Career: After graduating, Fry and Laurie enjoyed a successful comedy partnership. Fry was a millionaire by 30, thanks to a successful rewrite of the Noel Gay musical Me and My Girl. He has appeared in numerous films and TV projects, including Blackadder, Jeeves and Wooster, Wilde, Thunderpants, Kingdom and The Hobbit. He's also written several books, and is well-known as a charming raconteur. He made his movie debut as writer and director with Bright Young Things, based on Evelyn Waugh's book, Vile Bodies. Fry is the presenter of comedy quiz QI, he has also made several acclaimed documentaries, including ones about manic depression and Aids, and he is the reader for the British versions of JK Rowling's Harry Potter series of audio books.

Career: Davies performed his first stand-up gig in 1988, and by the early 1990s was a rising star, picking up rave reviews at Edinburgh. He later gave up playing clubs to concentrate on radio. His Radio 1 series, Alan's Big One FM, led to TV appearances on shows such as One Foot in the Grave, before he was cast as the lead in Jonathan Creek, the light-hearted mystery drama that made him a household name. Other acting work includes Bob and Rose, A Many Splintered Thing, The Brief, Marple, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008), Lewis and Whites. He presented the three-part documentary Alan Davies' Teenage Revolution for Channel 4 in 2010 and was a judge in 2011 on ITV talent show Show Me the Funny. He's also appeared in West End hit Auntie and Me. He has been a permanent panellist on irreverent quiz QI since the show began in 2003.

Career: Brand's sense of humour kept her going while dealing with difficult cases at work. She began doing stand-up at London clubs in the mid-1980s and eventually gave up nursing to concentrate on comedy. She was shortlisted for the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival before landing her own comedy show, Jo Brand Through the Cakehole. Since then she has regularly appeared on TV, including as a frequent guest on Have I Got News for You, Question Time and QI. She continues to do stand-up, performing at venues around the country. Brand also took part in Celebrity Fame Academy, and the reality shows Play It Again and Comic Relief Does The Apprentice. She enjoyed a bona fide hit as an actress and writer with dark medical comedy Getting On. She is a judge on ITV reality series Splash!

Career: Bill started touring with the likes of Phill Jupitus and Mark Lamarr, before forming a double-act in 1989 with Martin Stubbs. His big break came in 1995 with the show Bill Bailey's Cosmic Jam, a performance of which was filmed and broadcast on Channel 4. In 1998, he scooped his own comedy show on the BBC, Is It Bill Bailey?, and enjoyed a series of successful guest slots on shows such as Have I Got News for You. Bill also starred in Dylan Moran's Channel 4 sitcom Black Books, before taking over from Sean Hughes as a captain on Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 2002. He's a regular on quiz show QI, and has also enjoyed other acting roles in the likes of Jonathan Creek and Fifteen Storeys High. His big-screen CV includes the movies Saving Grace and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, while his cameo in Hot Fuzz was very well-received. He also continues to tour with his stand-up, selling out arenas all over the world, and has begun a separate career as a presenter of wildlife shows, including the ITV series Baboons with Bill Bailey.

Career: Carr began performing on the stand-up circuit, doing up to 300 shows a year for three years, before taking his act to the Edinburgh festival in 2002. This brought him to the attention of TV bosses, and before long he was presenting series such as Your Face or Mine and Distraction. Since then, he's rarely been off TVscreens, hosting the first run of the Friday Night Project, 8 Out of 10 Cats and numerous Channel 4 list shows. He's also made a move into acting, appearing in Alien Autopsy, Confetti, Stormbreaker and Telstar. He is one of Britain's busiest comics and his DVDs are big sellers.