Ok, who forget to tell me about this? A documentary on comedy songs? Do you not know me at all?! What do you mean I should know about these things? Oh… yes.. that’s right. Oh dear. Basically, I love a comedy song – a much maligned genre that in fact takes a hell of lot of talent to get right – but could it really offer enough interesting material to fill a marathon ninety minute documentary?

Related: Our lovely comedy section | Our equally lovely documentary section

Well, thanks to the fact that we’ve never really lost our taste for this “weird British institution” as Alexei Sayle puts it, there’s actually plenty to talk about. The documentary started right back in the days of music hall and the likes of My Old Man’s A Dustman (oh how I laughed) but as this is Comedy Songs – The Pop Years it really got going with The Goons’ Ying Tong Tiddle Eye-Po – which is here described as the the first non-ukulele and knob-gag comedy song.

Stepping into the early 60s, we saw how music and comedy could intertwine in different ways. The Beatles hung out with Peter Cook, on one very cool hand, and on the other The Barron Knights took well known tunes and added silly lyrics. There was also the satirical, topical music of the That Was The Week That Was, and for me personally it was just a delight to see some footage of the show’s resident musician Tom Lehrer, and hear so many people talk about how utterly wonderful he is. I think the exact phrase was “the true icon of the comedy song counter-culture”.

We then moved onto the 70s and 80s and the murky, indistinct no man’s land of the ‘novelty song’. Comedians like Benny Hill turned to music to reach a wider, younger audience, but there was also the whole glam movement which had parody at its core, renowned musicians who tried their hand at a novelty song, and kids’ show and sitcoms all felt they had to have their own top ten hit too. Some with more success than others of course – I don’t think many of us would disagree that I’m A Lumberjack is a classic, but do we really want to remember Chuck Berry for My Ding-a-ling…?

The talking heads then pointed out that alternative comedians – for all their desire to break with tradition – weren’t above a jaunty tune or two (‘Allo John Got A New Motor?’ being a prime example), and then we came to Victoria Wood who, we were told, just didn’t fit into any scene. She wasn’t part of the old club scene, she wasn’t in with Ben Elton and… well, she isn’t a man. But you know what, for all that, and despite the fact that I heard snippets of dozens of amazing songs during these ninety minutes, it was Let’s Do It that got instantly YouTubed. “I could handle half the tenors in a male-voice choir” – that’s just sublime.

And finally we edged into the 90s and 00s, and the school of new musical comedians who have made the genre genuinely cool: Tenacious D, Sarah Silverman, Flight of the Conchords, Bo Burnham and the brilliant David O’Doherty among many many others. From a cheeky giggle and side-dish to the main event, to the full-blown rock and roll shows of Bill Bailey, the rehabilitation of the comedy song seems now complete.

Just like many before me, I will finish with a song. Two actually – the aforementioned Let’s Do It by Victoria Wood, and, to balance out the fact that he wasn’t mentioned despite being one of the 00′s leading proponents of the comedy song, Tim Minchin’s Rock and Roll Nerd.