Rowan Atkinson Canned Laughter

1979

Rowan Atkinson presents… Canned Laughter is a British one-off comedy television programme featuring Rowan Atkinson, broadcast on 8 April 1979 on ITV. Atkinson plays three roles: the nerdy Robert Box (who has been cited as an early incarnation of the Mr. Bean character, albeit involving more dialogue), his sinister boss Mr. Marshall, and would-be stand-up comic Dave Perry, as well as an uncredited role as a radio announcer. Produced by LWT, the thirty-minute episode was directed by Geoffrey Sax.