Sürreal Mizah Atlası The Surreal Comedy Atlas

The ambient-horror radio show that Jam (TV) was built from — Morris reading unsettling monologues over downtempo music, sketches that are dread-states not jokes. The Jam-strand taproot; many find the radio original even more disturbing than TV. Availability: Never officially released; Internet Archive and YouTube

The ambient-horror radio show that Jam (TV) was built from — Morris reading unsettling monologues over downtempo music, sketches that are dread-states not jokes. The Jam-strand taproot; many find the radio original even more disturbing than TV. Availability: Never officially released; Internet Archive and YouTube

Berry plays 'High Executioner to the King of England' in a gentlemen's club for hangmen, spliced with sketches, time travel, and Berry's own music. One series of 6, directed by Brass Eye's Michael Cumming. Written as one continuous script, not cuttable sketches. Availability: DVD (2008); Netflix in some regions; YouTube clips

Berry plays 'High Executioner to the King of England' in a gentlemen's club for hangmen, spliced with sketches, time travel, and Berry's own music. One series of 6, directed by Brass Eye's Michael Cumming. Written as one continuous script, not cuttable sketches. Availability: DVD (2008); Netflix in some regions; YouTube clips

A dead narrator, a rural police station obsessed with bicycles, the theory people and bicycles swap atoms, and the mad scientist de Selby whose footnotes devour the book. The perfect Adams-strand novel. Availability: In print (Harper Perennial / Dalkey Archive)

A dead narrator, a rural police station obsessed with bicycles, the theory people and bicycles swap atoms, and the mad scientist de Selby whose footnotes devour the book. The perfect Adams-strand novel. Availability: In print (Harper Perennial / Dalkey Archive)

Fables of robot constructors Trurl and Klapaucius building ever-more-absurd machines — including a computer that can only produce the number 2 and violently insists it's right. The closest thing in prose to Hitchhiker's intellectual playfulness. Availability: In print continuously since 1974 (Penguin, MIT Press)

Fables of robot constructors Trurl and Klapaucius building ever-more-absurd machines — including a computer that can only produce the number 2 and violently insists it's right. The closest thing in prose to Hitchhiker's intellectual playfulness. Availability: In print continuously since 1974 (Penguin, MIT Press)

Ex-Bonzo Dog frontman's spoken-word saga of a drunken aristocrat and his decaying pile, born on John Peel's show. Wall-to-wall puns, invented words, English grotesque. If Python/Goons' verbal density is loved, this is the richest single artefact here. Availability: Album on streaming; 1980 film (Trevor Howard) on DVD/YouTube; radio compiled as Rawlinson's End (2023)

Ex-Bonzo Dog frontman's spoken-word saga of a drunken aristocrat and his decaying pile, born on John Peel's show. Wall-to-wall puns, invented words, English grotesque. If Python/Goons' verbal density is loved, this is the richest single artefact here. Availability: Album on streaming; 1980 film (Trevor Howard) on DVD/YouTube; radio compiled as Rawlinson's End (2023)

A 'lost' 1980s horror series supposedly made by an egomaniac horror novelist, presented with straight-faced talking-head commentary. Anti-comedy, formal parody and genuine unease in one. Sits between Jam and Boosh. Availability: DVD; frequently streaming/YouTube

A 'lost' 1980s horror series supposedly made by an egomaniac horror novelist, presented with straight-faced talking-head commentary. Anti-comedy, formal parody and genuine unease in one. Sits between Jam and Boosh. Availability: DVD; frequently streaming/YouTube

Davis plays Jill, a beautician of monstrous sociopathic self-interest, against cancer, disability and small-town cruelty. Pitch-black to the point of vertigo. Availability: DVD; BritBox

Davis plays Jill, a beautician of monstrous sociopathic self-interest, against cancer, disability and small-town cruelty. Pitch-black to the point of vertigo. Availability: DVD; BritBox

Six couples, six deadpan-grotesque portraits of coupledom, improvised into existence by Davis and Brydon. Bleak, uncomfortable, formally spare. Availability: DVD; hard to stream — a genuine deep cut

Six couples, six deadpan-grotesque portraits of coupledom, improvised into existence by Davis and Brydon. Bleak, uncomfortable, formally spare. Availability: DVD; hard to stream — a genuine deep cut

A gleefully daft Dickens pastiche: Sir Philip 'Pip' Bin battles his ironically named guardian Mr Gently Benevolent (Anthony Head), with escalating absurdity and footnote-laden mock-Victorian narration. The Adams-strand radio comedy par excellence; 5 series, 30 episodes. Availability: BBC Audio/Audible; West End stage version ran May–Aug 2023

A gleefully daft Dickens pastiche: Sir Philip 'Pip' Bin battles his ironically named guardian Mr Gently Benevolent (Anthony Head), with escalating absurdity and footnote-laden mock-Victorian narration. The Adams-strand radio comedy par excellence; 5 series, 30 episodes. Availability: BBC Audio/Audible; West End stage version ran May–Aug 2023

Mark Gatiss as Professor Nebulous, head of underfunded eco-troubleshooting body K.E.N.T., in a post-apocalyptic 2099 where extra months are named Janril, Febtober and Marchuary. A love letter to Doomwatch/Quatermass as ideas-comedy. Availability: BBC Audio/Audible box set (2023)

Mark Gatiss as Professor Nebulous, head of underfunded eco-troubleshooting body K.E.N.T., in a post-apocalyptic 2099 where extra months are named Janril, Febtober and Marchuary. A love letter to Doomwatch/Quatermass as ideas-comedy. Availability: BBC Audio/Audible box set (2023)

Lint is a straight-faced fake biography of pulp SF writer Jeff Lint, packed with startling throwaway ideas; Slaughtermatic is a Burroughsian cyber-noir crime comedy (Philip K. Dick Award finalist). Extremely obscure; Adams's idea-density in a darker register. Availability: In print via Aylett's own channels; used copies otherwise

Lint is a straight-faced fake biography of pulp SF writer Jeff Lint, packed with startling throwaway ideas; Slaughtermatic is a Burroughsian cyber-noir crime comedy (Philip K. Dick Award finalist). Extremely obscure; Adams's idea-density in a darker register. Availability: In print via Aylett's own channels; used copies otherwise

Began as radio (On the Town with the League of Gentlemen, 1997). The town of Royston Vasey — grotesque, horror-inflected sketch/sitcom, direct ancestor of everything bleak-and-uncanny. Availability: DVD; BritBox/iPlayer intermittently

Began as radio (On the Town with the League of Gentlemen, 1997). The town of Royston Vasey — grotesque, horror-inflected sketch/sitcom, direct ancestor of everything bleak-and-uncanny. Availability: DVD; BritBox/iPlayer intermittently

An anthology, each episode set in a 'No. 9,' each a formal experiment — a near-silent episode, a live-Halloween hoax, an iambic-pentameter episode. Start with 'A Quiet Night In' or 'The 12 Days of Christine.' Availability: BritBox/iPlayer; DVD

An anthology, each episode set in a 'No. 9,' each a formal experiment — a near-silent episode, a live-Halloween hoax, an iambic-pentameter episode. Start with 'A Quiet Night In' or 'The 12 Days of Christine.' Availability: BritBox/iPlayer; DVD

The badly neglected British absurdist: a suburban man teaches weighing machines to sing the Hallelujah Chorus; a home-built Old Bailey materialises in the living room. Kenneth Tynan: 'the subtlest mind ever devoted by an Englishman to the writing of farce.' Direct influence on Python and Peter Cook's E.L. Wisty. Availability: Collected Plays in print; 1965 film (Eric Sykes) on DVD/YouTube

The badly neglected British absurdist: a suburban man teaches weighing machines to sing the Hallelujah Chorus; a home-built Old Bailey materialises in the living room. Kenneth Tynan: 'the subtlest mind ever devoted by an Englishman to the writing of farce.' Direct influence on Python and Peter Cook's E.L. Wisty. Availability: Collected Plays in print; 1965 film (Eric Sykes) on DVD/YouTube

Half a century of surreal newspaper miniatures — Dr Strabismus of Utrecht, Mr Justice Cocklecarrot and the Twelve Red-Bearded Dwarves. The missing link between Victorian nonsense and the Goons. Availability: Collections out of print (used copies); Radio 4 adaptation on Internet Archive

Half a century of surreal newspaper miniatures — Dr Strabismus of Utrecht, Mr Justice Cocklecarrot and the Twelve Red-Bearded Dwarves. The missing link between Victorian nonsense and the Goons. Availability: Collections out of print (used copies); Radio 4 adaptation on Internet Archive

Tiny, violent, deadpan absurdist miniatures from the OBERIU group; Kharms died of starvation in a Soviet prison in 1942. The purest distillation of anti-comedy and cosmic bleakness. Availability: In print (Serpent's Tail); also Today I Wrote Nothing (Yankelevich trans.)

