Mining the late-Saturday-night slot for irreverent comedy that was established by That Was The Week That Was Spike Milligan here produced the kind of unpredictable, free-form sketch comedy that would later result in the BBC2 Q show. Milligan's Wake failed to scale such heights, however, although much of the material was very good, with Galton and Simpson contributing the bulk of the scripts in the first series, and Reuben Ship and John Bird adding a left-wing political edge in the second.

Spike's next major TV work was back on the BBC, in the 12-part Muses With Milligan (BBC2, 6 January to 24 March 1965). Not a comedy show as such, Milligan and weekly guests read poetry - including some of his own material.