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The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008
The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008 was a show in the '' Secret Policeman's Balls'' series of benefit shows for Amnesty International. In July 2008, Amnesty announced that it would present another show in its long-running series Like its 2006 predecessor the show was a single-night live event at London's Royal Albert Hall, on Saturday 4 October 2008. In common with other recent Amnesty benefit shows, the majority of the performers were British (or UK-based) and well-known primarily only in Great Britain, the one Canadian comedian Russell Peters appeared via a pre-recorded video-tape. Performers who were listed to perform were: * Frank Skinner *Alan Carr *Graham Norton *Sean Lock *Kristen Schaal *Fearne Cotton * Matt Berry * Katherine Parkinson * Mitchell and Webb *Jason Manford *Shappi Khorsandi *Russell Howard *Russell Peters (via video-tape) *Katy Brand * Tim Minchin *Sarah Millican *Kayvan Novak *Meera Syal *Shaun Williamson *Sharon Horgan *Nick Mohammed *Dan Clark *David Arm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Secret Policeman's Balls
''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' is a series of benefit shows staged initially in the United Kingdom to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. The shows started in 1976 featuring popular British comedians but later included leading musicians and actors. The ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' shows are credited by many prominent entertainers with having galvanised them to become involved with Amnesty and other social and political causes in succeeding years. Co-founded by Monty Python member John Cleese, campaigner Peter Luff (Assistant Director Amnesty International 1974–1978), and entertainment industry executive Martin Lewis, there have been four distinct eras of the Amnesty benefit shows. The shows of the first era (1976–1981), featuring five members of Monty Python and newcomers such as Rowan Atkinson, yielded films, television specials, home-videos, and albums that have since been widely seen and heard internationally. The three subsequent eras ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katy Brand
Katherine Frances Brand (born 1979), known as Katy Brand, is an English actress, comedian and writer, known for her ITV2 series ''Katy Brand's Big Ass Show'' and for Comedy Lab ''Slap'' on Channel 4. Early life and education Brand was born in Buckinghamshire, England, in 1979, and enjoyed making people laugh with her impressions as a young child. Brand attended St Clement Danes School in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire. Following a summer holiday at 13 with friends who were evangelical Christians she embraced their faith and attended church five times a week. Motivated to read theology at Keble College, Oxford, she then lost her religious beliefs while a student. Interviewed for the ''Evening Standard'' in 2007, she commented: "After about a year, I realised it was mostly rubbish and that things are never as simple as they seem when you are 13". While at Oxford, she started to write and perform comedy, musicals and serious plays, joining the Oxford Revue and the university's dram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jon Culshaw
Jonathan Peter Culshaw (born 2 June 1968) is an English actor, comedian and impressionist. He is best known for his work on the radio comedy '' Dead Ringers'' since 2000. Culshaw has voiced a number of characters for ITV shows including ''2DTV'' (2001), ''Spitting Image'' (1994–96) and ''Newzoids'' (2015–2016), as well as appearing in '' The Impressions Show'' alongside Debra Stephenson from 2009 until 2011. Early life and career Culshaw was born on 2 June 1968 in Ormskirk, Lancashire, and educated at St Bede's RC High School and St John Rigby College, Wigan. Culshaw's radio career began in hospital radio in Ormskirk. His first job was at Red Rose Radio (now Rock FM) in Preston in 1987, where, even then, he used to occasionally read the weather in the voice of Frank Bruno. He did voice-over work, then was catapulted to prominence with ''Spitting Image'', where he voiced around forty characters, including John Major in the 1990s, who was then the Prime Minister. Cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deborah Meaden
Deborah Sonia Meaden (born 11 February 1959) is a British businesswoman and TV personality who ran a multimillion-pound family holiday business, before completing a management buyout. She is best known for her appearances as a 'Dragon' on the BBC business programme ''Dragons' Den''. Early life Meaden was born in Taunton, Somerset. Her parents divorced when she was young, and her mother moved Deborah and her older sister Gail to Brightlingsea in Essex. Meaden went to the Godolphin School, Salisbury, for a brief period and then to Trowbridge High School for Girls (now The John of Gaunt School) which she left at the age of 16. Career On leaving school, Meaden studied business at Brighton Technical College, after which she worked as a sales-room model in a fashion house. After graduation, she moved to Italy at 19 and set up a glass and ceramics export agency, which sold products to retailers including Harvey Nichols. The company failed after 18 months. Meaden and a partner boug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ed Byrne (comedian)
Edward Cathal Byrne (born 16 April 1972) is an Irish actor and comedian. He has presented the British television shows '' Just for Laughs'' and ''Uncut! Best Unseen Ads'', has been a guest on numerous television panel games and has appeared on a number of television cooking shows. Early life Byrne was born on 16 April 1972 in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland, to Jill and Eddie Byrne, the third of four children. Career Stand-up comedy Deciding to study horticulture at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, he was made entertainments convener at the Students' Union in his second year of study. Byrne started a comedy night called '' The Comedy Cellar'' in the basement of the 13th Note public house on Glassford Street, Glasgow. On the first night, Byrne appeared on the roster alongside Armando Iannucci's brother David. Over the following few months, acts booked included Ford Kiernan, Phil Kay, Greg Hemphill, Alan Francis and Alan Tyler. After a few months he gave up studying ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Izzard
