20 Funniest Moments In British Comedy

18. University Challenge - The Young Ones

The Show: It seems hard to imagine now, but in 1981 nobody had really heard of Ben Elton, Rik Mayall, or Adrian Edmundson, and alternative comedy was something almost exclusively reserved for the Monty Python lads.

That all changed though when the Young Ones proved that anarchic, slapstick, and rude humour had a place in the living rooms of Britain, all whilst providing one of the most astute and iconic social commentaries on a generation of 18-25 year olds who had no idea what their place in the world was.

The Setup: Satirising the class divide between the Oxbridge elite and the rest of humanity almost as well as the real University Challenge does, the four lads square up against Footlights College (featuring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie no less), in a hilarious battle of wits.