Vic Reeves and The Inbetweeners stars join Channel 4 Comedy Showcase

Other well-known comic talents confirmed for one of the seven autumn comedy pilots include Alexander Armstrong, Ben Miller and Katherine Parkinson.

Bird and Thomas join forces with comedian Jonny Sweet to write and star in sitcom Chickens, playing three young blokes living in a sleepy English village while the other men are away fighting in the First World War.

Coma Girl, on the other hand, is a single-camera comedy featuring three women (Sarah Solemani, Katy Wix and Katherine Parkinson) trying to help their friend (Anna Crilly), who is stuck in a coma but has a very active subconscious.

Wix pops up again in Fun Police, a studio sitcom revolving around a fictitious health and safety department. Her co-stars include Rhys Darby and Vic Reeves, while Ash Atalla is on board as executive producer.

Writer Dan Maier’s sitcom, The Function Room, centres on pub regulars who interact with new characters each week as they hire the titular room for various events.

Milton Jones teams up with fellow stand-up Dan Evans to create House of Rooms. The surreal sitcom features Jones as a shy landlord who struggles to hit it off with equally reserved tenant Alice.

Rounding out the sitcoms is Felix and Murdo. Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller play the eponymous characters in Simon Nye’s piece, set in Edwardian London.

Finally, Dan Skinner revives comic character Angelos Epithemiou in The Angelos Neil Epithemiou Show, a comedy entertainment show featuring new characters alongside celebrities and audience participation.

Also announced today was The Mad Bad Ad Show, a comedy entertainment pilot looking at advertising, to be filmed this month. Comedians Micky Flanagan and Mark Watson will pair up with ad industry experts for a mixture of research, challenges and panel show banter as they investigate the world of marketing.

A number of previous Comedy Showcase pilots have gone on to gain full series on Channel 4, including The Kevin Bishop Show, Campus and PhoneShop.