• The Cambridge Footlights (featuring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie) won the Edinburgh Comedy Award.
• The first series of Only Fools And Horses went out on television in this year

Notable comedy series that started in 1981

All TV comedy broadcast in 1981

• 81 Take 2
• A Fine Romance
• A Kick Up The Eighties
• A Sharp Intake Of Breath
• Agony
• Are You Being Served?
• Astronauts
• Ballyskillen Opera House
• Bavarian Night
• Beat The Carrott
• Big Jim And The Figaro Club
• Bless Me, Father
• Cannon And Ball
• Carrott Del Sol
• Carry On Laughing
• Chintz
• Coming Home
• Cowboys
• Dave Allen
• Doctor Down Under
• Doctors' Daughters
• Dodd On His Todd
• Frankie Howerd Strikes Again
• Freddie Starr On The Road
• Fundamental Frolics
• Game For A Laugh
• Get Lost!
• Happy Endings
• Have I Got You... Where You Want Me?
• Hi-De-Hi!
• Hinge And Bracket
• Holding The Fort
• Honky Tonk Heroes
• If You Go Down In The Woods Today
• It Ain't Half Hot Mum
• It Takes A Worried Man...
• Keep It In The Family
• Kinvig
• Last Of The Summer Wine
• Misfits
• Never The Twain
• Now For Nookie
• Only Fools And Horses
• Only When I Laugh
• Open All Hours
• Partners
• Pig In The Middle
• Present Laughter
• Private Schulz
• Rentaghost
• Revolting Women
• Robin's Nest
• Roger Doesn't Live Here Anymore
• Roots
• Russ Abbot's Saturday Madhouse
• Scoop
• Seconds Out
• Shillingbury Tales
• Sink Or Swim
• Solo
• Sorry!
• Sorry, I'm A Stranger Here Myself
• Stainless Steel And The Star Spies
• Take A Letter Mr. Jones...
• Terry & June
• That Beryl Marston...!
• That's My Boy
• The Bagthorpe Saga
• The Benny Hill Show
• The Dick Emery Show
• The End Of The End Of The Pier Show
• The Gaffer
• The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
• The Incredible Mr Tanner
• The Kenny Everett Television Show
• The Kenny Everett Video Show
• The Last Song
• The Little And Large Show
• The Morecambe & Wise Show
• The Muppet Show
• The Other 'Arf
• The Stanley Baxter Series
• The Two Ronnies
• Three Of A Kind
• Till Death....
• To The Manor Born
• West End Tales
• Wood And Walters
• Worzel Gummidge
• Yes Minister
• You're Only Young Twice
• Young At Heart

All radio comedy broadcast in 1981

• Cold Comfort Farm
• Funny You Should Ask
• I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
• In A Nutshell
• The Jason Explanation
• The Little And Large Party

1981 British comedy films

• Gregory's Girl
• Honky Tonk Freeway
• The Best Of The Adventures
• The Box