Naked comedy is coming your way and it's definitely an adults-only show. Alexander Armstrong, 31, and Ben Miller, 35, are the stars of TV's The Armstrong and Miller Show.

They have been performing together since 1992 and are dubbed purveyors of the finest barmy filth on television.

The show, which has run for four series, has won them critical acclaim, a cult following and complaints from TV watchdogs in equal measure.

Miller was in two minds about this reputation. He started by stressing they are rude, but tastefully rude. After a little more reflection he said: "Maybe I'm fooling myself. It is quite near the knuckle. It's just what we find funny really. If we find something funny then we try and do it and not worry too much what our parents think."

Their near-the-knuckle style of humour has spawned television heroes in characters like the starkers vets in Nude Practice, alcoholic inspector Jack Force (and his imaginary train-driver sidekick Chuffy) and Norwegian Eurorock sex gods Striyka.

Miller said his off-the-wall sense of humour was partly due to growing up in a family which loved comedy and parents with a liberal attitude to the concept of sex. But who knows what else?

I'm in denial obviously about something I guess that might beI don't know! I'm obviously not in denial about being naked. I think it shows a healthy attitude to sex!"

And yes, they really will be taking their clothes off. The notorious duo promises even more nudity and outrageous comedy sketches than their controversial Channel 4 programme.

For years the pair have been yearning to take their screen characters onto the stage. But be warned their x-rated sketch show is guaranteed to push the boundaries of good taste and comic appeal even further than before.

There is a serious side to this Cambridge graduate who has performed at the Edinburgh comedy festival throughout the past decade.

One complaint he remembers clearly was about the character of a doctor who makes fundamental mistakes and removes body parts unnecessarily.

Miller said: "It happened to coincide with some doctors in the news really doing that. It wasn't satire because we wrote the sketch before it happened."

He said he felt terrible for the families involved but he did not think it would have been appropriate to drop the sketch. The point is to stop doctors removing body parts, not to stop people talking about it.

And, he said, it is important to eventually joke about events even those as serious as the terrorist attacks in New York.

"Comedy is incredibly healing and I think if you don't make jokes about the terrible things that are happening I don't think you will ever begin to come to terms with them. Laughter is an emotion and when we start to deny our emotions, to say this emotion is wrong, that's when we get into trouble."

But, seriousness aside, the terrible two are dying to get back on tour doing what they do best and to do it live and spontaneously.

All the TV favourites will be on stage this year and the chaps promise a rack of new characters and new material.

November 11, Armstrong and Miller, The Orchard, Home Gardens, Dartford, 7.30pm, adults only, £14.50/£16.50, 01322 220000.

November 25, Broadway Theatre, Catford Broadway, Catford, 7.30pm, adults only, £14.50/£16.50, 020 8690 0002.

October 29, 2001 15:48

Joan Gardner