Collections: Misery Bear's Comedy Playlist

The lovably melancholy Misery Bear chooses his favourite selection of web exclusive and archive gems from BBC Comedy. Misery Bear writes:

Even though I'm something of a grouch, I do like a bit of comedy. I'm not a laugh-out-loud sort of bear, but after a few tins of booze I'll sit and chuckle at the good stuff. Most of the bears I know just like slapstick, but I like clever funnies too, and there's loads of them in the BBC archive...

I seem to spend a lot of time alone at home with my cans of beer so I can relate to Adam Buxton, who blazes a trail for all men by spending some time Alone in the Shed, with nothing but beer, tortilla chips and some jazz mags. And it means that helping around the house can be avoided.

In Pernclub, Brian Pern discusses the decline of bees - apparently they're bored - and his latest recording device that can capture tiny sounds, like a mouse being sick. If bees are dying out, my friend Winnie will be forced to go cold turkey on honey.

Stag parties are debauched, rowdy, drunken affairs - a man's last chance to cut loose before marriage (not that I will ever know what that feels like). Seb, one half of Cardinal Burns, seems to have missed the point in this horrendous look at a stag gone painfully wrong.

Any breakup can be devastating (I should know). Fortunately, some friendly musical birds will always warm the heart and bring the sun. Sketchy's Blues will brighten your day. Briefly. It didn't do much for me to be honest.

Everyone knows that grey squirrels are endangered, so this lady kindly called the police to inform them that she'd seen one of the poor critters hopping around the motorway. Or was it red squirrels? No, definitely grey.

After Monty Python, my idol John Cleese went on to further success in 1975 with Fawlty Towers, a sitcom based upon his experience of the proprietor of a hotel he once stayed at. Thus, Basil Fawlty was born, and here he is in all his frustrated, agonising glory.

As surreal, streams of consciousness comedy goes, there's nothing quite like The Mighty Boosh. Though Vince is a bit upbeat for my liking. Anyway, once the show found a home on television after great success on BBC Radio, Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding's off kilter vision was fully realised. And they met the Ape of Death. As you do.

Along with Monty Python, The Goodies, who were University friends of the Python team, were in many ways the godfathers of surreal-style comedy. The trio enjoyed a 12-year run on the BBC from 1970, they even had a catchy theme tune (co-written by Bill Oddie) which those of a certain age will remember clearly. Like me, Oddie had less success with the ladies though as this clip demonstrates.

Following on from seminal '80s alternative comedy sitcom The Young Ones, the '90s saw an older, yet even less mature Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson essentially playing more jaded versions of their Young Ones characters in Bottom. Here, an increasingly more exasperated Eddie teaches Richie the rules of chess.