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Lee Simpson
Lee Simpson is a British actor and comedian best known as a member of the improvisational group The Comedy Store Players. He has appeared in a number of roles, including in the sitcom ''Drop the Dead Donkey'' and the films ''Paper Mask'' and ''Nuns on the Run'', and played a key role in co-devising and narrating the improvisational radio show '' The Masterson Inheritance'' in the years 1993-1995. He was involved in Paul Merton Live At The London Palladium in 1994, along with fellow Comedy Store Players Paul Merton and Richard 'Susan' Vranch. Before becoming involved in improvisation, he was, among other things, a croupier in a casino, a cinema projectionist, and a breakfast DJ. He did his first performance with The Comedy Store Players in 1989, and became a member of the group in 1990. In 1992 he appeared as Terry in the channel 4 sitcom '' Terry and Julian'' (not associated with ''Terry and June'' although the show's name was a spoof title). The programme only lasted one series ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), literally "one who answers".''Hypokrites'' (related to our word for hypocrite) also means, less often, "to answer" the tragic chorus. See Weimann (1978, 2); see also Csapo and Slater, who offer translations of classical source material using the term ''hypocrisis'' ( acting) (1994, 257, 265–267). The actor's interpretation of a rolethe art of actingpertains to the role played, whether based on a real person or fictional character. This can also be considered an "actor's role," which was called this due to scrolls being used in the theaters. Interpretation occurs even when the actor is "playing themselves", as in some forms of experimental performance art. Formerly, in ancient Greece and the medieval world, and in England at the time of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or animal actively maintains the experience, and is associated with enjoyment, happiness, laughter and pleasure. It is an emotion with po ... situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience directly is called a stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian. A popular saying often attributed to Ed Wynn attempts to differentiate the two terms: "A comic says funny things; a comedian says things funny." This draws a distinction between how much of the comedy (drama), comedy can be attributed to verbal content and how much to acting and persona. Since the 1980s, a new wave of comedy, called alternative comedy, has grown in popularity with its more offbeat and experimental style. This normally i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Comedy Store Players
The Comedy Store Players is a group of improvisational comedians who perform at The Comedy Store in London. The group first came into being in October 1985. Members of the group have included: *Dave Cohen *Jeremy Hardy * Kit Hollerbach *Josie Lawrence *Paul Merton *Neil Mullarkey *Mike Myers *Lee Simpson *Andy Smart * Jim Sweeney *Sandi Toksvig *Richard Vranch Currently there are five regular cast members; Josie Lawrence, Neil Mullarkey, Lee Simpson, Andy Smart, and Richard Vranch. Sweeney retired from performing in 2008 but is still listed as a member and is also the group's President. The Players currently perform once a week on Sunday, but have also in recent times performed once each on Wednesdays and Sundays. Performances are usually with the regular cast, although occasionally a guest performer will appear, which have in the past included the likes of Niall Ashdown, Marcus Brigstocke, Stephen Frost, Eddie Izzard, Greg Proops, Steve Steen and Phill Jupitus. Shows sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drop The Dead Donkey
''Drop the Dead Donkey'' is a British television sitcom that was first shown on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom between 1990 and 1998. It is set in the offices of "GlobeLink News", a fictional TV news company. Recorded close to transmission, it made use of contemporary news events to give the programme a greater sense of realism. It was created by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin. The series had an ensemble cast, making stars of Haydn Gwynne, Stephen Tompkinson and Neil Pearson. The show was awarded the Best Comedy (Programme or Series) Award at the 1994 BAFTA Awards. At the British Comedy Awards the show won Best New TV Comedy in 1990, Best Channel 4 Comedy in 1991, and Best Channel 4 Sitcom in 1994. In 2000, the show was ranked 94 on the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, a list compiled by the British Film Institute. Development According to Swedish comedian Kryddan Petersson, he and the group behind ''Helt Apropå'' had come up with an idea for a show like th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuns On The Run
''Nuns on the Run'' is a 1990 British comedy film starring Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane, also featuring Camille Coduri and Janet Suzman. The film was written and directed by Jonathan Lynn and produced by HandMade Films. Many of the outdoor scenes were shot in Chiswick, White City and Kings Cross. The soundtrack was composed and performed by Yello and also features George Harrison's song "Blow Away" in addition to Steve Winwood's " Roll With It". The film was released on 16 March 1990. Plot After their boss is killed during a bank robbery, London gangsters Brian Hope (Idle) and Charlie McManus (Coltrane) desire to lead more peaceful lives in Brazil, disapproving of their new younger and more brash boss, Casey (Patterson). While planning to rob a local Triad gang of their ill-gotten drug money, Brian meets and falls in love with a waitress, Faith (Coduri). During the robbery, Brian and Charlie betray their fellow gangsters, Abbott and Morley, steal the money and flee, but are for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Masterson Inheritance
