Punt and Dennis Are Ploughing On Regardless

Punt and Dennis celebrate their 25 year partnership in their 2014 UK tour, which arrives in the North East this weekend.

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis live the dream as they cruise the contraflow lanes, follow the one-way systems, unwrap the pasties and sip the service-station coffees of Britain in their quest to find somewhere to park vaguely near a theatre.

The pair say that Ploughing On Regardless, their first tour since 2011’s They Should Get Out More, does not have a particular theme, although it looks ahead to next year’s general election.

“It’s current rather than topical. We tend to keep a list of subjects which seem particularly fruitful,” says Punt.

“And then we can weave different stuff in and out of those. It’s less based on the news – it’s more free-flowing and more silly I suppose.”

Referring to the pair’s silliness, Hugh Dennis recalls that their partnership was once described as “Steve Punt and his naughty friend.”

The current UK tour, scheduled around the writing and recording of the 42nd series of their BBC Radio 4 topical show The Now Show, travels to Northern towns and cities for the following dates:

• 1 Feb – Newcastle (Mill Volvo Tyne Theatre)
• 2 Feb – Durham (Gala Theatre)
• 3/4 Feb – Harrogate (Theatre Studio)
• 16 Feb – York (Grand Opera House)
• 25 Feb – Richmond (Richmond Theatre)

The duo, who met at Cambridge University in 1983 and began working together the following year, got their big break when they were spotted by Jasper Carrott, who commissioned them to contribute to his weekly BBC television series, Carrott Confidential.

Dennis was working as marketing trainee for consumer goods company Unilever while appearing on the Saturday evening TV show.

The duo went on to work with Newman and Baddiel on The Mary Whitehouse Experience, and then on the topical radio shows It’s Been a Bad Week and Radio 4’s The Now Show, which began in 1998.

Whereas Punt is perhaps more prolific behind the cameras as part of the writing team on Mock the Week and Would I Lie to You?, Hugh Dennis has also appeared in the hit BBC sitcom Outnumbered, which begins its fifth and final full length series on 29 January.

Punt and Dennis: Ploughing On Regardless is currently touring the UK.