Edward John Izzard (; born 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomime. Izzard's stand-up comedy tours have included '' Live at the Ambassadors'' (1993), '' Definite Article'' (1996), '' Glorious'' (1997), '' Dress to Kill'' (1998), ''Circle'' (2000), '' Stripped'' (2009), ''Force Majeure'' (2013) and, most recently, ''Wunderbar'' (2022). She starred in the 2007 television series '' The Riches'', and has appeared in numerous films, including ''Ocean's Twelve'' and '' Ocean's Thirteen'', '' Shadow of the Vampire'', ''The Cat's Meow'' and ''Valkyrie''. Izzard has also worked as a voice actor on films such as ''Five Children and It'', '' The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'', '' Abominable'' and the Netflix original series ''Green Eggs and Ham''. Among various accolades, she won two Primetime Emmys for ''Dress to Kill'' a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Armand
David Armand (born David Robert Whitehead in September 1977) is an English comedian, actor and writer who has performed on stage, film, radio and most notably, television, where the shows he has appeared in include '' Fast and Loose'', ''Episodes'', ''How Not to Live Your Life'', '' Pulling'', '' The Armstrong & Miller Show'', ''Swinging'', and ''Peep Show''. He is one of the writers and stars of the hit CBBC comedy shows ''Sorry, I've Got No Head'', and its sister show, '' Pixelface. ''He has also written for shows such as ''The Peter Serafinowicz Show'' and'' Katy Brand's Big Ass Show.'' Early life and career Born in the Northamptonshire town of Kettering, Armand was educated at Latimer Community Arts College, St Catharine's College, Cambridge and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. As a member of the sketch comedy troupe ''The Hollow Men'', he appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe four times between 1999 and 2002, travelled to America as a participant at the 2003 US C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Clark
Daniel Gregory Clark (born 3 July 1976) is an English actor, comedian, writer, director, and singer. He is best known for playing Don Danbury on the BBC Three sitcom ''How Not to Live Your Life'', which he also wrote, co-produced, and sometimes directed. He has been a regular on the British comedy scene as both a sketch and stand-up comedian. Career Early career Clark started his career in comedy at the age of 19 by taking a play he co-wrote and starred in with old school friend Oliver Maltman to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In the years that followed, Clark formed a comedy trio called Electric Eel and they performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 1998 and 1999. Also in 1999, they made a pilot for C4's Comedy Lab series, called ''Roy Dance is Dead'', and the following year a full series was commissioned. In February 2002, retitled ''The Estate Agents'', the series was broadcast. Electric Eel followed the series with a UK tour and another Edinburgh Festival run. In 2003, Clark t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nick Mohammed
Nicholas George Mohammed (born 4 October 1980) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for his character Mr. Swallow, which he has portrayed across both stage and television for over a decade. Outside of the United Kingdom, Mohammed is best known for portraying the character of Nathan "Nate The Great" Shelley in the Apple TV+ series ''Ted Lasso'', for which he was nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category at the 73rd and 74th Primetime Emmy Awards. Early life Mohammed was born on 4 October 1980 in Leeds, West Yorkshire. His mother was a Cyprus-born general practitioner and his father was an Indo-Trinidadian legal professional. He was educated at Abbey Grange High School. He reportedly turned down an offer from Cambridge University and chose Durham University, where he was a member of St Aidan's College and played violin in the university orchestra. He had auditioned for the Durham Revue twice but failed to get in and inste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sharon Horgan
Sharon Lorencia Horgan (born 13 July 1970) is an Irish actress, writer, director, comedian and producer who co-wrote and starred in the comedy series '' Pulling'' (2006–2009) and ''Catastrophe'' (2015–2019). She also created the HBO comedy series ''Divorce'' (2016–2019). Horgan also co-created and co-writes the BBC comedy '' Motherland''. Horgan won the 2008 British Comedy Award for Best TV Actress for ''Pulling'', while the show's 2009 hour-long final episode won the British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Drama. A seven-time BAFTA TV Award nominee, she won the 2016 BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Writer for ''Catastrophe'' (with Rob Delaney). ''Catastrophe'' was also nominated for Scripted Comedy in the 2020 BAFTA TV Awards and for the 2016 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. She has also won five Irish Film and Television Awards in both acting and writing for her work on ''Catastrophe''. In 2021 Horgan won the ''Irish Film and Television ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shaun Williamson
Shaun Williamson (born 29 November 1965) is an English actor best known as Barry Evans in '' EastEnders'' and as a satirical version of himself in the BBC/ HBO sitcom '' Extras'', 'Barry off EastEnders'. Early life Williamson was born in Park Wood, Maidstone. He attended Holy Family RC Primary School, followed by St Simon Stock Catholic School where he frequently played truant. Following school he became a postman, but developed a drink problem, consuming 12 pints of beer a day by the time he was 18. He later said he joined the Royal Navy at that point "to break that cycle". He completed his training at HMS ''Raleigh''. He intended to become a helicopter pilot but was rejected when it was discovered he was colour blind. He subsequently worked in various jobs such as a Bluecoat for Pontins, as a rep for Club 18-30 and one season at Camp America. Aged 26 he was working for Safeway when he decided to enlist at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Career Television Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meera Syal
Meera Syal FRSL (born Feroza Syal; 27 June 1961) is a English comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created '' Goodness Gracious Me'' and portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in '' The Kumars at No. 42''. She became one of the UK's best-known Asian personalities. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1997 New Year Honours and in 2003 was listed in ''The Observer'' as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to drama and literature. Early-life Syal was born on 27 June 1961 in Wolverhampton and grew up in Essington, Staffordshire, a mining village a few miles to the north. Her Indian Punjabi parents; Surinder Syal (father) and Surinder Kaur Uppal (mother), came to the United Kingdom from New Delhi. Her father was Khatri and her mother was Jat. When ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
