Alex Lowe (actor)
Alex Lowe (born 15 January 1968) is an English actor, comedian and voice artist. He is the creator and performer of the character Barry from Watford on Steve Wright's BBC Radio 2 show and Iain Lee's shows, as well as also being the creator and performer behind the character Clinton Baptiste, originally seen in ''Phoenix Nights'', as whom he has since toured. Barry from Watford Lowe began calling the Iain Lee radio show on the London talk radio station LBC 97.3 in May 2005, as Barry from Watford. It was during Lowe's first call that Barry's wife Margaret (later to be played by Catherine Tate in Barry's stage show) would be introduced. Barry became popular amongst LBC listeners, who requested that his calls be repeated on future shows. 'Barry "The" Saint-Michael' has been a popular caller on Iain Lee's radio show, which later moved to the radio station Absolute Radio and Talkradio. Since 2006, Alex has also put on live performances called 'Let's Talk To Barry', a 50-minute ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stand Up Comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, observations or a shtick that may incorporate props, music, magic tricks or ventriloquism. It can be performed almost anywhere, including comedy clubs, comedy festivals, bars, nightclubs, colleges or theatres. History Stand-up as a Western art form has its roots in the stump speech of American minstrel shows, which featured an actor in blackface delivering nonsensical monologue to the audience. While the intention of stump speeches was to mock African-Americans, they also occasionally contained political and social satire. The minstrel show would later influence theatrical traditions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as vaudeville and burlesque. The first documented use of "stand-up" as a term was in ''The Stage'' in 19 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cheap Cheap Cheap
''Cheap Cheap Cheap'' was a British television game show produced by Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4, presented and created by Noel Edmonds. Billed as "a game show that thinks it's a sitcom", the show takes place in a fictional general store and centres on a game show, hosted by the store owner (Edmonds). He is joined by the shop's eccentric staff, played by actors who appear throughout the game. Edmonds conceived the idea and showed it to the Hat Trick Productions managing director Jimmy Mulville. The pair agreed to develop the premise and filmed the show's pilot episode after the production company constructed a studio inside a recreation area in Somerset. The television channel Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ... viewed the pilot and ordered a series ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The 11 O'Clock Show
''The 11 O'Clock Show'' is a satirical late-night British television comedy series on Channel 4 which featured topical sketches and commentary on news items. It ran between 30 September 1998 and 8 December 2000, most notably hosted by Iain Lee and Daisy Donovan. The show boosted the careers of the previously little-known Ricky Gervais, Sacha Baron Cohen (in character as Ali G), Jimmy Carr and Mackenzie Crook. Hosts and presenters ''The 11 O'Clock Show'' underwent a number of line-up changes during its run. There are numerous cases of external-segment reporters becoming studio hosts, and vice versa. Notable presenters and cast members included: * Iain Lee * Daisy Donovan * Mackenzie Crook * Paul Garner * Sacha Baron Cohen (''in character as Ali G)'' * Ricky Gervais * Fred MacAulay * Brendon Burns * Sarah Alexander * Jon Holmes * Rich Hall * Alex Lowe * Will Smith * Tommy Vance * Ricky Grover * Danny Bhoy * Marc Wootton * Jason Priestley * Jimmy Carr Controversy In January 2000 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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That Peter Kay Thing
''That Peter Kay Thing'' is a series of six spoof documentaries shown on Channel 4 in 2000. It was written by Peter Kay, Dave Spikey, Neil Fitzmaurice and Gareth Hughes, and was directed by Andrew Gillman. The series was narrated by Andrew Sachs. Set in and around Bolton, each episode functions as a self-contained documentary following a different set of characters, many of them played by Kay. The pilot episode, "The Services", was shown in 1998 as an episode of ''Comedy Lab'', a series which showcases pilots of experimental comedy shows. Many of the characters went on to appear in the successful spin-off series ''Phoenix Nights''. Episode list Characters * Brian Potter (Kay) – Notoriously selfish social secretary of the working men's club The Neptune. He lost the use of his legs when his former club flooded. It is suggested that he can actually walk, as at the end of the episode he is seen to stand whilst remonstrating with a group of firemen. * Max and Paddy (Kay and Padd ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights
''Phoenix Nights'' is a British sitcom about The Phoenix Club, a working men's club in the northern English town of Bolton, Greater Manchester. The show is a spin-off from the "In the Club" episode of the spoof documentary series '' That Peter Kay Thing'', and in turn was followed by the spin-off ''Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere''. It was produced by Goodnight Vienna Productions and Ovation Entertainments, and broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK. The show was written by Neil Fitzmaurice, Peter Kay and Dave Spikey. All three writers star in the show, with Kay also directing in the second series. All the music was written by Toni Baker and Peter Kay. Additional material was provided by Paddy McGuinness. Two series have been produced, which were first broadcast in 2001 and 2002 respectively. The first series transmission dates were brought ahead to January 2001 due to the success of Kay's first home video stand-up release ''Live at the Top of the Tower'', released in November 20 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Grass (TV Series)
