Howard Oliver Drinkwater Read is a British screenwriter, comedian, and animator best known for his work with his animated sidekick, Little Howard. His other creations include an angry manager with a conversational style and the worldview of Bernard Manning, Roger T. Pigeon, and H:BOT 2000, a robot from the future. Each of these characters interacts with both Big Howard and each other. Howard Read is also known for his on-stage human

Guess Who? ''Guess Who?'' is a two-player board game where players each guess the identity of the other's chosen character. The game was developed by Israeli game inventors Ora and Theo Coster, also known as Theora Design, and first manufactured by Milto ...

act: the audience guesses who he has drawn on a large pad of paper, sitting down as their questions exclude those of a certain appearance until only one person is left standing. In 1993, Howard Read invented NikNakNoodles - an amalgamation of Golden Wonder's Pot Noodle and Golden Wonder's other oddly-flavored product, Nik Naks. Unfortunately, the product was never mass-produced. Read is a regular contributor to Robin Ince's Book Club. Read also went on to work as a writer for the

Disney XD Disney XD is an American pay television channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven yea ...

series ''

Counterfeit Cat ''Counterfeit Cat'' is an animated television series developed by Aardman Animations, Cristina Fiumara, and Ben Marsaud. The series is produced by Wildseed Kids, Tricon Kids & Family, and Aardman Animations, in association with Teletoon, with ...

'' and is also a writer for the new '' Danger Mouse'' series on

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

Little Howard

Little Howard is a sketched cartoon child aged 6 who is a "standing-up comedian". He appears on a laptop or projection screen except on his own TV show, interacting either with Big Howard, the audience, or with other animated characters (including the pigeon Roger, his manager, and H:BOT 2000 (named as MOTHER on Little Howard's Big Question), a computer). He is adept at interrupting Big Howard, dealing with hecklers and doing tarot readings with a pack of

Top Trumps ''Top Trumps'' is a card game first published in 1978. Each card contains a list of numerical data, and the aim of the game is to compare these values to try to trump and win an opponent's card. A wide variety of different packs of ''Top Tru ...

. His favorite food is fish and chips and he is currently learning the

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

''The Big Howard and Little Howard Show'' was nominated for a

Perrier Award 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 th ...

at the

2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe The 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe was the 56th Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Fringe ran from 3–25 August 2003 and presented 1541 shows over 207 venues. 2003 was the first year that over one million tickets were sold at the Fringe. Venues The ...

. In 2005, Read staged his own ''Comeback Special'' where he performed his first solo Festival show.

Writing Credits

* 2021 ''Horrible Histories Podcast'' * 2021 ''Horrible histories 9'' (covid-safe mini series) (Lion TV/CBBC) Sketch and song-writer. * 2019-21 ''

It's Pony ''It's Pony'' is a British animated television series created by Ant Blades that premiered on Nickelodeon in the United States on January 18, 2020. The series is storyboarded, designed, produced, and animated by Blue-Zoo Animation. Premise '' ...

'' Series 2 (Blue Zoo/Nickelodeon) * 2018-2021 ''Deer Squad'' Series 1 & 2 (NICK jnr/IQIYI) * 2018-2020 ''The Rabbids Invasion Mars'' (Ubisoft/France Télévision/Netflix) * 2019-2020 ''Horrible histories 9'' (lion tv/CBBC) (filming delayed by Covid pandemic) * 2019 ''I Don’t Wanna Grow Up'' (HARE AND TORTOISE/FREEMANTLE) Created, co-writer and performer * 2019-2020 ''Family Jewels'' (Wildseed Studios) Pilot script for adult animation series * 2018-2019 ''The Blackpool Museum Project'', Development writer and animated character bible author. * 2019 ''

Ninja Express ''Ninja Express'' is a Flemish animated TV series for children aged 6 to 9, created by Kim Claeys and the company Creative Conspiracy, from Ghent. So far, one season of 52 episodes of each 11 minutes has been aired. The series has been bought by T ...

