Lead Balloon is a British sitcom television series produced by Open Mike Productions for BBC Four. The series was created and is co-written by comedian Jack Dee and Pete Sinclair. It stars Dee as Rick Spleen, a cynical and misanthropic comedian whose life is plagued by petty annoyances, disappointments and embarrassments. Raquel Cassidy, Sean Power and Tony Gardner also star. The first series of six episodes was broadcast on BBC Four in 2006, with the first episode achieving the highest ratings for a comedy on the channel. Repeats of the series were run on BBC Two and BBC HD, bringing it to a larger audience. The second series of eight episodes aired on BBC Two from November 2007; the third series aired from November 2008; and the final series aired from 31 May 2011 until 5 July.

Comparisons were made by critics to the successful American comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm, and positive comments were made about Lead Balloon's characters, particularly Anna Crilly's Magda, the Eastern European housekeeper. The first series was released on DVD on 12 November 2007. The show's theme tune is a cover version of "One Way Road", written by Noel Gallagher and performed by Paul Weller.

The genesis of the series came towards the end of recording the 2005 series of Jack Dee Live at the Apollo, when Dee speculated as to whether his experiences of "witless" interviews could be turned into a television programme. Following a meeting with his agent, in which he turned down the lead role in a series, Dee began writing the character that would become Rick Spleen. He focused the writing on Spleen's domestic life, rather than his professional, but did highlight the clash between the two. A pilot, commissioned by BBC Four and recorded in December 2005, received positive feedback and led to a full series of six 30-minute episodes being ordered in January 2006 for broadcast later in the year.

Dee's frequent collaborator Pete Sinclair joined him to write the pilot script. The two worked for two weeks developing the characters and forming storylines from them, which prepared them for writing the series proper when it was commissioned. The two were strongly influenced in their writing by the "paradigm shift" of The Office that made "natural conversation" funny without a studio audience being present. Dee cites the early films of Woody Allen, Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm as other "cultural influences" that helped set the tone of the series. Controller of BBC Four Janice Hadlow stated the series was in the "same ballpark" as Curb, though it is not quite as autobiographical. The name Lead Balloon comes from the expression "To go down like a lead balloon", meaning to be received badly by an audience.

The never-broadcast pilot features a scene with Omid Djalili as a dry cleaner, which was reused in the fifth episode, "Pistachio". Location filming for the first two series, particularly Rick and Mel's house, was done in Willesden. Michael's cafe used Gracelands Cafe in Kensal Green for the first two series, and Hugo's restaurant in Lonsdale Road, Queen's Park, London for the third. Most moped shots in the third series were filmed in Ladbroke Grove. Scenes are separated by the insertion of a person writing ideas for comedy material on a writing pad.

Dee's character Rick Spleen (born Richard Shaw) is a stand-up comedian living in London who struggles to get decent gigs and makes ends meet by hosting corporate events such as the Frozen Goods Awards Evening. Dee and Sinclair based the character on the "comedians who hated being comedians" who performed alongside Dee in his early years of stand-up. Rick is a habitual and incompetent liar who often attempts practical tasks himself in an attempt to avoid paying professionals.

His partner Mel (Raquel Cassidy) is a talent agent whose clientele of everyday people getting their 15 minutes of fame serves to highlight Rick's failing career. Her calm, perceptive and considerate personality contrasts strongly with Rick's.

Rick's American co-writer, Marty (Sean Power), writes the majority of Rick's material, often working with him at Rick's home or Michael's café. Though he tries to moderate Rick's desperate behaviour, he is quietly frustrated with him, and conspires against Rick's interests.