''Grass'' is a sitcom starring Simon Day which originally aired in 2003 on BBC Three. Day plays Billy Bleach, a Londoner and pub know-it-all who is relocated to Norfolk in rural England under a witness protection programme after he witnesses a gangland killing. The series was a spin-off from ''The Fast Show''. Cast *Simon Day as Billy Bleach *Robert Wilfort as PC Harriet * Philip Jackson as DCI Maddox *Tristan Gemmill as DI Veal *Matthew Ashforde as Darren *Josephine Butler as Jemima *David Webber as Youssou * Mark Williams as Ben * William Thomas as Eric * Vilma Hollingbery as Rose * Liam Hess as Crispin *Alex Lowe Stewart Alexander Lowe (24 December 1958 – 5 October 1999) was an American mountaineer. He has been described as inspiring "...a whole generation of climbers and explorers with his uncontainable enthusiasm, legendary training routines, and si ... as Roland *Andrew Clover as David the Poacher *Lynette McMorrough as Mrs. Harriet References *British Sitcom Guide ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bremner, Bird And Fortune
''Bremner, Bird and Fortune'' is a satirical British television programme produced by Vera Productions for Channel Four, uniting the longstanding satirical team of John Bird and John Fortune ("the Two Johns") with the satirical impressionist Rory Bremner. It had 16 series, followed by several one-off episodes. History ''Now Something Else'' Rory Bremner's first television series started in 1986 on BBC Two, which ran for seven series. The BBC gave him his own television series after successful shows at the Edinburgh festival. The series also had input from Jeremy Hardy, Steve Nallon, Steve Brown and Enn Reitel. In 1989 John Bird started to collaborate on the show with John Fortune following in 1991. From the fourth series it was renamed ''The Rory Bremner Show''. ''Rory Bremner, Who Else?'' In 1993 the series moved to Channel 4, and over the six series the show developed into a more hard-edged, satirical and political show whilst satirical sketches of ''The Jerry Springer Show'', ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Big Impression
''The Big Impression'', known as ''Alistair McGowan's Big Impression'' for the first three series, is a British comedy sketch show. It features Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona impersonating personalities from entertainment and sport. Four series and a number of specials were made by Vera Productions and it was first broadcast on BBC One between 2000 and 2004. The series has won five awards, including the BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Programme or Series in 2003. Production McGowan and Ancona first met at a comedy club, and later started dating. They worked together on a number of projects, with their first television series being ''The Staggering Stories of Ferdinand de Bargos'' in 1989. After performing in his own show in Edinburgh in 1998, McGowan was approached by a BBC executive about working on a series, which he wanted Ancona to be involved in. ''Alistair McGowan's Big Impression'' first aired on BBC One in 2000, with the couple splitting up just before filming began. S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fun At The Funeral Parlour
''Fun at the Funeral Parlour'' was a comedy series broadcast on BBC Choice and BBC Three for two series in 2001 and 2002. It was set in a Welsh funeral directors called "Thomas, Thomas, Thomas and Thomas". It is set around the Swansea area of south Wales in the fictitious town of Trebanos in tribute to the writer's father who came from the real town in that area. The series was written by Rhys Thomas with the script edited by Charlie Higson. Rhys also starred in the show alongside William Thomas, Alex Lowe and Tony Way. Thomas created the show at the age of 20, after contributing to ''The Fast Show'' becoming the youngest person ever to create, write, and star in their own TV sitcom. The second series featured a theme tune written and performed by Queen's guitarist, Brian May. He and producer of the series, Simon Lupton went on to work with Brian May and Queen on numerous DVDs and Queen documentaries. Characters Main characters Ivor Thomas :A single father, and head of the h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Fast Show
''The Fast Show'', known as ''Brilliant'' in the US, is a BBC comedy sketch show that ran from 1994 to 1997, with specials in 2000 and 2014. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams (actor), Mark Williams, John Thomson (comedian), John Thomson, Arabella Weir and Caroline Aherne. Other significant cast members included Felix Dexter, Paul Shearer, Rhys Thomas (comedian), Rhys Thomas, Jeff Harding (actor), Jeff Harding, Maria McErlane, Eryl Maynard, Colin McFarlane and Donna Ewin. Loosely structured and reliant on character sketches, running gags and many catchphrases, its fast-paced "blackout gag, blackout" style set it apart from traditional sketch series because of the number and relative brevity of its sketches; a typical half-hour TV sketch comedy of the period might have consisted of nine or ten major items, with contrived situations and extended setups, whereas the premiere episode featured 27 sketches in 30 minutes,Dewhurs ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Rise And Fall Of Rome
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with pronouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of pronoun ''thee'') when followed by a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Cole (actor)
George Edward Cole, OBE (22 April 1925 – 5 August 2015) was an English actor whose career spanned 75 years. He was best known for playing Arthur Daley in the long-running ITV comedy-drama show ''Minder'' and Flash Harry in the early ''St Trinian's'' films. Early life Cole was born in Tooting, London. He was given up for adoption at ten days of age and adopted by George and Florence Cole, a Tooting council employee and charwoman (cleaner) respectively. He attended secondary school in nearby Morden. He left school at 14 to be a butcher's boy and had an ambition to join the Merchant Navy but landed a part in a touring musical and chose acting as a career. He recalled during that year (1939) he was in Dublin on the day of Britain's entry into World War II when he witnessed an effigy of Neville Chamberlain being publicly burned without interference from the local police. Career Aged 15, Cole was cast in the film ''Cottage to Let'' (1941) opposite Scottish actor Alastair Sim. S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |