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1. Lucille Ball
Famous for the US classic 1950s television show, I Love Lucy. She also appeared in numerous comedy musicals.

2. Steve Martin
US comic actor famous for films like Father of the Bride and Parenthood.

3. Jerry Seinfeld
Stand-up comedian who stars in 1990s cult US sitcom Seinfeld.

4. Eric Morecambe
The late Eric Morecambe was one of the UK's best-loved comedians as one half of double act Morecambe and Wise.

5. Tony Hancock
In the 1950s and 1960s Tony Hancock was a star of British comedy. He is best known for Hancock's Half Hour, a pioneer of situation comedy set in East Cheam.

6. Alan Bennett
Comic writer behind the films Prick Up Your Ears and The Madness of King George. In the 1960s he had a career with the comedy troupe Beyond The Fringe. More recently his memoirs, Writing Home became a UK bestseller.

7. Elaine May and Mike Nichols
Nichols and May were a 1950s comedy team, who moved into film making - Mike Nichols as a writer/director and Elaine May as a screenwriter.

8. Bilko
Sergeant Bilko was a fictional character played by Phil Silvers in a classic situation comedy series.

9. Alison Steadman
Alison Steadman has appeared in comedy films since the 1970s, including Nuts in May, Abigail's Party and more recently, Secrets and Lies.

10. Laurel and Hardy
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy delighted audiences worldwide with their comic escapades that would always get them into scrapes.

Biographical information provided by BBC News Online.

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French and Saunders
French and Saunders are one of the most successful partnerships in British comedy today.
They met as trainee teachers at London's Central School of Speech and Drama and since 1987 have worked together on several sketch series. Their latest filming was finished in July.
Their characters include glossy magazine women, two fat gin-drinking countryside women and two unpleasant men who are fond of obscene gestures.
Other acts have included their own spoof versions of Baywatch and films like The Silence of the Lambs and Titanic.

Jennifer Saunders also co-stars in Absolutely Fabulous where she plays a role-reversed mother with a sensible teenage daughter, while Dawn French plays a chocoholic vicar in the comedy series The Vicar of Dibley.