Tiny, violent, deadpan absurdist miniatures from the OBERIU group; Kharms died of starvation in a Soviet prison in 1942. The purest distillation of anti-comedy and cosmic bleakness. Availability: In print (Serpent's Tail); also Today I Wrote Nothing (Yankelevich trans.)

Series 1 is pitch-perfect parody of 1970s/80s schools science programmes; series 2 parodies primetime science-magazine shows. Deadpan formal-parody genius, adjacent to Marenghi. Availability: DVD; YouTube

Series 1 is pitch-perfect parody of 1970s/80s schools science programmes; series 2 parodies primetime science-magazine shows. Deadpan formal-parody genius, adjacent to Marenghi. Availability: DVD; YouTube

Campbell's Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool staged Illuminatus! as a nine-hour cycle (opened the National Theatre's Cottesloe in 1977) and later The Warp, at 22 hours the longest play in the world. The theatrical embodiment of Adams-strand interconnectedness mania. Availability: Performances largely unrecorded; solo shows/interviews on YouTube; Jeff Merrifield's biography documents it

Campbell's Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool staged Illuminatus! as a nine-hour cycle (opened the National Theatre's Cottesloe in 1977) and later The Warp, at 22 hours the longest play in the world. The theatrical embodiment of Adams-strand interconnectedness mania. Availability: Performances largely unrecorded; solo shows/interviews on YouTube; Jeff Merrifield's biography documents it

A three-hour mock-encyclopedic 'directory' of 92 people whose surnames begin 'Fall,' all victims of the Violent Unknown Event, each biography more absurdly systematic than the last. Availability: BFI DVD/Blu-ray; MUBI/streaming intermittently

A three-hour mock-encyclopedic 'directory' of 92 people whose surnames begin 'Fall,' all victims of the Violent Unknown Event, each biography more absurdly systematic than the last. Availability: BFI DVD/Blu-ray; MUBI/streaming intermittently

Toy figures Cowboy, Indian and Horse in breathless, logic-defying stop-motion catastrophe. The purest hit of joyful European absurdism. Availability: Film on Blu-ray/streaming; shorts on YouTube

Toy figures Cowboy, Indian and Horse in breathless, logic-defying stop-motion catastrophe. The purest hit of joyful European absurdism. Availability: Film on Blu-ray/streaming; shorts on YouTube

Songs from the Second Floor, You the Living, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence. Static-tableau deadpan vignettes of human futility, greyish, hilarious and desolate. A key non-British pillar of the bleak-absurd. Availability: Streaming/Blu-ray (some on MUBI)

Songs from the Second Floor, You the Living, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence. Static-tableau deadpan vignettes of human futility, greyish, hilarious and desolate. A key non-British pillar of the bleak-absurd. Availability: Streaming/Blu-ray (some on MUBI)

The news-satire masterpiece that grew out of radio's On the Hour (1991–92, essential in its own right). Morris as monstrous anchor; birthplace of Alan Partridge. Availability: DVD; BritBox

The news-satire masterpiece that grew out of radio's On the Hour (1991–92, essential in its own right). Morris as monstrous anchor; birthplace of Alan Partridge. Availability: DVD; BritBox

Current-affairs parody that hoaxed MPs and celebrities into campaigning against the made-up drug 'cake.' The 2001 'Paedogeddon' special is one of the most complained-about programmes in British TV history. Availability: DVD; Channel 4 streaming

Current-affairs parody that hoaxed MPs and celebrities into campaigning against the made-up drug 'cake.' The 2001 'Paedogeddon' special is one of the most complained-about programmes in British TV history. Availability: DVD; Channel 4 streaming

The TV incarnation of Blue Jam — smeared visuals, warped sound. Jaaaaam is the even more degraded 'remixed' version broadcast separately. Availability: DVD; circulates online

The TV incarnation of Blue Jam — smeared visuals, warped sound. Jaaaaam is the even more degraded 'remixed' version broadcast separately. Availability: DVD; circulates online

Paddy Considine housesits and is convinced by a dog (voiced by Morris) that he's on trial for everything he's done wrong. First Warp Films release; BAFTA for best short; adapted from a Blue Jam monologue. Availability: Internet Archive; DVD

Paddy Considine housesits and is convinced by a dog (voiced by Morris) that he's on trial for everything he's done wrong. First Warp Films release; BAFTA for best short; adapted from a Blue Jam monologue. Availability: Internet Archive; DVD

Prophetic satire of self-facilitating media-node hipster culture — underrated then, visionary now. Availability: DVD; streaming

Prophetic satire of self-facilitating media-node hipster culture — underrated then, visionary now. Availability: DVD; streaming

Feature about inept British jihadists — farce and horror in one breath. Availability: Widely streaming

Feature about inept British jihadists — farce and horror in one breath. Availability: Widely streaming

Unflinchingly bleak animated satire of modern Britain — a paedophile-hunting mob, a suicidal recurring character, Ivan Dobsky the wrongly-imprisoned 'Meat Safe Murderer.' The Observer named it 'the most subversive show on television.' No further series after Thompson's death. Availability: Only series 1 on DVD; rest scarce (some iTunes; fan uploads)

Unflinchingly bleak animated satire of modern Britain — a paedophile-hunting mob, a suicidal recurring character, Ivan Dobsky the wrongly-imprisoned 'Meat Safe Murderer.' The Observer named it 'the most subversive show on television.' No further series after Thompson's death. Availability: Only series 1 on DVD; rest scarce (some iTunes; fan uploads)

Pre-Inside No. 9 horror-comedy with interlinked grotesques and a famous single-take homage episode. Availability: DVD; iPlayer intermittently

Pre-Inside No. 9 horror-comedy with interlinked grotesques and a famous single-take homage episode. Availability: DVD; iPlayer intermittently

Surreal, CGI-heavy sketch show — monsters, giant creatures, absurdist premises. A forgotten oddity. Availability: Hard to find

Surreal, CGI-heavy sketch show — monsters, giant creatures, absurdist premises. A forgotten oddity. Availability: Hard to find

Renkow plays a version of himself, an American with cerebral palsy who weaponises people's discomfort. Genuinely uncomfortable, in the bleak lineage. Availability: iPlayer

Renkow plays a version of himself, an American with cerebral palsy who weaponises people's discomfort. Genuinely uncomfortable, in the bleak lineage. Availability: iPlayer

Female-led sketch show from the producer who created Green Wing; surreal, character-driven, speed-ramped editing. The clearest stylistic sibling. Availability: DVD; streaming intermittently

Female-led sketch show from the producer who created Green Wing; surreal, character-driven, speed-ramped editing. The clearest stylistic sibling. Availability: DVD; streaming intermittently

Pile's follow-up to Green Wing, set at a grotesque university; a flop at the time — a genuine one-series curio worth revisiting for Green Wing fans specifically. Availability: DVD; hard to stream

Pile's follow-up to Green Wing, set at a grotesque university; a flop at the time — a genuine one-series curio worth revisiting for Green Wing fans specifically. Availability: DVD; hard to stream

Surreal sketch show — the 'world stare-out championship,' Jesus in an office. See Linehan biographical note. Availability: DVD; streaming

Surreal sketch show — the 'world stare-out championship,' Jesus in an office. See Linehan biographical note. Availability: DVD; streaming

The alternative-comedy troupe (Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson, French, Saunders, Peter Richardson, Nigel Planer) in one-off films — 'Five Go Mad in Dorset,' 'The Strike,' 'Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door.' Availability: DVD; some streaming

The alternative-comedy troupe (Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson, French, Saunders, Peter Richardson, Nigel Planer) in one-off films — 'Five Go Mad in Dorset,' 'The Strike,' 'Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door.' Availability: DVD; some streaming

Two desperate men in Hammersmith beating each other senseless — the violent, nihilistic distillation of the Young Ones energy. Availability: DVD; streaming

Two desperate men in Hammersmith beating each other senseless — the violent, nihilistic distillation of the Young Ones energy. Availability: DVD; streaming

The Young Ones team's less-remembered showbiz-satire follow-up. A forgotten one-series wonder. Availability: DVD

The Young Ones team's less-remembered showbiz-satire follow-up. A forgotten one-series wonder. Availability: DVD

Surreal, aggressive, ideas-driven sketch comedy from the Young Ones' landlord. Availability: DVD; YouTube

Surreal, aggressive, ideas-driven sketch comedy from the Young Ones' landlord. Availability: DVD; YouTube

Berry as vain, put-upon actor Steven Toast — surreal digressions, a recurring nemesis. Sequel Toast of Tinseltown (BBC, 2022). Availability: Channel 4 / streaming

Berry as vain, put-upon actor Steven Toast — surreal digressions, a recurring nemesis. Sequel Toast of Tinseltown (BBC, 2022). Availability: Channel 4 / streaming

Monster, Like Totally, What It Is. The misanthropic-whimsical Black Books voice, solo. Availability: Streaming

Monster, Like Totally, What It Is. The misanthropic-whimsical Black Books voice, solo. Availability: Streaming

Film-literate, surreally edited flatshare sitcom. Less obscure but included for formal invention. Availability: DVD; streaming

Film-literate, surreally edited flatshare sitcom. Less obscure but included for formal invention. Availability: DVD; streaming

Johnny Vegas as a Manchester cannabis dealer; deadpan, surreal, bleak at the edges. By Nebulous's creator. Availability: DVD; hard to stream

Johnny Vegas as a Manchester cannabis dealer; deadpan, surreal, bleak at the edges. By Nebulous's creator. Availability: DVD; hard to stream

Three night-security guards trapped in an increasingly surreal single-set nightmare (a colleague turns out to be a werewolf) — one of the great forgotten British sitcoms. Availability: DVD; scarce

Three night-security guards trapped in an increasingly surreal single-set nightmare (a colleague turns out to be a werewolf) — one of the great forgotten British sitcoms. Availability: DVD; scarce

The foundational Vic & Bob — a pub-club variety show detached from all logic ('Novelty Island,' 'Man with the Stick'). Availability: DVD; YouTube

The foundational Vic & Bob — a pub-club variety show detached from all logic ('Novelty Island,' 'Man with the Stick'). Availability: DVD; YouTube

Their sketch peak — 'Slade in Residence,' the Stotts. Availability: DVD

Their sketch peak — 'Slade in Residence,' the Stotts. Availability: DVD

Catterick is the strange, semi-serious sitcom deep cut; House of Fools the late-period anarchic flatshare. Availability: DVD; iPlayer intermittently

Catterick is the strange, semi-serious sitcom deep cut; House of Fools the late-period anarchic flatshare. Availability: DVD; iPlayer intermittently

The panel-show parody, for canon completeness. Availability: DVD

The panel-show parody, for canon completeness. Availability: DVD

Psychedelic musical surrealism; start with the radio series or TV series 1. Availability: DVD; streaming

Psychedelic musical surrealism; start with the radio series or TV series 1. Availability: DVD; streaming

Fielding solo, even more untethered — closer to a moving painting than a sitcom. A Marmite deep cut. Availability: Streaming/DVD

Fielding solo, even more untethered — closer to a moving painting than a sitcom. A Marmite deep cut. Availability: Streaming/DVD

Barratt as a washed-up actor who played a TV detective with a lie-detecting eye. Availability: Streaming

Barratt as a washed-up actor who played a TV detective with a lie-detecting eye. Availability: Streaming

Q5-Q9 + There's a Lot of It About. The direct formal ancestor of Python — sketches without endings, breaking the set, meta-jokes. Q5 first aired 24 March 1969, roughly six months before Python; only three Q5 episodes survive. Contains period racism the modern viewer should be warned about. Availability: DVD box sets (2016-17); some episodes lost

Q5-Q9 + There's a Lot of It About. The direct formal ancestor of Python — sketches without endings, breaking the set, meta-jokes. Q5 first aired 24 March 1969, roughly six months before Python; only three Q5 episodes survive. Contains period racism the modern viewer should be warned about. Availability: DVD box sets (2016-17); some episodes lost

The two shows that split the future Pythons — the former with Cleese, Chapman, Feldman, Brooke-Taylor (source of 'Four Yorkshiremen'); the latter with Idle, Jones, Palin plus the Bonzo Dog Band. Partly wiped. Availability: Surviving episodes on DVD

The two shows that split the future Pythons — the former with Cleese, Chapman, Feldman, Brooke-Taylor (source of 'Four Yorkshiremen'); the latter with Idle, Jones, Palin plus the Bonzo Dog Band. Partly wiped. Availability: Surviving episodes on DVD

Feldman's own surreal sketch vehicle. Availability: Partial; YouTube

Feldman's own surreal sketch vehicle. Availability: Partial; YouTube

Surreal, prop-heavy, cartoonish ('Kitten Kong'). Availability: DVD; BritBox

Surreal, prop-heavy, cartoonish ('Kitten Kong'). Availability: DVD; BritBox

Post-Python parodies of Boys' Own adventure — 'Tomkinson's Schooldays,' 'The Testing of Eric Olthwaite.' Availability: DVD; BritBox

Post-Python parodies of Boys' Own adventure — 'Tomkinson's Schooldays,' 'The Testing of Eric Olthwaite.' Availability: DVD; BritBox

Idle's fake-TV-station sketch show birthed the Beatles-parody Rutles (with Neil Innes, ex-Bonzo). Availability: Rutles on DVD; RWT scarce

Idle's fake-TV-station sketch show birthed the Beatles-parody Rutles (with Neil Innes, ex-Bonzo). Availability: Rutles on DVD; RWT scarce

Pre-Python curios. Availability: DVD/YouTube

Pre-Python curios. Availability: DVD/YouTube

Gentle, melancholy comedy about metal-detecting friends — the whimsical-warm end of the spectrum, earned by observational precision. Availability: iPlayer; DVD

Gentle, melancholy comedy about metal-detecting friends — the whimsical-warm end of the spectrum, earned by observational precision. Availability: iPlayer; DVD

Deadpan mockumentary of rural Cotswold youth. Availability: iPlayer

Deadpan mockumentary of rural Cotswold youth. Availability: iPlayer

Julian Barratt and Olivia Colman as a couple in a crumbling house amid depression, mania and the surreal — genuinely disturbing and beautiful; straddles both strands. Availability: Streaming

Julian Barratt and Olivia Colman as a couple in a crumbling house amid depression, mania and the surreal — genuinely disturbing and beautiful; straddles both strands. Availability: Streaming

Warmer still; noted as adjacent only. Availability: Streaming

Warmer still; noted as adjacent only. Availability: Streaming

Mock-retrospective from the future looking back on the 2000s — surreal, prescient, forgotten. Availability: Hard to find; fan uploads

Mock-retrospective from the future looking back on the 2000s — surreal, prescient, forgotten. Availability: Hard to find; fan uploads

Eight melancholic, surreal, essayistic comedy films — one of the most underrated things in his catalogue, closer to short-film philosophy than sketch. Availability: DVD; scarce

