Instant Sunshine is a comedy musical cabaret trio (erstwhile quartet) who sing their own original witty and whimsical songs to acoustic guitar accompaniment. It was formed in 1966[1] by three doctors at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, Peter Christie, David Barlow and Alan Maryon-Davis. In 1972 they were joined by the journalist and double bass player Miles Kington. In 1998 Miles Kington left the group and Tom Barlow joined in his place for several years. Peter Christie is the leading spirit and writes the words and music.

Their style has been compared to Flanders and Swann. The lyrics typically have an element of surreal fantasy (one song begins "Our Budgie has Changed to an Orang-Utang"), while the tunes are usually wistful and mock-sentimental. Their act contains an abundance of comic "business" and sound effects, usually provided by Alan Maryon-Davis. They normally perform at music festivals or in cabaret at private bookings, and every alternate year at the Edinburgh Fringe, where they first performed in 1975. They have also performed many songs for radio and TV programmes, being particularly known for their regular contribution to BBC Radio 4's Stop The Week over a period of about ten years. They also had three series of their own on Radio 4 (1985, 1986 and 1988) and a book "The Instant Sunshine Book - with hints for struggling supergroups" (Robson Books 1980).

They produced five vinyl LPs: "Live at Tiddy Dols" (Page One 1968), "Instant Sunshine" (EMI 1976), "Funny Name for a Band" (EMI 1977) "Reasonably Together Again" (EMI/One-Up 1979) and "The Instant Sunshine LP - Songs for struggling supergroups" (EMI/NTS 1980). There are currently six CDs in print, "Instant Sunshine Comes of Age" (Merlin Classics 1987), "Jubilee" (Merlin Classics 1992), "Live at the Old Vic" (Merlin Classics 2002) and remixed versions of the EMI recordings "Instant Sunshine", "Funny Name for a Band" and "Reasonably Together Again" (all Instant Sunshine 2008). The recordings are currently occasionally broadcast on BBC Radio 7 and are available via the BBC IPlayer.