By the time this film was shot and edited, Dudley Moore had achieved success as a comedy actor and musician in the United States, while Peter Cook remained relatively unknown there. Peter Cook begged Moore "ad nauseum" to record one last comedy album featuring their cult-favorite characters Derek and Clive (to be called "Ad Nauseum"), a farewell to both their characters and their partnership. They were booked in a studio for three days. Moore had become so fed up with Cook's bitterness at his recent popularity that he failed to show up for the third day of recording and shooting. Moore looked down on Peter Cook and director Russell Mulcahy's intentions to market the film as a general release. This was done in any case, and the film was subsequently banned in the UK for many years. Eventually, it was release on VHS in PAL format in the early 1990s and released to DVD later. It has still never been released in the United States, either theatrically or on video. Moore is quoted to have said, "The film would have most certainly earned an X rating for the sole reason of the language Pete and I used in it."
The film was rejected for a UK cinema certificate in 1980 by the BBFC for "abusive overuse of the swear words 'fuck' and 'c**t'". It was eventually passed fully uncut in 1993 and released on the Polygram video label.
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's Derek and Clive characters - supposedly two lavatory attendants - first surfaced on a series of bootleg tapes in which the duo discuss taboo subjects with much foul language, in-jokes and unscripted bickering. The tapes acquired such a large cult following that three Derek and Clive albums were issued in the UK - Derek and Clive Live (1976), Derek and Clive Come Again (1977) and Ad Nauseam (1978), whose recording sessions form the bulk of this film.