Eight melancholic, surreal, essayistic comedy films — one of the most underrated things in his catalogue, closer to short-film philosophy than sketch. Availability: DVD; scarce

Brydon as Keith Barret, a cuckolded taxi driver monologuing to camera with heartbreaking denial. Formally spare, quietly devastating. Availability: DVD

Brydon as Keith Barret, a cuckolded taxi driver monologuing to camera with heartbreaking denial. Formally spare, quietly devastating. Availability: DVD

Improvised satirical interviews; the 'subprime' sketch is legendary. Availability: YouTube

Improvised satirical interviews; the 'subprime' sketch is legendary. Availability: YouTube

Wordplay-driven sketch comedy; the language games fit the Adams love of linguistic play. Availability: DVD; BritBox

Wordplay-driven sketch comedy; the language games fit the Adams love of linguistic play. Availability: DVD; BritBox

Scottish-leaning surreal sketch troupe — 'Stoneybridge Town Council,' Mr Don and Mr George. A genuinely underrated cult sketch show. Availability: DVD; YouTube

Scottish-leaning surreal sketch troupe — 'Stoneybridge Town Council,' Mr Don and Mr George. A genuinely underrated cult sketch show. Availability: DVD; YouTube

Spoofing films with cuddly toys ('Toymania'). Lo-fi, affectionate, surreal. Availability: DVD; YouTube

Spoofing films with cuddly toys ('Toymania'). Lo-fi, affectionate, surreal. Availability: DVD; YouTube

Foul-mouthed, minimalist animation from the comic. Availability: DVD; comic in print

Foul-mouthed, minimalist animation from the comic. Availability: DVD; comic in print

Lee's deconstructive, repetition-driven anti-comedy is the closest stand-up analogue to formal-experiment taste. Availability: DVD; some YouTube/iPlayer

Lee's deconstructive, repetition-driven anti-comedy is the closest stand-up analogue to formal-experiment taste. Availability: DVD; some YouTube/iPlayer

A middle manager has a surreal breakdown, fakes his death, invents nonsense products that succeed. Satirical, melancholy, structurally daring. Availability: DVD; BritBox

A middle manager has a surreal breakdown, fakes his death, invents nonsense products that succeed. Satirical, melancholy, structurally daring. Availability: DVD; BritBox

Anarchic satire of geopolitics racing toward nuclear war. Availability: DVD; scarce

Anarchic satire of geopolitics racing toward nuclear war. Availability: DVD; scarce

Mayall as monstrous Tory MP Alan B'Stard. Broad but vicious. Availability: DVD

Mayall as monstrous Tory MP Alan B'Stard. Broad but vicious. Availability: DVD

Chris Langham as hapless documentary interviewer Roy Mallard — the mockumentary that fed into Morton's later W1A. See Langham biographical note. Availability: Radio on BBC Sounds intermittently; TV on DVD

Chris Langham as hapless documentary interviewer Roy Mallard — the mockumentary that fed into Morton's later W1A. See Langham biographical note. Availability: Radio on BBC Sounds intermittently; TV on DVD

Medieval grotesque; time-hopping dwarves; the dystopian bureaucratic nightmare-farce (Brazil is essential); the tall-tale fantasia. The whole catalogue is on-brand. Availability: Blu-ray/streaming

Medieval grotesque; time-hopping dwarves; the dystopian bureaucratic nightmare-farce (Brazil is essential); the tall-tale fantasia. The whole catalogue is on-brand. Availability: Blu-ray/streaming

Post-nuclear-Britain absurdism from Milligan & John Antrobus's play — a man slowly turns into a bedsitting room. Bleak-whimsical, badly neglected. Availability: BFI DVD

Post-nuclear-Britain absurdism from Milligan & John Antrobus's play — a man slowly turns into a bedsitting room. Bleak-whimsical, badly neglected. Availability: BFI DVD

Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr; Terry Southern satire of what people will do for money. Availability: DVD/streaming

Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr; Terry Southern satire of what people will do for money. Availability: DVD/streaming

Surreal-picaresque, adjacent.

Surreal-picaresque, adjacent.

Deadpan Scottish comedies; Local Hero's cosmic-melancholy ending (the phone box, the aurora) is pure whimsical-metaphysical. Availability: Blu-ray/streaming

Deadpan Scottish comedies; Local Hero's cosmic-melancholy ending (the phone box, the aurora) is pure whimsical-metaphysical. Availability: Blu-ray/streaming

Two out-of-work actors on a disastrous country holiday — verbally dense, bleakly funny, quotable to the point of liturgy. Availability: Blu-ray/streaming

Two out-of-work actors on a disastrous country holiday — verbally dense, bleakly funny, quotable to the point of liturgy. Availability: Blu-ray/streaming

Civil-war deserters, buried treasure, hallucinogenic mushrooms, formal experimentation. Genuinely disturbing and funny. Availability: Streaming

Civil-war deserters, buried treasure, hallucinogenic mushrooms, formal experimentation. Genuinely disturbing and funny. Availability: Streaming

A caravan holiday turns into a deadpan killing spree. Availability: Streaming

A caravan holiday turns into a deadpan killing spree. Availability: Streaming

A killer-dress giallo-comedy; a 'sonic catering' collective. Deadpan, uncanny, a strong Jam-strand fit. Availability: Streaming/Blu-ray

A killer-dress giallo-comedy; a 'sonic catering' collective. Deadpan, uncanny, a strong Jam-strand fit. Availability: Streaming/Blu-ray

Both list-obsessed and absurdly systematic, alongside The Falls (see Highest-Confidence).

Both list-obsessed and absurdly systematic, alongside The Falls (see Highest-Confidence).

From Bruno Schulz and Robert Walser respectively. Dreamlike, deadpan surrealist substrate. Availability: BFI/streaming

From Bruno Schulz and Robert Walser respectively. Dreamlike, deadpan surrealist substrate. Availability: BFI/streaming

The melancholy, handmade, quietly surreal children's TV that formed the substrate of British absurdist sensibility. Availability: DVD; streaming

The melancholy, handmade, quietly surreal children's TV that formed the substrate of British absurdist sensibility. Availability: DVD; streaming

Bird-like idiots on a two-dimensional planet, narrated with mock-gravity. Explicitly influenced by Jarry's Ubu Roi and Queneau's Oulipo — a direct French cousin of the taproot; caused France's first TV controversy. Availability: French DVD/YouTube (largely untranslated)

Bird-like idiots on a two-dimensional planet, narrated with mock-gravity. Explicitly influenced by Jarry's Ubu Roi and Queneau's Oulipo — a direct French cousin of the taproot; caused France's first TV controversy. Availability: French DVD/YouTube (largely untranslated)

Arthurian legend as deadpan micro-sitcom — bureaucratic-medieval bathos. Availability: French streaming; some subtitled online

Arthurian legend as deadpan micro-sitcom — bureaucratic-medieval bathos. Availability: French streaming; some subtitled online

The Splendid troupe's farces. Availability: French DVD

The Splendid troupe's farces. Availability: French DVD

Post-apocalyptic cannibal-landlord comedy. Availability: Blu-ray/streaming

Post-apocalyptic cannibal-landlord comedy. Availability: Blu-ray/streaming

God lives in a Brussels flat; his daughter leaks everyone's death-dates. Whimsical-metaphysical in the Adams register. Availability: Streaming

God lives in a Brussels flat; his daughter leaks everyone's death-dates. Whimsical-metaphysical in the Adams register. Availability: Streaming

A telekinetic murderer tyre; a man's lethal obsession with a deerskin jacket; a giant pet housefly. Short, dry, hilarious. The contemporary king of deadpan-absurd. Availability: Streaming

A telekinetic murderer tyre; a man's lethal obsession with a deerskin jacket; a giant pet housefly. Short, dry, hilarious. The contemporary king of deadpan-absurd. Availability: Streaming

Dinner parties that can never begin or end; taproot surrealist-comic cinema. Availability: Criterion/streaming

Dinner parties that can never begin or end; taproot surrealist-comic cinema. Availability: Criterion/streaming

Two girls named Marie commit gleeful anarchic havoc; banned by the regime. Availability: Criterion

Two girls named Marie commit gleeful anarchic havoc; banned by the regime. Availability: Criterion

Tactile, disturbing stop-motion. Availability: BFI/streaming

Tactile, disturbing stop-motion. Availability: BFI/streaming

Verne-illustration fantasia. Availability: Restored Blu-ray

Verne-illustration fantasia. Availability: Restored Blu-ray

Nested, recursive, digressive storytelling — the cinematic Tristram Shandy / Dirk Gently interconnectedness plot. Availability: Blu-ray/streaming

Nested, recursive, digressive storytelling — the cinematic Tristram Shandy / Dirk Gently interconnectedness plot. Availability: Blu-ray/streaming

Continuation of the Living trilogy register (see Highest-Confidence).

