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: Perkins became president of the Cambridge Footlights in 1990, and in 1993 was shortlisted (with Giedroyc) for the Best Newcomer Award at Edinburgh. After writing for French & Saunders they hosted Channel 4's Light Lunch, and a teatime version, Late Lunch, as well as breakfast show RI:SE. Solo, Perkins appeared in Celebrity Big Brother in 2002. In 2005, she premiered her first one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe, which then toured the country. The Supersizers concept launched in 2007, and proved popular with viewers. She also won reality show Maestro, has made numerous appearances on panel quiz shows and was reunited with Mel for the hugely successful Great British Bake Off. Her sitcom Heading Out premiered in early 2013.

Career: Tarbuck started out on stage before playing Pamela in the hugely popular ITV sitcom Watching. When the series ended in 1993, she featured in gritty drama Tumbledown, but after struggling to find more roles reinvented herself as a TV presenter, fronting The Weekend Show in 1995 and She's Gotta Have It, before going on to co-host The Big Breakfast with old pal Johnny Vaughan. Tarbuck stayed with the show for a year but left to take on new projects, including Blockbusters and comedy drama Linda Green. She's also appeared in Bleak House, Saxondale, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Extras and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and presented the Channel 4 series Without Prejudice and Britain's Top Dog.