Hugh Laurie is great. But few in the US know what a terrific comedian / comedy writer he is. In England, Fry and Laurie is arguably the best comedy sketch show of the last generation.
They were hilarious in Blackadder.
I read an article in the New Yorker a few years ago about how Stephen Fry became overcome at one point buy such a severe case of stage fright that he went into a fugue state. People were worried that he'd committed suicide. Laurie was finally able to locate him and talk to him and bring him back to a rational state of mind.
I've always been a big Stephen Fry fan, but my mother never forgave him for that.