Continuation of the Living trilogy register (see Highest-Confidence).

Deadpan Finnish melancholy-comedy. Availability: Criterion

Deadpan Finnish melancholy-comedy. Availability: Criterion

Rule-bound absurdism; The Lobster's premise (single people turned into animals) is a perfect bleak-strand fit. Availability: Streaming

Rule-bound absurdism; The Lobster's premise (single people turned into animals) is a perfect bleak-strand fit. Availability: Streaming

Excruciating social-satire set-pieces. Availability: Streaming

Excruciating social-satire set-pieces. Availability: Streaming

Faux-archival, nested, delirious. Availability: Streaming/Blu-ray

Faux-archival, nested, delirious. Availability: Streaming/Blu-ray

Infomercials/sitcom-titles that curdle into horror — the purest American Jam-strand artefacts. Availability: YouTube/Adult Swim

Infomercials/sitcom-titles that curdle into horror — the purest American Jam-strand artefacts. Availability: YouTube/Adult Swim

Uncanny CGI vision-quest surrealism, dense wordplay. Availability: Streaming

Uncanny CGI vision-quest surrealism, dense wordplay. Availability: Streaming

Children's-TV parody of extraordinary bleakness. Availability: Hard to find; fan uploads

Children's-TV parody of extraordinary bleakness. Availability: Hard to find; fan uploads

The Adult Swim spectrum from nightmarish to gentle-uncanny — Joe Pera a whimsical cousin to Detectorists. Availability: Streaming

The Adult Swim spectrum from nightmarish to gentle-uncanny — Joe Pera a whimsical cousin to Detectorists. Availability: Streaming

Excruciating reality-format deconstructions; The Rehearsal is among the most formally radical comedies ever made. Availability: Streaming

Excruciating reality-format deconstructions; The Rehearsal is among the most formally radical comedies ever made. Availability: Streaming

Chaotic talk-show demolition. Availability: Streaming

Chaotic talk-show demolition. Availability: Streaming

Deadpan musical whimsy. Availability: Streaming

Deadpan musical whimsy. Availability: Streaming

Deadpan Kiwi absurdism. Availability: Streaming

Deadpan Kiwi absurdism. Availability: Streaming

Horror-comedy. Availability: Streaming

Horror-comedy. Availability: Streaming

Frenetic sketch surrealism. Availability: Netflix/YouTube

Frenetic sketch surrealism. Availability: Netflix/YouTube

Satirical stunt team. Availability: YouTube

Satirical stunt team. Availability: YouTube

Improv ensemble set in commuter cars — a Green Wing-adjacent formal experiment. Availability: ABC/streaming

Improv ensemble set in commuter cars — a Green Wing-adjacent formal experiment. Availability: ABC/streaming

Essential — surreal, character-driven sketch comedy (the 'head-crusher,' Chicken Lady). Availability: Streaming

Essential — surreal, character-driven sketch comedy (the 'head-crusher,' Chicken Lady). Availability: Streaming

Backstage-at-a-Shakespeare-festival comedy-drama; witty, melancholy, a ghost. Availability: Streaming

Backstage-at-a-Shakespeare-festival comedy-drama; witty, melancholy, a ghost. Availability: Streaming

Kitano's absurdist gag-comedy, unlike his crime films. Availability: Import/streaming

Kitano's absurdist gag-comedy, unlike his crime films. Availability: Import/streaming

Maximalist, transgressive, funny-and-disturbing. Availability: Streaming

Maximalist, transgressive, funny-and-disturbing. Availability: Streaming

The fountainhead. Start mid-1950s ('Napoleon's Piano'). Availability: BBC Audio; Internet Archive

The fountainhead. Start mid-1950s ('Napoleon's Piano'). Availability: BBC Audio; Internet Archive

Innuendo-dense; Julian and Sandy, Rambling Syd Rumpo. Availability: BBC Audio

Innuendo-dense; Julian and Sandy, Rambling Syd Rumpo. Availability: BBC Audio

Cleese, Brooke-Taylor, Garden, Oddie — the bridge from Goons to Python/Goodies. Availability: BBC Audio

Cleese, Brooke-Taylor, Garden, Oddie — the bridge from Goons to Python/Goodies. Availability: BBC Audio

Anarchic, form-breaking sketch radio — a connoisseur's deep cut. Availability: BBC Audio; fan archives

Anarchic, form-breaking sketch radio — a connoisseur's deep cut. Availability: BBC Audio; fan archives

Parody of a hopeless local radio station — precursor to Day Today media satire. Availability: BBC Audio

Parody of a hopeless local radio station — precursor to Day Today media satire. Availability: BBC Audio

Fantasy-epic parody. Availability: Fan archives; occasional repeats

Fantasy-epic parody. Availability: Fan archives; occasional repeats

Primary and Secondary Phases plus later Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases, adapting the later novels with much of the original cast. The radio is where it began and arguably its best form. Availability: BBC Audio; streaming

Primary and Secondary Phases plus later Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases, adapting the later novels with much of the original cast. The radio is where it began and arguably its best form. Availability: BBC Audio; streaming

Adams's endangered-species travelogue — his funniest, most humane non-fiction. Availability: Book in print; radio on BBC

Adams's endangered-species travelogue — his funniest, most humane non-fiction. Availability: Book in print; radio on BBC

Both novels, Harry Enfield as Dirk. A distinct pleasure from the two TV versions. Availability: BBC Audio

Both novels, Harry Enfield as Dirk. A distinct pleasure from the two TV versions. Availability: BBC Audio

A one-plane charter airline; Benedict Cumberbatch, Roger Allam, Stephanie Cole, Finnemore. Tight wordplay, warm ensemble; 26 episodes. Availability: BBC Audio/Audible — widely available

A one-plane charter airline; Benedict Cumberbatch, Roger Allam, Stephanie Cole, Finnemore. Tight wordplay, warm ensemble; 26 episodes. Availability: BBC Audio/Audible — widely available

Ingenious sketch comedy; 9 series then occasional specials (2023-25). The best pure sketch writing on current radio. Availability: BBC Sounds; CD

Ingenious sketch comedy; 9 series then occasional specials (2023-25). The best pure sketch writing on current radio. Availability: BBC Sounds; CD

Panel show where guests donate imaginary exhibits — ideas-comedy in the Adams register. Availability: BBC Sounds

Panel show where guests donate imaginary exhibits — ideas-comedy in the Adams register. Availability: BBC Sounds

Satan (Hamilton) runs Hell; theological ideas-comedy. Availability: BBC Audio

Satan (Hamilton) runs Hell; theological ideas-comedy. Availability: BBC Audio

'The number one podcast for those involved or just interested in the production of beef animals and dairy herds' — deadpan world-building of a monomaniacally beef-obsessed reality. Won Gold for Best Comedy at British Podcast Awards 2017 and 2018. Availability: Free on Maximum Fun; some episodes aired on Radio 4

'The number one podcast for those involved or just interested in the production of beef animals and dairy herds' — deadpan world-building of a monomaniacally beef-obsessed reality. Won Gold for Best Comedy at British Podcast Awards 2017 and 2018. Availability: Free on Maximum Fun; some episodes aired on Radio 4