''The Masterson Inheritance'' was an improvised comedy series broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 1993 to 1995 billed as ''"an improvised historical saga of a family at war with itself."'' There were three series and two Christmas specials. It was broadcast from 1993 to 1995. From time to time, repeats of the show are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra. In each programme, the cast members – Josie Lawrence, Phelim McDermott, Paul Merton, Caroline Quentin, Lee Simpson, and Jim Sweeney – would be given a particular historical setting, and, incorporating suggestions from the audience, would improvise that episode in the saga of the Masterson family. One episode, ''The Marooned Mastersons'', was never broadcast but is available on Jim Sweeney'website Music Each episode of the saga was introduced by and ended with Erich Korngold Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897November 29, 1957) was an Austrian-born American composer and conductor. A child prodigy, he became one of the most ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Merton
Paul James Martin (born 9 July 1957), known under the stage name Paul Merton, is an English writer, actor, comedian and radio and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, Merton's humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy. He has been ranked by critics, fellow comedians and viewers to be among Britain's greatest comedians. He is well known for his regular appearances as a team captain on the BBC panel game '' Have I Got News for You'', and as the former host of ''Room 101'', as well as for several appearances on the original British version of the improvisational comedy television show ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' Merton appears as a panellist regularly on Radio 4's '' Just a Minute'', first appearing in 1989, and became the only remaining regular panellist in 2009 following the death of Clement Freud. He has also appeared as one of the Comedy Store's Comedy Store Players. Early life Paul James Martin was born on 9 July 1957 in Parsons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Vranch
Richard Leslie Vranch (born 29 June 1959) is an English actor, improviser, comedian, writer and musician. He is known for providing the music for the British TV series ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' Early life Vranch graduated from Cambridge University with a PhD in physics. While a first-year doctoral student, he joined the Footlights in 1981 and was a contemporary of Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Morwenna Banks, Tony Slattery and Neil Mullarkey. He was a researcher at the Cavendish Laboratory and a research fellow at St John's College, Oxford for nine months before going into comedy full-time. Career Richard Vranch improvises comedy on stage with the Comedy Store Players every Sunday at The Comedy Store in London. He performs as a stand-up comedian, and with Pippa the Ripper he is half of the hula-hoop/science double act Dr Hula. He has voiced TV and radio commercials for companies including British Airways, Lidl and Saab and he narrates TV documentaries, including the first serie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terry And Julian
''Terry and Julian'' is a British sitcom that aired on Channel 4 in 1992. Starring Julian Clary, it was written by Clary, Paul Merton and John Henderson. The title of the series spoofs the name of the long-running BBC sitcom ''Terry and June'', whose stars June Whitfield and Reginald Marsh made a guest appearance in episode five, ''Terry's Safe Deposit'', playing characters named George and Mildred (in homage to the Thames Television sitcom ''George and Mildred)''. Cast *Julian Clary – Julian *Lee Simpson – Terry Biggins * Kate Lonergan – Rene Guest Stars *Paul Merton - Vicar *June Whitfield - Mildred Wilson * Reginald Marsh - George Wilson *Gordon Honeycombe - News Reader Plot Terry Biggins, an average, heterosexual man, advertises for a lodger for his flat in Streatham and Julian, a flamboyant gay Channel 4 celebrity moves in. Julian soon disrupts Terry's mundane life, turns the flat into something similar to an 18th-century Turkish boudoir and disrupts Terry's relati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terry And June
''Terry and June'' is a BBC television sitcom, which was broadcast on BBC1 from 1979 to 1987. The show was largely a reworking of '' Happy Ever After'', and starred Terry Scott and June Whitfield as a middle-aged, middle-class suburban couple, Terry and June Medford, who live in Purley. Most of the 65 episodes were written by John Kane, with seven other writers also contributing some episodes. The theme tune, Bell Hop by John Shakespeare, was also used for the radio series Never Too Late which starred Dame Thora Hird and Joe Gladwin and ran for two series (1981 and 1982). Production Terry Scott and June Whitfield began their television partnership in '' Scott On'' in 1968. On 7 May 1974, a ''Comedy Playhouse'' pilot called "Happy Ever After" aired on BBC1 with Scott and Whitfield playing Terry and June Fletcher, a middle-class couple whose grown-up children have just left home. This was commissioned into a series of the same name, and five series and two Christmas specials w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House, London. The station controller is Mohit Bakaya. Broadcasting throughout the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands on FM, LW and DAB, and on BBC Sounds, it can be received in the eastern counties of Ireland, northern France and Northern Europe. It is available on Freeview, Sky, and Virgin Media. Radio 4 currently reaches over 10 million listeners, making it the UK's second most-popular radio station after Radio 2. BBC Radio 4 broadcasts news programmes such as ''Today'' and ''The World at One'', heralded on air by the Greenwich Time Signal pips or the chimes of Big Ben. The pips are only accurate on FM, LW, and MW; there is a delay on digital radio of three to five seconds and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. Internationally, it is known as the National Theatre of Great Britain. Founded by Laurence Olivier in 1963, many well-known actors have performed at the National Theatre. Until 1976, the company was based at The Old Vic theatre in Waterloo. The current building is located next to the Thames in the South Bank area of central London. In addition to performances at the National Theatre building, the National Theatre tours productions at theatres across the United Kingdom. The theatre has transferred numerous productions to Broadway and toured some as far as China, Australia and New Zealand. However, touring productions to European cities was suspended in February 2021 over concerns about uncertainty over work permits, additional costs and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
