Christopher David Addison (born 5 November 1971) is a British comedian, writer, actor, and director. He is perhaps best known for his role as a regular panellist 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 ...

''. He is also known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he later adapted for

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' ...

. In addition to stand-up, Addison played Ollie Reeder in the BBC Two satire series ''

The Thick of It ''The Thick of It'' is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of British government. Written and directed by Armando Iannucci, it was first broadcast for two short series on BBC Four in 2005, initially with a smal ...

'' and Toby Wright in its spin-off film '' In the Loop'', starred in the

Sky Living Sky Living was a British pay television channel owned and operated by Sky. The channel's programming was aimed mainly at women and young adults. It originally launched as UK Living in 1993 and closed 25 years later, being replaced by Sky Witnes ...

comedy-drama ''

Trying Again ''Trying Again'' is a British comedy television series shown on the Sky Living channel in 2014. On 17 October 2014, the channel announced that the show will not be returning for a second series. Plot The show revolves around a couple, Meg and ...

'' and appeared in three episodes of series 8 of '' Doctor Who''. He also co-created and starred in the BBC Two sitcom ''

Lab Rats A laboratory rat is a rat of the species ''Rattus norvegicus'' which is bred and kept for scientific research. Labrat, lab rat, or lab rats may also refer to: People and characters * Dunash ben Labrat (920–990), medieval Jewish commentator ...

''. On radio, he previously hosted the weekly comedy news

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

show ''

7 Day Sunday ''7 Day Sunday'' (''7 Day Saturday'' in 2013) is a British comedy radio talk show hosted by Al Murray on BBC Radio 5 Live. Broadcast weekly on Sunday mornings, the show takes an irreverent look at the topical news stories of the past seven days ...

'' on BBC Radio 5 Live from 2009 to 2010. In 2020, he co-created the FX parental comedy series '' Breeders'' starring

Martin Freeman Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won an Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Freeman's most not ...

Early life

Addison was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales, to English parents and moved back with his parents to

Worsley Worsley () is a village in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, which in 2014 had a population of 10,090. It lies along Worsley Brook, west of Manchester. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there is evi ...

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, England, when he was four. On the

programme ''

Chain Reaction A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events. Chain reactions are one way that sys ...

'', he stated that he considers himself a middle class Mancunian. He was educated at

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a Grammar school#free tuition, free grammar school next to Manchester C ...

, an independent school for boys in Manchester. At MGS rather than playing cricket he played the game podex. This was followed by the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

, where he studied English Literature with the original intent of becoming a theatre director. After his directing plans did not work out, he drifted into comedy as an alternative creative outlet.

Career

Stand-up

Addison's first solo show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was in 2003, for which he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Perrier Awards. He continued to bring shows to the Fringe for several years, gaining two Perrier Award nominations – for his 2004 show ''Civilisation'' and 2005's ''Atomicity''. In 2005 he won the

City Life Comedian of the Year The City Life Comedian of the Year competition is held annually in Manchester, and sponsored by the ''City Life (magazine), City Life'' magazine. The competition began in 1990, and has become one of the most prestigious comedy awards in the Nor ...

Award, a stand-up competition in the

North West of England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...