The programme is credited with bringing alternative comedy to British television: Lloyd once commented he wanted to do a "modern, working-class" comedy in contrast to other series of the time, such as "The Two Ronnies", as well as attempting to replicate the Satire boom of the early 1960s that launched the careers of John Cleese, Dudley Moore, Eric Idle, Tim Brooke-Taylor and others. This also happened at a time that the magazine "National Lampoon", "The Second City" troupes and "Saturday Night Live" became showcases of alternative comedy in North America.