Beyond the Fringe Beyond the Fringe Beyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in London's West End and then in America, both on tour and on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s. Hugely successful, it is widely regarded as seminal to the "satire boom", the rise of satirical comedy in 1960s Britain. The idea, of bringing together the best of revues by the Cambridge Footlights and The Oxford Revue, both of which had transferred to Fringe Festival for short runs in previous years, was conceived
Beyond the Fringe then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan; on one occasion, this was performed with Macmillan in the audience, and Cook added an "ad lib" ridiculing Macmillan for turning up to watch. In 2006, Jonathan Miller recounted that the breach of decorum this represented was a source of embarrassment to both audience and performers. The show is credited with giving many other performers the courage to be satirical and more improvisational in their manner, and broke the conventions of not lampooning the Royal Family or the government of the day. Shakespearean drama was another target of their comedy. There were also a number