Community radio for a town where all conspiracy theories are true — the surreal-audio touchstone Beef and Dairy cites as a model. Availability: Free

Community radio for a town where all conspiracy theories are true — the surreal-audio touchstone Beef and Dairy cites as a model. Availability: Free

Two monstrous agony aunts; grotesque, filthy, in the Nighty Night register. Availability: Free/Audible

Two monstrous agony aunts; grotesque, filthy, in the Nighty Night register. Availability: Free/Audible

The surreal football-adjacent Bob Mortimer deep cut — invented worlds, Steve McClaren's inner monologue. Availability: Free

The surreal football-adjacent Bob Mortimer deep cut — invented worlds, Steve McClaren's inner monologue. Availability: Free

Deadpan miniatures, harmonium songs, 'Life in a Scotch Sitting Room.' Availability: Streaming; YouTube

Deadpan miniatures, harmonium songs, 'Life in a Scotch Sitting Room.' Availability: Streaming; YouTube

Improvised, extraordinarily obscene alter-ego recordings; included for its anti-comedy daring, with a strong content warning. Availability: Records; streaming

Improvised, extraordinarily obscene alter-ego recordings; included for its anti-comedy daring, with a strong content warning. Availability: Records; streaming

The satire-boom foundations. Much of Not Only… But Also was wiped. Availability: Surviving fragments on DVD/BBC

The satire-boom foundations. Much of Not Only… But Also was wiped. Availability: Surviving fragments on DVD/BBC

Alongside The Third Policeman (see Highest-Confidence), the single most important prose author for this taste. Availability: In print

Alongside The Third Policeman (see Highest-Confidence), the single most important prose author for this taste. Availability: In print

Alongside The Cyberiad (see Highest-Confidence). A Perfect Vacuum is reviews of nonexistent books. Availability: In print (Penguin/MIT)

Alongside The Cyberiad (see Highest-Confidence). A Perfect Vacuum is reviews of nonexistent books. Availability: In print (Penguin/MIT)

Tall-tale comic SF of pure invention. The Best of R.A. Lafferty (Gollancz SF Masterworks, 2019) in print with a Neil Gaiman intro. His Okla Hannali is non-comic — a different register. Availability: Best-of in print; older collections used/Internet Archive

Tall-tale comic SF of pure invention. The Best of R.A. Lafferty (Gollancz SF Masterworks, 2019) in print with a Neil Gaiman intro. His Okla Hannali is non-comic — a different register. Availability: Best-of in print; older collections used/Internet Archive

A hapless New Yorker wins the Intergalactic Sweepstakes by computer error and must find his way home — a genuine Hitchhiker's precursor. Adams read it only after writing the Guide and found the parallels 'eerie' but coincidental. Availability: In print (Gollancz; Audible narrated by John Hodgman, curated by Neil Gaiman)

A hapless New Yorker wins the Intergalactic Sweepstakes by computer error and must find his way home — a genuine Hitchhiker's precursor. Adams read it only after writing the Guide and found the parallels 'eerie' but coincidental. Availability: In print (Gollancz; Audible narrated by John Hodgman, curated by Neil Gaiman)

Sharp farcical robot-satire. Tik-Tok won the BSFA Award. The hardest-to-find author here — physical copies scarce. Availability: SF Gateway Omnibus (ebook) is the reliable route

Sharp farcical robot-satire. Tik-Tok won the BSFA Award. The hardest-to-find author here — physical copies scarce. Availability: SF Gateway Omnibus (ebook) is the reliable route

A programmer joins the Institute for the Technology of Witchcraft and Thaumaturgy — magic strangled by Soviet bureaucracy. Availability: Andrew Bromfield translation (Chicago Review Press, 2016) in print

A programmer joins the Institute for the Technology of Witchcraft and Thaumaturgy — magic strangled by Soviet bureaucracy. Availability: Andrew Bromfield translation (Chicago Review Press, 2016) in print

World Fantasy Award co-winner, set in 'an Ancient China that never was.' The physical omnibus is out of print/pricey. Availability: Bridge of Birds most reliably available; ebook omnibus is the practical option

World Fantasy Award co-winner, set in 'an Ancient China that never was.' The physical omnibus is out of print/pricey. Availability: Bridge of Birds most reliably available; ebook omnibus is the practical option

Shortlisted for both the Booker and Whitbread First Novel; won the McKitterick Prize. Flat, deadpan prose about manual labour that slides into Kafkaesque menace; Pynchon praised it. Availability: In print (Bloomsbury)

Shortlisted for both the Booker and Whitbread First Novel; won the McKitterick Prize. Flat, deadpan prose about manual labour that slides into Kafkaesque menace; Pynchon praised it. Availability: In print (Bloomsbury)

For an Adams reader, skip the weaker first two Discworld books. Strata and The Dark Side of the Sun are direct dialogues with Niven/Asimov and closest to Adams's flavour. Availability: All in print

For an Adams reader, skip the weaker first two Discworld books. Strata and The Dark Side of the Sun are direct dialogues with Niven/Asimov and closest to Adams's flavour. Availability: All in print

Literary-detective absurdism; colour-caste dystopia. Availability: In print

Literary-detective absurdism; colour-caste dystopia. Availability: In print

'Far-Fetched Fiction': West London layabouts battle cosmic threats between pints. Availability: In print (POD/Kindle)

'Far-Fetched Fiction': West London layabouts battle cosmic threats between pints. Availability: In print (POD/Kindle)

A mild Englishman inherits the Ring of the Nibelung after running over a badger. Availability: In print (Orbit)

A mild Englishman inherits the Ring of the Nibelung after running over a badger. Availability: In print (Orbit)

Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, Better Than Life. Excellent prose expansions — arguably funnier than the TV. Availability: In print

Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, Better Than Life. Excellent prose expansions — arguably funnier than the TV. Availability: In print

The taproot of the whole tradition. Availability: In print

The taproot of the whole tradition. Availability: In print

Oulipo constraint-comedy. A Void is written entirely without the letter 'e.' Availability: In print

Oulipo constraint-comedy. A Void is written entirely without the letter 'e.' Availability: In print

Exercises in Style retells one trivial event 99 different ways. Availability: In print

Exercises in Style retells one trivial event 99 different ways. Availability: In print

Surreal, punning, heartbreaking. Availability: In print

Surreal, punning, heartbreaking. Availability: In print

The pre-modern digressive-comic canon. Pair Tristram Shandy with Winterbottom's film A Cock and Bull Story (2005). Availability: In print

The pre-modern digressive-comic canon. Pair Tristram Shandy with Winterbottom's film A Cock and Bull Story (2005). Availability: In print

Milligan's comic novel and war memoir, alongside his radio/TV work catalogued elsewhere. Availability: In print

Milligan's comic novel and war memoir, alongside his radio/TV work catalogued elsewhere. Availability: In print

Comyns's novels are surreal-grotesque gems; Spark's has a diabolical whimsy. Availability: In print (Virago/NYRB)

Comyns's novels are surreal-grotesque gems; Spark's has a diabolical whimsy. Availability: In print (Virago/NYRB)

The mandarin-comic stylists. Availability: In print/used

The mandarin-comic stylists. Availability: In print/used

Grotesque, architectural, funny-melancholy. Availability: In print

Grotesque, architectural, funny-melancholy. Availability: In print

Comic novel of Edwardian Oxford social satire. Availability: In print

Comic novel of Edwardian Oxford social satire. Availability: In print

Short stories of dry Edwardian social comedy and macabre wit. Availability: In print

Short stories of dry Edwardian social comedy and macabre wit. Availability: In print

Non-obvious entry point: recommended over Jeeves for the pure clockwork-farce architecture. Availability: In print

Non-obvious entry point: recommended over Jeeves for the pure clockwork-farce architecture. Availability: In print

A country-house novel of talking heads — ancestor of the ideas-comedy conversation novel. Availability: In print

