Dan Willis (born Dan Hull; 11 March 1973) is an Australia-based English comedian, originally studying and then working in

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

for over 12 years before moving into live stand-up comedy after the IT crash of 2002. Since then, Willis has performed over 2,000 times at comedy venues and festivals throughout the world, as well as live stand-up. He also performs 2 specialist computer comedy shows "Control-Alt-Delete" and "PC Mac and me".

Early life

Willis was born Dan Hull in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, Yorkshire in 1973, he took the stage name "Dan Willis" as a homage to the show ''

Diff'rent Strokes ''Diff'rent Strokes'' is an American television sitcom, which aired on NBC from November 3, 1978, to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985, to March 7, 1986. The series stars Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson, r ...

''. At the age of 3 his parents divorced and he moved to

Newcastle Upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

where he attended St Catherines First School, Gosforth Central Middle and Gosforth High School. Willis then studied at

Liverpool University , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

where he gained degrees in Computer Sciences and American History.

Information technology career

Gaining an initial love of computers after being bought a ZX Spectrum 48k at the age of 9, Willis chose to study Computer Sciences as part of his degree at Liverpool University. After graduating he first worked as a computer support technician at the head office of Meyer cookware in Liverpool. He then switched to computer programming for FI group,

Eagle Star Insurance The Eagle Star Insurance Company plc (formerly Eagle Star Insurance Company Limited) was a leading British insurance business. It underwrote the full range of risks including liability, fire, accident, marine, motor, life, contingency and Pluvius ...

Unisys Unisys Corporation is an American multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. It provides digital workplace solutions, cloud, applications, and infrastructure solutions, e ...

Coutts & Co Coutts & Co. is a London-headquartered private bank and wealth manager. Founded in 1692, it is the eighth oldest bank in the world. Today, Coutts forms part of NatWest Group's wealth management division. In the Channel Islands and the Isle of ...

and Alchemy Data Migration. Initially starting as a

Visual Basic Visual Basic is a name for a family of programming languages from Microsoft. It may refer to: * Visual Basic .NET (now simply referred to as "Visual Basic"), the current version of Visual Basic launched in 2002 which runs on .NET * Visual Basic (cl ...

programmer, he quickly retrained in

COBOL COBOL (; an acronym for "common business-oriented language") is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily us ...

, PL1,

Easytrieve Easytrieve is a report generator, sold by CA Technologies. Easytrieve Classic and Easytrieve Plus are two available versions of this programming languages primarily designed to generate reports and are used by large corporations operating in mai ...

and DB2 in order to work on

Y2K The year 2000 problem, also known as the Y2K problem, Y2K scare, millennium bug, Y2K bug, Y2K glitch, Y2K error, or simply Y2K refers to potential computer errors related to the formatting and storage of calendar data for dates in and after ...

projects. After Y2K he retrained in ETL tools

ACTA Acta or ACTA may refer to: Institutions * Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, an intellectual property trade agreement * Administrative Council for Terminal Attachments, a standards organization for terminal equipment such as registered jacks * A ...

Informatica Informatica is an American software development company founded in 1993. It is headquartered in Redwood City, California. Its core products include Enterprise Cloud Data Management and Data Integration. It was co-founded by Gaurav Dhillon and Di ...

and

Ab Initio ''Ab initio'' ( ) is a Latin term meaning "from the beginning" and is derived from the Latin ''ab'' ("from") + ''initio'', ablative singular of ''initium'' ("beginning"). Etymology Circa 1600, from Latin, literally "from the beginning", from ab ...

, working for 2 years at Alchemy Data Migration prior to the IT crash of 2002.

Comedy career

Whilst still a programmer Willis won the

Time Out Comedy Awards The Time Out Comedy Awards were bestowed upon the comedy community by the London listings magazine ''Time Out''. They ran from 1991 to 2006, and include many well-known comedians as past winners: Eddie Izzard, Noel Fielding and Jimmy Carr. It is not ...

to be a punters representative on the

Perrier Perrier ( , also , ) is a French brand of natural bottled mineral water obtained at its source in Vergèze, located in the Gard ''département''. Perrier is known for its carbonation and its distinctive green bottle. Perrier was part of the ...

Panel. Watching over 80 shows at the 2001

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

inspired him to become a comedian. Starting out in 2002, Willis made his Edinburgh Debut with The Amused Moose Hot Starlets (in a line up with

Nina Conti Nina Margarita Conti (born 25 August 1973) is a British actress, comedian, and ventriloquist. Early life Conti was born and raised in Hampstead, London, the daughter of actors Tom Conti and Kara Wilson. She attended King Alfred School, Londo ...

Greg Davies Gregory Daniel Davies ( ; born 14 May 1968) is a Welsh comedian, actor, presenter, and writer. He is best known for his roles as Greg in ''We Are Klang'', Mr Gilbert in ''The Inbetweeners'', Ken Thompson in ''Cuckoo'', the Taskmaster in '' Tas ...

Rhod Gilbert Rhodri Paul Gilbert (born 18 October 1968) is a Welsh comedian and television & radio presenter who was nominated in 2005 for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award. In 2008 he was nominated for the main comedy award (as the Edinburgh Comedy Awards w ...

and

Patrick Monahan Patrick Monahan (born February 28, 1969) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and sole constant member of the band Train. He has collaborated with multiple artists and recorded a solo album, ''Last ...

). From there he has now performed at over 90 international comedy festivals, specializing in solo shows about specific subject matters.

Specialized solo shows

Information technology (computer) comedy shows

"Control-Alt-Delete: The Funny Side Of Computers". Performed at Melbourne Comedy Festival,

Adelaide Fringe The Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between mid-February and mid-March each year, i ...

, Melbourne Fringe and Perth Fringe World. "PC MAC and Me" has been performed at the

and was also featured on

BBC Click ''Click'' (formerly ''Click Online'') is a weekly BBC television programme covering technology news and recent developments in the world of technology and the Internet, presented by Spencer Kelly and Lara Lewington. It was created by then BBC pr ...

on 7 September 2013, with Dan discussing iPhones, Mac Books, PC's, ZX Spectrum's, Commodore 64's and the humour inherent within them. As well as performing on the international stand-up circuit, Willis also performs specialized shows at corporate events. His shows “PC Mac and Me” and "Control Alt Delete" have been performed for companies such as

Hewlett Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

and

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

Ferris Bueller's Way Of...

Ferris Bueller's Day Off ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' is a 1986 American teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes and co-produced by Tom Jacobson. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck with supporting roles by Jennifer Grey ...

'' Love the movie, live the life. Dan Willis looks for life answers in a 1986 feel good movie. Performed at

, Melbourne Fringe, New Zealand Comedy Festival and Melbourne Comedy Festival

The Walking Dead

The Beginners Guide To Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse. Based on '' The Walking Dead'' TV series. Performed at Melbourne Comedy Festival,

, New Zealand Comedy Festival, Melbourne Fringe and Perth Fringe World.

Radiohead

A comedic journey into feel-good music. Performed at

Leicester Comedy Festival The Leicester Comedy Festival is an annual comedy festival held in a number of venues across Leicester, England early in the year. History The festival started in 1994 with 40 events in 23 venues over 7 days throughout Leicestershire, attracting ...

, Melbourne Comedy Festival and

Australia: A Whinging Poms Guide

The funny side of Australia. "Dan Willis moved to Australia six years ago. Now he’s got a bag of jokes, experiences and hangovers to share". Performed at

Comedy world record holder

In August 2012, Willis became the first comedian in history to perform six shows a day at the

, each show being an hour long and performed without repeating material.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Dan Living people English male comedians 1973 births Comedians from Yorkshire