4 connections between The Fall and comedy:

(1) Marc Riley aka Lard (of Mark & Lard) was a guitarist in the early years, and he played on 6 albums between 1979 and 1982.

(2) Lee&Herring's Curious Orange is inspired by 'I am Curious, Orange' the Michael Clark/Fall ballet from 1988. The CO theme music is 'Kurious Oranj' from the album 'I am Kurious, Oranj'. The full show (band+ballet) was at the Edinburgh festival in 1988, at the same time that L&H were dying in the Oxford revue 'Waving at the pigeons'.

(3) Mark E.Smith was the bouncer on an edition of 'The People Vs Jerry Sadowitz', because Sadowitz is a fan.

(4) The song 'Joker Hysterical Face' (on the 'Room To Live' album) contains the line "Ted Rogers' brain burn in hell..." Come to think of it, that has nothing to do with the world of comedy.

So, er, that's 3 connections. Anyone got anything else to add?

Er, well, the NME in the early 90s used to regularly feature skits on Fall song-titles (generally involving the word 'encroachment') and I'd like to think that Quantick and Wells (The Day Today, On The Hour, Brass Eye, Jam contributors) were responsible for those. Though, come to think of it, it was probably Collins and Maconie.

Must try harder...

The drum roll used by Simon Munnery near the end of his League Against tedium show is the intro to 'Guest Informant', on 'The Frenz Experiment'.

Wahey! The Fall. Let's hit the road skidding.

Great line from said 'Guest Informant', a murder story, would be "All the hotel staff have been dismissed. It was me all along - the hoover!"

Quantick once said that he left a message on MES's answerphone about a forthcoming interview. Said message appeared in an intro tape at the gig he went to that night.

Marc Riley spoke to me recently for a Fall article I'm writing. VERY bitchy.

MES told me he wandered off during the filming for Sadowitz to go to the pub. Jerry was not making it up, unlike The Fall's apalling performance at the end.