WE ARE MOST AMUSED: COMEDIANS GALLERY

Atkinson made his name in off-kilter 80s sketch show Not the Nine O'Clock News before becoming a national institution in classic TV comedy Blackadder. He left the BBC for ITV and unleashed comic creation Mr Bean on an unsuspecting audience in 1990.

The hapless lead character went on to star in two movies, making Atkinson an international star. The funnyman's latest role is as Fagin in Andrew Lloyd Webber's adaptation of Oliver!.

Williams became an overnight sensation in 1978 when classic TV comedy Mork and Mindy hit TV screens. He also appeared on the comedy circuit and TV as one of America's hottest stand-ups.

He went on to forge a highly successful Hollywood career and won an Oscar for his performance in Good Will Hunting. Other notable movie roles came in Dead Poets Society and Good Morning Vietnam.

WIth Iranian and English roots, Djalili is famed for his multicultural comedy and first burst onto the scene at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1995 with his show Short, Fat Kebab Shop Owner's Son.

He has performed all around the world and starred alongside Whoopi Goldberg in her eponymously-titled US TV sitcom. Famous fans include Bill Clinton and the Emir of Qatar.

The talented impressionist voiced over forty characters on Spitting Image, most famously then Prime Minister John Major. During this time he worked as a radio DJ and a receptionist convinced him to take his impression onto the stage.

He went on to feature in a number of radio shows and famously called up 10 Downing Street pretending to be William Hague and had a long conversation with Tony Blair.

The New York native made her name in the 1960s as a regular guest on The Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show and became one of America's most popular Las Vegas performers in the 1970s and 80s.

She landed her own daytime talk show in the early 1990s and went onto appear in Shrek 2 in a cameo role and appeared in the Live at the Apollo series.

Bailey landed his own show Is It Bill Bailet? in 1998 after being nominated for the Perrier Award and has gone onto become a favourite on comedy quiz shows including Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

A talented musician, instruments play a large part in Bailey's stand up shows which have won him plaudits around the world. Parts in Black Books and Spaced have also earned the comedian cult status.