Cowards are a British sketch troupe comprised of Tim Key, Stefan Golaszewski, Tom Basden (who also created the sitcom Party) and Lloyd Woolf. Two series of their eponymous sketch show were broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, BBC Four broadcast a three-episode TV version, which was nominated for a BAFTA. One notable collaborator and former member is standup Mark Watson.
Sketches by Cowards provide examples of:
- Bears Are Bad News: Especially when they live in your house.
- Bedmate Reveal: The radio equivalent.
- Crossword Puzzle: Filled out with extraordinary incompetence.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Anna targeting the men in the party (including her fiancé Cain) with snowballs, censorious limericks, acid and razor blades.
- Driven to Suicide: Four guys who meet to throw themselves off a cliff, all having been driven there by the same girl.
- Felony Misdemeanor: When a mugger shoots one of the office jokers.Joker: There's no need for that, just 'cause we didn't have any money!
Mugger: It wasn't that. It was the back-and-forth, the banter.
Joker: What was wrong with it?
Mugger: It was, I dunno. I-I found it contrived. - Gender Reveal: See Larynx Dissonance.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: "Naff off!"
- I Can't Hear You: I'M A CAMPANOLOGIST
- In Touch with His Feminine Side: A young man who 'scrubs up' for his court appearance in lipstick and a suit.
- Interspecies Romance: Between a human teacher and a mouse.
- Instrumental Theme Tune
- Larynx Dissonance: Since the all-male Cowards play every role, they go out of their way to avoid giving lines to female characters, but occasionally it can't be helped. They don't try very hard to sound female, though, necessitating a Gender Reveal.
- Naked People Are Funny: Although Luther's friends don't think so.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted by Fat Phil and Skinny Phil.
- Russian Roulette: And the inherent problems of playing with six people.
- Those Two Guys: The office jokers who may not be recurring characters in the strictest sense, but are easily recognised by their Witty Banter.