A country-house novel of talking heads — ancestor of the ideas-comedy conversation novel. Availability: In print

Comic-melancholy poetry and a genre-blurring novel; part of the British comic-prose deep-cut tradition. Availability: In print

Comic-melancholy poetry and a genre-blurring novel; part of the British comic-prose deep-cut tradition. Availability: In print

Core British comic-prose deep cuts. Availability: In print

Core British comic-prose deep cuts. Availability: In print

In His Own Write is Goon-influenced nonsense. Availability: In print/used

In His Own Write is Goon-influenced nonsense. Availability: In print/used

A 'dictionary' of place-names as feelings. Essential Adams-adjacent. Availability: In print

A 'dictionary' of place-names as feelings. Essential Adams-adjacent. Availability: In print

Hallucinatory, ornate, funny-uncanny. Availability: In print

Hallucinatory, ornate, funny-uncanny. Availability: In print

A man reduced to a schoolboy; formal-absurd assault on maturity. Availability: In print

A man reduced to a schoolboy; formal-absurd assault on maturity. Availability: In print

The great comic anti-war novel. Availability: In print

The great comic anti-war novel. Availability: In print

Satirical SF; salamanders as proletariat. Availability: In print

Satirical SF; salamanders as proletariat. Availability: In print

Gentle, strange, self-effacing. Availability: In print (NYRB)

Gentle, strange, self-effacing. Availability: In print (NYRB)

In his comic register. Ranting, repetitive, blackly hilarious — a prose analogue to Stewart Lee. Availability: In print

In his comic register. Ranting, repetitive, blackly hilarious — a prose analogue to Stewart Lee. Availability: In print

Cosmic bathos, invented religions (Bokononism) — very close to Adams. Availability: In print

Cosmic bathos, invented religions (Bokononism) — very close to Adams. Availability: In print

Collage-comic postmodernism. Availability: In print

Collage-comic postmodernism. Availability: In print

An entire novel about a lunchtime escalator ride, footnote-mad — digressive-comic prose at its most microscopic. Availability: In print

An entire novel about a lunchtime escalator ride, footnote-mad — digressive-comic prose at its most microscopic. Availability: In print

The contemporary ideas-comic novelists. Antkind is recursive, digressive. Availability: In print

The contemporary ideas-comic novelists. Antkind is recursive, digressive. Availability: In print

Formally explosive, illustrated, digressive — a Scottish cousin to O'Brien. Availability: In print

Formally explosive, illustrated, digressive — a Scottish cousin to O'Brien. Availability: In print

The British experimental-novel wing. The Unfortunates is a book in a box, unbound. Availability: In print/used

The British experimental-novel wing. The Unfortunates is a book in a box, unbound. Availability: In print/used

An 800-page comic-uncanny masterpiece and a strong fit. Alongside Will Self and Geoff Dyer. Availability: In print

An 800-page comic-uncanny masterpiece and a strong fit. Alongside Will Self and Geoff Dyer. Availability: In print

Broad farce, for completeness. Availability: In print

Broad farce, for completeness. Availability: In print

Satirical AI/automation novel and the classic backstage farce play. Availability: In print

Satirical AI/automation novel and the classic backstage farce play. Availability: In print

The scabrous parody-comic — Roger Mellie, the Fat Slags. Availability: In print; annuals

The scabrous parody-comic — Roger Mellie, the Fat Slags. Availability: In print; annuals

A working-class British family of monsters — Moore's funniest, warmest work; a near-perfect fit. Availability: Collected (Top Shelf)

A working-class British family of monsters — Moore's funniest, warmest work; a near-perfect fit. Availability: Collected (Top Shelf)

Teenage alien delinquents — Moore doing National-Lampoon-in-space. Availability: Collected (Rebellion)

Teenage alien delinquents — Moore doing National-Lampoon-in-space. Availability: Collected (Rebellion)

2000AD comedic strips. Availability: Collected

2000AD comedic strips. Availability: Collected

Grandville is a steampunk badger-detective series — Adams-strand alternate-history whimsy. Availability: In print (Dark Horse/Cape)

Grandville is a steampunk badger-detective series — Adams-strand alternate-history whimsy. Availability: In print (Dark Horse/Cape)

Anarchic underground cartoonist. Availability: In print (Knockabout)

Anarchic underground cartoonist. Availability: In print (Knockabout)

Punk-surreal post-apocalyptic anarchy. Availability: Collected

Punk-surreal post-apocalyptic anarchy. Availability: Collected

Autobiographical-pub-philosophical and mythological-comic. Availability: In print

Autobiographical-pub-philosophical and mythological-comic. Availability: In print

Literary social comedy. Availability: In print

Literary social comedy. Availability: In print

Deadpan-surreal strips of domestic-cosmic strangeness; very on-brand. Availability: In print/used

Deadpan-surreal strips of domestic-cosmic strangeness; very on-brand. Availability: In print/used

The Guardian/New Scientist cartoons. Bone-dry, literary, science-nerd deadpan — essential. Availability: In print (Drawn & Quarterly)

The Guardian/New Scientist cartoons. Bone-dry, literary, science-nerd deadpan — essential. Availability: In print (Drawn & Quarterly)

Crude-line existential gag art; essential. Availability: In print

Crude-line existential gag art; essential. Availability: In print

Surreal cowboy and schoolboy captioned drawings in the single-panel absurdist gag tradition. Availability: In print/used

Surreal cowboy and schoolboy captioned drawings in the single-panel absurdist gag tradition. Availability: In print/used

Black-humour one-pagers born of the Spirou creator's depression — suicides, nuclear war, execution, drawn in ink so heavy the pages look like negatives. A perfect bleak-strand fit. Availability: English edition Die Laughing (2018, Fantagraphics)

Black-humour one-pagers born of the Spirou creator's depression — suicides, nuclear war, execution, drawn in ink so heavy the pages look like negatives. A perfect bleak-strand fit. Availability: English edition Die Laughing (2018, Fantagraphics)

A boy travels to islands shaped like the letters of 'Atlantic Ocean' on a map — pure whimsical-metaphysical surrealist comics; essential. Availability: English editions (Toon Books)

A boy travels to islands shaped like the letters of 'Atlantic Ocean' on a map — pure whimsical-metaphysical surrealist comics; essential. Availability: English editions (Toon Books)

Anarchic gag-comics; Fluide Glacial co-founder. Availability: French; largely untranslated

Anarchic gag-comics; Fluide Glacial co-founder. Availability: French; largely untranslated

Absurdist desert-dwelling vegetable hero. Availability: French

Absurdist desert-dwelling vegetable hero. Availability: French

The black-humour magazine Franquin and Gotlib built. Availability: French

The black-humour magazine Franquin and Gotlib built. Availability: French

Moebius's comedic/absurd work, distinct from his better-known SF/fantasy art. Availability: In print

Moebius's comedic/absurd work, distinct from his better-known SF/fantasy art. Availability: In print

Netherlands. Availability: In print

Netherlands. Availability: In print

Wordless, beautiful, deeply uncanny surrealism in a 1930s-cartoon idiom — essential for the wordless-surreal register. Availability: In print (Fantagraphics)

Wordless, beautiful, deeply uncanny surrealism in a 1930s-cartoon idiom — essential for the wordless-surreal register. Availability: In print (Fantagraphics)

Arsène is a fake-biography of the author's colonial grandfather that slides into feverish surreality; described as 'Roy Andersson remaking Fitzcarraldo as an X-rated children's comic.' Availability: In print (Fantagraphics; 10th-anniversary edition 2024)

Arsène is a fake-biography of the author's colonial grandfather that slides into feverish surreality; described as 'Roy Andersson remaking Fitzcarraldo as an X-rated children's comic.' Availability: In print (Fantagraphics; 10th-anniversary edition 2024)

Melancholy urban-absurdist strips of an imaginary city's forgotten trades. Availability: In print

Melancholy urban-absurdist strips of an imaginary city's forgotten trades. Availability: In print

