The first mention I can find of the League Of Gentlemen as a sketch comedy troupe is this, from The Stage on Thursday 4th April 1996.
![](https://www.simondunn.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/League01.jpg)
Just four months later, they received top-billing in the same publication’s Edinburgh Fringe preview.
![](https://www.simondunn.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/League02-1024x748.jpg)
A year later, and the trio garnered a few mentions in Phil Gibby’s festival diary, also in The Stage, and always, without fail, being compared to another sketch troupe called The Cheese Shop.
![](https://www.simondunn.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/League03.jpg)
And here’s Gibby’s full review of their show that year.
![](https://www.simondunn.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/League04.jpg)
That was the year they won the Perrier, and here’s how Gibby announced it in The Stage.
![](https://www.simondunn.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/League05-1024x333.jpg)
By the end of the autumn, On The Town with The League Of Gentlemen was airing on Radio 4, and this is how Lisa Maitland reviewed it.
![](https://www.simondunn.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/League06.jpg)
It wouldn’t be long before that wish was granted.
Come Wednesday 6th January 1999, the Wexford People was announcing the new TV show:
![](https://www.simondunn.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/League07.jpg)
As well as this.
![](https://www.simondunn.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/League08-1024x776.jpg)
![](http://www.simondunn.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/LeagueOfGentlemenBanner-1024x576.jpg)