The Comic Strip Presents... began airing on the launch night of Channel 4 in November 1982. The show aired a number of episodes and one-off satirical comedy specials over a number of years, including a move to BBC2 in the early 1990s. Since 2012, GOLD has begun airing brand new one-off episodes of the show with some of the original cast members. The cast who originally appeared in the show include Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson, many of the cast members comedy careers launched due to the series popularity.