Crude, bleak, panic-attack surrealism. Availability: In print/used

Crude, bleak, panic-attack surrealism. Availability: In print/used

Body-horror-whimsy. Availability: In print

Body-horror-whimsy. Availability: In print

Bleak stoner-witch domestic despair. Availability: In print

Bleak stoner-witch domestic despair. Availability: In print

Nihilistic underground gag-strip. Availability: Collected

Nihilistic underground gag-strip. Availability: Collected

Foundational: the cosmic love-triangle poem-comic. Availability: Collected (Fantagraphics)

Foundational: the cosmic love-triangle poem-comic. Availability: Collected (Fantagraphics)

Dream-logic substrate. Availability: Collected

Dream-logic substrate. Availability: Collected

Strips read one way, then flipped. Availability: Collected

Strips read one way, then flipped. Availability: Collected

For the 'Nancy is a formalist object' reading (see How to Read Nancy). Availability: Collected

For the 'Nancy is a formalist object' reading (see How to Read Nancy). Availability: Collected

The alt-comics spectrum from body-horror to deadpan misanthropy to punk-primitive. Availability: In print

The alt-comics spectrum from body-horror to deadpan misanthropy to punk-primitive. Availability: In print

Surreal-macabre cartoonist and novelist. Availability: In print/used

Surreal-macabre cartoonist and novelist. Availability: In print/used

Deadpan macabre-Edwardian. Availability: In print

Deadpan macabre-Edwardian. Availability: In print

Macabre/absurdist gag cartooning. Availability: Collected

Macabre/absurdist gag cartooning. Availability: Collected

The accessible gateway to absurdist single panels. Availability: The Complete Far Side in print

The accessible gateway to absurdist single panels. Availability: The Complete Far Side in print

Adams co-wrote it; famously cruel and funny. Availability: Free browser version hosted by the BBC

Adams co-wrote it; famously cruel and funny. Availability: Free browser version hosted by the BBC

Eric Idle voices Rincewind; Noir is notoriously hard to run. Availability: GOG/fan patches

Eric Idle voices Rincewind; Noir is notoriously hard to run. Availability: GOG/fan patches

Not a comedy per se, but the prose voice — digressive, erudite, funny, melancholy — is the closest games have come to the Adams/O'Brien register. Strongly recommended. Availability: All platforms

Not a comedy per se, but the prose voice — digressive, erudite, funny, melancholy — is the closest games have come to the Adams/O'Brien register. Strongly recommended. Availability: All platforms

Magical-realist, melancholy, formally experimental. Availability: All platforms

Magical-realist, melancholy, formally experimental. Availability: All platforms

Stick-figure comic RPGs of relentless punning. Availability: Steam/browser

Stick-figure comic RPGs of relentless punning. Availability: Steam/browser

The classic comic point-and-click canon. Availability: GOG

The classic comic point-and-click canon. Availability: GOG

Surreal, unsettling cult RPG (RPG Maker, France). Availability: Free

Surreal, unsettling cult RPG (RPG Maker, France). Availability: Free

Wordless dream-exploration; deeply uncanny. Availability: Free/Steam

Wordless dream-exploration; deeply uncanny. Availability: Free/Steam

A dream simulator of pure disorientation. Availability: Emulation only; very rare

A dream simulator of pure disorientation. Availability: Emulation only; very rare

Claymation surrealist RPG; NPCs speak in randomly-generated text; you fight to defeat Gibby, King of the Moon. VERY on-brand. Availability: Steam/itch.io

Claymation surrealist RPG; NPCs speak in randomly-generated text; you fight to defeat Gibby, King of the Moon. VERY on-brand. Availability: Steam/itch.io

Crude, grotesque, brilliant micro-RPG. Availability: Free

Crude, grotesque, brilliant micro-RPG. Availability: Free

A Twin-Peaks-adjacent so-strange-it-transcends piece. Alongside the Suda51 catalogue (Killer7, No More Heroes). Availability: Various platforms

A Twin-Peaks-adjacent so-strange-it-transcends piece. Alongside the Suda51 catalogue (Killer7, No More Heroes). Availability: Various platforms

PS1/PS2 absurdist oddities. Availability: Emulation/rare

PS1/PS2 absurdist oddities. Availability: Emulation/rare

The meta-narration masterpiece — a game about a narrator and free will. Essential. Availability: All platforms

The meta-narration masterpiece — a game about a narrator and free will. Essential. Availability: All platforms

Games that are secretly entirely different games. Availability: Free/Steam

Games that are secretly entirely different games. Availability: Free/Steam

A puzzle game where you rewrite the rules — formal wit as mechanic. Availability: All platforms

A puzzle game where you rewrite the rules — formal wit as mechanic. Availability: All platforms

Meta-games about broken/malevolent games. Availability: Steam

Meta-games about broken/malevolent games. Availability: Steam

The digressive philosophical narration over a rage-game. Availability: Steam/mobile

The digressive philosophical narration over a rage-game. Availability: Steam/mobile

A spy-spoof of wall-to-wall gags. Availability: Steam

A spy-spoof of wall-to-wall gags. Availability: Steam

You police a surreal alternate-1999 internet. Superb world-building comedy. Availability: All platforms

You police a surreal alternate-1999 internet. Superb world-building comedy. Availability: All platforms

Cosmic-absurdist toys — you are, in turn, everything in the universe / a mountain. Pure whimsical-metaphysical. Availability: All platforms

Cosmic-absurdist toys — you are, in turn, everything in the universe / a mountain. Pure whimsical-metaphysical. Availability: All platforms

Thomas Was Alone (Mike Bithell, UK) has Danny Wallace's droll narration; The Neverhood is claymation, ancestor of Hylics; Katamari Damacy — roll everything into a star. Availability: Various platforms

Thomas Was Alone (Mike Bithell, UK) has Danny Wallace's droll narration; The Neverhood is claymation, ancestor of Hylics; Katamari Damacy — roll everything into a star. Availability: Various platforms

The taproot, cross-referenced from the books section. Availability: In print

The taproot, cross-referenced from the books section. Availability: In print

The English-primer-gone-mad; conformity as a pachyderm plague. Availability: In print; frequently staged

The English-primer-gone-mad; conformity as a pachyderm plague. Availability: In print; frequently staged

Beckett in his vaudeville register. Availability: In print

Beckett in his vaudeville register. Availability: In print

Farce weaponised — corpses, corruption, anarchic amorality. Availability: In print/staged

Farce weaponised — corpses, corruption, anarchic amorality. Availability: In print/staged

An earl who thinks he's God; savage-surreal satire (1972 film with Peter O'Toole). Availability: Film on Blu-ray

An earl who thinks he's God; savage-surreal satire (1972 film with Peter O'Toole). Availability: Film on Blu-ray

Ideas-comedy for the stage. Availability: In print

Ideas-comedy for the stage. Availability: In print

Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshall's Dada-music-hall band — 'The Intro and the Outro.' Availability: Streaming

Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshall's Dada-music-hall band — 'The Intro and the Outro.' Availability: Streaming

Neil Innes solo work and his Rutles songs, alongside his Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band role. Availability: Streaming

Neil Innes solo work and his Rutles songs, alongside his Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band role. Availability: Streaming

Nigel Blackwell's deadpan-surreal indie lyrics ('Joy Division Oven Gloves'). Availability: Streaming

Nigel Blackwell's deadpan-surreal indie lyrics ('Joy Division Oven Gloves'). Availability: Streaming

A Sheffield everyman singer-songwriter character of exquisite mundane pathos — extremely on-brand. Availability: Albums/DVDs; radio

A Sheffield everyman singer-songwriter character of exquisite mundane pathos — extremely on-brand. Availability: Albums/DVDs; radio

Yorkshire chansonnier; witty, bawdy, melancholy. Availability: Streaming

Yorkshire chansonnier; witty, bawdy, melancholy. Availability: Streaming

Adjacent artists on the same axis. Availability: Streaming

Adjacent artists on the same axis. Availability: Streaming