Andrew John Parsons (born 30 November 1966) is an English comedian and writer. He regularly appeared on ''

Mock the Week ''Mock the Week'' is a British topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. The programme was present ...

'' from Series 3 to Series 14. With comedy partner

Henry Naylor Henry James Naylor (born 19 January 1966) is a British comedy writer, director and performer. He is also a playwright. Early life Naylor read history and history of art at Downing College, Cambridge. Career Naylor was head writer for ''Spitt ...

, he has written and presented nine series of ''

Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections ''Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections'' was a BBC Radio 2 satirical comedy show starring Andy Parsons and Henry Naylor. It also stars Richie Webb, and one female "special guest". Female guests included Lucy Porter, Jo Caulfield, Julia M ...

'' for

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

Early life

Parsons was born in Weymouth,

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

. He attended Parc Eglos Primary School,

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map shee ...

Comprehensive School in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

and

Churston Ferrers Grammar School Churston Ferrers Grammar School (also known as CFGS) is a selective coeducational Grammar School with Academy status, situated in the village of Galmpton in Torbay, South Devon, England. It is also a specialist Humanities College. Year 7 annu ...

Torbay Torbay is a borough and unitary authority in Devon, south west England. It is governed by Torbay Council and consists of of land, including the resort towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, located on east-facing Tor Bay, part of Lyme ...

(Devon) before going to

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

to study Law, where he met and formed a

double act A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases f ...

with

which twice toured with the National Student Theatre Company and once with the

Footlights Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University. History Footlights' inaugural ...

. After completing his studies, Parsons got a job working as a legal clerk on a case at the

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

s, which he describes as "the most tedious thing I'd ever done." With Naylor he established TBA, London's first sketch comedy club.

Writing/television

His first TV writing job was for ''

Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ov ...

'' and he went on to become one of the main writers. He has also appeared as a guest on ''

They Think It's All Over "They think it's all over" is a quote from Kenneth Wolstenholme's BBC TV commentary in the closing moments of the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final, when England beat West Germany 4–2 after extra time to win the FIFA World Cup. In the final few second ...

'', '' QI'', and

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...

's ''

Fighting Talk ''Fighting Talk'' is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live during the English football season. The show is broadcast on Saturday mornings for an hour between 1100 and 1200 and is based on a similar format to the ESPN show ''Around t ...

''. Parsons left ''Mock the Week'' in October 2015 after nine series as a regular panelist, missing only five episodes. He, like the other regular panellists on ''Mock the Week'', kept the same seat throughout the series, Parsons being the one on host

Dara Ó Briain Dara Ó Briain ( , ; born 4 February 1972) is an Irish comedian and television presenter based in the United Kingdom. He is noted for performing stand-up comedy shows all over the world and for hosting topical panel shows such as ''Mock the We ...

's left. He has also presented The ''PMQ'' show on

and was a regular during the 2010 World Cup on the

show ''Never Write Off The Germans''. Parsons also appeared in ''World's Most Dangerous Roads'' alongside Ed Byrne, travelling along the Road of Bones in Siberia, visiting the coldest inhabited place on Earth and sleeping in a tent at -53 °C. After writing for ''

Week Ending ''Week Ending'' was a satirical radio current affairs sketch show broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1970 and 1998. It was devised by writer-producers Simon Brett and David Hatch and was originally hosted by '' Nationwide'' presenter Michael Ba ...

'', Parsons and Naylor were offered their own show ''

'' in 2001. They have also performed live versions of the show at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

(1993–2001) and at international comedy festivals in Sydney (1998/99),

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

(both 1998).

Stand-up comedy

Parsons regularly performs solo shows at comedy festivals, and also at

The Comedy Store The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California. History The Comedy ...

. He is the ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an enginee ...

'' Comedy Award Winner 2002. In 2008, he co-wrote and starred in a

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' ...

sitcom called ''The Lost Weblog of Scrooby Trevithick'' and a second series, ''Scrooby Trevithick'', aired in 2010. He toured in the UK with his show ''Andy Parsons: Citizens!'' in 2009. The show was recorded at the Lyric Theatre, London on 28 September 2009 and released on DVD in November that year under the title ''Britain's Got Idiots'' which was shown on BBC2 in October & December 2010. In 2010, Parsons took part in ''

Channel 4's Comedy Gala ''Channel 4's Comedy Gala'' is an annual British comedy benefit show organised by Channel 4 in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. The show is filmed live at the O2 Arena in London, and then broadcast later by Channel 4. An inaugu ...

'', a

benefit show A benefit concert or charity concert is a type of musical benefit performance (e.g., concert, show, or gala) featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate hu ...

held in aid of

Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH or Great Ormond Street, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital ...

, filmed live at the

O2 Arena O2 Arena may refer to: *The O2 Arena (London) *O2 Arena (Prague) *The 3Arena The 3Arena (originally The O2) is an indoor amphitheatre located at North Wall Quay in the Dublin Docklands in Dublin, Ireland. The venue opened as The O2 on 16 Decemb ...

in London on 30 March. His 2011 UK National Tour was called ''Gruntled''. and his 2013 tour was called ''I've Got A Shed''. His third DVD ''Slacktivist'' was released on 25 November 2013 and was televised on BBC Two in December 2014. His 2015 tour was entitled ''Live & Unleashed - But Naturally Cautious''. Also in 2015 Andy started the Slacktivist Action Group. Occurring monthly with MPs, journalists, experts and comedians. 2017 brought the new tour ''Peak Bullsh*t''. His most recent tour is called ''Healing The Nation'' and ran from September to December 2019, then resumed, with new material, in September 2021.

Activism

Parsons backed the

People's Vote People's Vote was a United Kingdom campaign group that unsuccessfully campaigned for a second referendum following the UK's Brexit vote to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016. The group was launched in April 2018 at which four Members of Pa ...

, a campaign group that called for a public vote on the final

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

deal between the UK and the European Union.

Stand-Up DVDs

*''Britain's Got Idiots Live'' (23 November 2009) *''Gruntled Live 2011'' (14 November 2011) *''Slacktivist Live'' (25 November 2013) *''Live and Unleashed but Naturally Cautious'' (27 November 2015)

References

External links

*
Artists Page on Agents Website
*
Review of ''Eat my Satire''
* *
Chortle
Andy Parsons' biography and his forthcoming gigs {{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Andy 1966 births English male comedians English stand-up comedians English television writers English satirists People from Weymouth, Dorset Living people Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge People educated at Churston Ferrers Grammar School 20th-century English comedians 21st-century English comedians British male television writers