In all their work together during this period, including the hit game show Shooting Stars, which first aired in 1993, Vic and Bob created a world that is sort of recognisable, but entirely their own. It’s a world where familiar people and situations are distorted almost beyond the point of recognition, which is often what makes it so sharply, devastatingly funny. Noel Edmonds appears as a grotesque, misshapen figure who laughs ferociously at double entendres. Soul singers Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye appear as a pair of Punch and Judy-style puppets who also happen to be agony aunts. Most memorably of all, restaurant critic and TV presenter Loyd Grossman was imagined as a floating, terrifying spectre with a pale, domed head.

Although even their most ardent fans would admit that not everything they created worked from a comedy standpoint, the moments where their humour hit the mark were almost too numerous to count. From the bit where Vic fell through the roof of a shed in Big Night Out, only to emerge triumphantly from its door and break into a rendition of The Smiths’ Panic, to the anarchic celebrity challenges on Shooting Stars (Jonathan Ross cowering in a bin while Vic and Bob belted it with cricket bats was an early highlight), their comedy was childish, mischievous, playful, utterly individual, and shot through with an unmistakeable love of words.

For more than 20 years, Vic and Bob have collaborated to bring us classic TV comedy moments such as these. And aside from their individual flashes of brilliance, they’ve provided a platform for other actors and performers, too, including Caroline Aherne, Charlie Higson and Matt Lucas. Without Vic and Bob, it’s inarguable that the British comedy landscape would be entirely different.

This appreciation has barely scratched the surface of Vic and Bob’s careers to date. I haven’t mentioned Uncle Peter, or the Stotts’ extraordinary interview with Damon Hill, or the wonderful chaos that would result when they appeared on a mainstream TV show in the 90s (“We’d like to say hello to our friend Alan Davidson, who recently got out of jail for a terrible crime,” Vic said on Saturday morning TV show Going Live, much to presenter Philip Schofield’s disbelief). Or what about the time they appeared on Comic Relief, and sang Without You while imbibing 75 pints of lager?

So given that Vic and Bob’s career spans such a huge gulf of time, and takes in live variety shows, sketch shows, game shows and sitcoms, is it even possible to sum up everything that’s great about them in one brief clip? Probably not, but I’m going to try anyway. The moment below (taken from the opening of The Smell Of Reeves And Mortimer series two episode five) is, for me at least, an example of everything that’s wonderful about Vic and Bob’s comedy: it showcases their singing, dancing, some Reeves-designed owls, a cluttered desk, and the clear, genuine friendship that lies at the heart of their double act.