie
resolution: 512 x 384

14.1

AVI File
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Partial sketch on UK VHS The Pick of the Nose and UK DVD Seriously Funny

18.5 MOV File
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Hysteria 3! Autumn 1991 3:30 "Hedge Sketch" featuring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.

captured from OTA VHS recording supplied by Tourmaline.
resolution: 512 x 384

26.8 SendSpacePro
screencaps
7:10 "Condom Language" sketch featuring Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Rowan Atkinson, Craig Ferguson, and Emma Freud explaining, in the words of well-known authors, how to use a condom. Stephen MCs and the others read in pairs. Hugh gets to read once with each of the others.

captured from OTA VHS recording supplied by Tourmaline.
resolution: 512 x 384

55.2 SendSpacePro
screencaps
3:21 "Army Officer" sketch featuring Hugh Laurie as an army officer (duh...) discussing homosexuals in the armed forces.

captured from OTA VHS recording supplied by Tourmaline.
resolution: 512 x 384

25.93 SendSpacePro
screencaps
The "Army Officer" sketch was included in audio form on The Comedians Guide to Sex (1995, now out of print).
MP3 file
2.95 SendSpacePro
 
Comic Relief 12 Mar 1993 3:22 segment of Hugh performing "All We've Gotta Do", as part of Friday Night Live - Lives Again! There's a sync/tracking problem for a few seconds at the beginning, but it clears up before Hugh starts singing.

captured from OTA VHS recording supplied by Tourmaline.
resolution: 512 x 384

26.2 SendSpacePro
screencaps

 

0:39 excerpt from "Bohemian Rhapsody" video, which featured many stars of British TV lip-synching to Queen, including Fry & Laurie in character as Jeeves & Wooster. The complete video is considerably longer; this is the only part with Hugh.

captured from "The Pick of the Nose" VHS (BBCV 5963, 1996, now out of print)
resolution: 512 x 384

5.20 AVI File
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Complete video on UK VHS The Pick of the Nose

6.70 MOV File
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Comic Relief 17 Mar 1995 0:37 selection from "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" by Phil Collins and a bevy of celebrities making animal noises. See if you can spot Hugh :)

Captured from VCI DVD VCD0238.
resolution: 512 x 288

4.66 AVI File
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available on the UK DVD Seriously Funny

6.24 MOV File
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Comic Relief Mar 1997 4:54 segment from "The Empire Strikes Back" with Poor White Trash and Lulu performing "Love Train." Hugh is on keyboards.

captured from OTA VHS recording supplied by Tourmaline.
resolution: 512 x 384

38.0 SendSpacePro
screencaps
1:24 excerpts from Comic Relief Goes to the Movies, with Hugh selecting his favorite comedy moment on film, Stephen Fry complaining Hugh already picked his first choice, and Hugh announcing the number to call to make a donation.

hughlaurie.net has a MOV version of the bit where Hugh introduces his comedy moment plus the clip from This is Spinal Tap.

Clipped from NTSC DVD of OTA PAL recording provided by Jennifer.
resolution: 512 x 384

10.9 SendSpacePro
screencaps

 

 

hughlaurie.net

Comic Relief's Complete Fluff-Ups included outtakes from Blackadder II, III, and IV featuring Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Rik Mayall, Stephen Fry, and Hugh Laurie.

Clips and screencaps are on the Blackadder details page.

  more details

also available on the UK DVD Seriously Funny.

Live from the Lighthouse 1998 star_firechild has posted a clip of Fry & Laurie performing  "The Hedge Sketch" (1:49) to the Hugh Laurie FAQ forum. You'll need to register with the forum to get access to the clip.

screencaps from star_firechild's clip.
resolution: 352 x 288

Hugh Laurie FAQ Forum
screencaps

Comic Relief Singles Mix 1 Apr 2006 1:11 mix of singles released to raise money for Comic Relief. This mix closed out Emma Freud's recent stint as BBC Radio 7's Comedy Controller. See if you can pick out Hugh's voice :)

Capped from BBC Radio 7 webcast
MP3 file, 96kbps

0.8 SendSpacePro
Comic Relief 16 Mar 2007 About 4 minutes into the "Ricky Gervais Goes to Kenya" segment, there's a mention of Hugh and Stephen.

available on
BBC YouTube Channel

American Idol 25 Apr 2007 Hugh was one of several celebrities in a special music video, dancing and lip-synching (or something...) to "Stayin' Alive."   screencaps

 

0:19 segment with Hugh asking for donations.

resolution: 720 x 400
screencaps: 1280 x 720

7.18 AVI File
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screencaps
Same clip, smaller file...

resolution: 512 x 288

3.24 MOV File
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American Idol 28 Feb 2008 2:25 segment about "Idol Gives Back" includes a couple seconds of Hugh miming to call in from last year's show. (Hugh is at the 1:34 mark.)

resolution: 512 x 288

18.6 SendSpacePro
TalkAboutIt.org Jan 2009 0:20 promo for TalkAboutIt.org starts with Hugh.

available on
YouTube

On the TalkAboutIt.org home page, if you click on the Pimlico station sign, a short clip of Hugh plays.

talkaboutit.org


This page created by Mary Kirtland.
Clips and screencaps are copyrighted to their respective owners and are supplied for your personal review only.
By downloading content from this site, you are agreeing to the terms of use.

Last updated 14 Jun 2009. New clips added 14 Jun 2009. File links verified 9 Jan 2007.