'' (CBBC/Boomerang) * 2019 ''Incredible Ant'' (Wildseed Studios/iQiyi) * 2019 ''Not The End Of The World'' (Wildseed studios/Sky) * 2019 "Horrible Histories 8" (Lion TV/CBBC) BAFTA NOMINATED as part of Best Writer team and WINNER BEST CHILDREN'S COMEDY BAFTA * 2018 "Super Natural" (King Bert) Development, sketch and song writer. * 2018 "Totems" (A Productions/Sesame Studios/Apple TV) * 2018 "The World's Worst Children" (King Bert) development writer * 2016-19 "Dennis And Gnasher Unleashed" (Beano Studios/CBBC) * 2016 Horrible Histories 7 (Lion TV/CBBC), BAFTA NOMINATED as part of Best Writer team * 2016 "The Floogals" (Sprout/Channel 5) * 2012 - 2015 "Horrible Histories 5 - 6" (Lion TV/CBBC) * 2016 "Danger Mouse" (Freemantle/CBBC) * 2016 "The Furchester Hotel" (Sesame Studios/CBBC) * 2015 "Class Dismissed" (CBBC) * 2015 "The Tracy Ulman Show" (Citrus/BBC) * 2015 "Counterfeit Cat" (Wildseed Studios/Disney XD) * 2015 "The Amazing World Of Gumball" (Cartoon Network) * 2013-14 "Gigglebiz" (Cbeebies) BAFTA winning live action pre-school sketch show * 2009-11 "Little Howard's Big Question" (CBBC) British Writer’s Guild Award-winning animated/live-action edu-sit-com. Creator, head-writer, song-writer and lead animator, 38 episodes. * 2003 "Celebdaq" (BBC3) Live action/animated celebrity comedy show. Creator, writer and animator of animated celebrity caricature sketch segments. * 2001 "Polar Bears In a Snowstorm" (BBC) BBC New Comedy Award-winning animated comedy short. Creator, writer, voice and animator.

TV credits

* 2004 "Celebdaq" (BBC Choice/BBC3) * 2005 "The World Stands Up" (Paramount Comedy/BBC America) * 2005-06 ''Two Posh Old Men'' (UKTV G2) * 2006 "Stairlift To Heaven" (CBBC/BBC1) * 2007 ''

Comedy Cuts ''Comedy Cuts'' is a comedy programme on the British TV channel ITV2 that aims to provide an opportunity for new comedy performers to present their talents. Featuring 40 performers demonstrating a mix of stand up and sketches, the series is shot ...

'' (ITV2) * 2007 ''

The Royal Variety Performance The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal f ...

'' (ITV1) * 2009-12 '' Little Howard's Big Question'' (BBC1/CBBC/BBC2)

Theatre credits

* 2002 ''Words and Pictures'' * 2003 ''The Big Howard and Little Howard Show'' * 2004 ''At Home With The Howards'' * 2005 ''The Little Howard Appeal'' * 2005 ''2005 Comeback Special'' * 2007 ''Little Howard And The Magic Pencil Of Life And Death'' * 2011 ''Aladdin'' * 2012 ''Little Howard's Big Show'' * 2013 ''Howard Read - Hide and Speak''

Radio credits

* 2005 ''The Milk Run'' (Radio 1) * 2007 ''An A-Z Of The British Countryside'' (BBC 7) * 2007 ''

Peacefully In Their Sleeps ''Peacefully in Their Sleeps'' is a BBC Radio 4 comedy series written by Chris Chantler and Howard Read. Paying tribute to fictional celebrities, it lampoons postwar popular culture using fake archive footage and interviews. Six episodes were pr ...

'' (Radio 4)

References

External links

Official website

Little Howard's Big Question page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Howard British stand-up comedians British animators 1984 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century British comedians 21st-century British comedians