Paul Garner (born 1968/69) is an English comedian, writer, producer and director. Garner is married to Kate, a singer songwriter who is the daughter of Chas Hodges from

Chas & Dave Chas & Dave (often billed as Chas 'n' Dave) were a British pop rock duo, formed in London by Chas Hodges and Dave Peacock. Hodges died in 2018. They were most notable as creators and performers of a musical style labelled ''rockney'' (a port ...

Personal life

Paul is married to Kate Hodges, and they have a son named Harry.

Radio

Garner started out in radio working with Jo Bunting (now producer of '' Have I Got News For You'') and Chris Morris (''

The Day Today ''The Day Today'' is a British comedy television show that parodies television news and current affairs programmes, broadcast in 1994 on BBC2. It was created by Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris and is an adaptation of the radio programme '' ...

'', ''

Brass Eye ''Brass Eye'' is a British satirical television series parodying current affairs news programming. A series of six episodes aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001. The series was created and presented by Chris Morris, writte ...

'') at

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire BBC Radio Cambridgeshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Cambridgeshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at the Cambridge Business Park on Cowley Road in Cambridge. According to ...

. Garner then contributed to Chris Morris's weekend radio show at GLR in London before their now infamous stint at

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

in the mid-1990s. It was on this show that Garner made his airport tannoy recordings that have since become an internet phenomenon. He would go to Heathrow and get the tannoy announcer to page passengers whose names were essentially rude phrases written phonetically and disguised as foreign names. For example, "Markollig Jezvahted & Levdaroem Dabahzted" sounded like the announcer was saying "My colleague just farted and left the room the bastard". As well as "Mister Farken Buss", which sounded like "missed the fucking bus". Also in the mid-1990s, Garner hosted his own comedy and unsigned music show on the Chiltern Radio network whilst continuing to write for and appear on various shows at BBC Radio 1 including The

Zoë Ball Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British radio and television presenter. She was the first female host of both ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' and '' The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' for the BBC, and presented the 1990s children's show ''Live & ...

Breakfast Show and The

Mark Tonderai Mark Tonderai (born 1974) is a British-ZimbabweanPress Book House at the End of the Street, 2012 entrepreneur, director, writer, actor and former disc jockey. He is co-founder of the London-based production company Shona Productions with his wif ...

Show. Garner also devised, wrote and played all the parts in the spoof Australian soap 'Strewth Street' which featured every week on The

Kevin Greening Kevin Greening (30 December 1962 – 29 December 2007) was a British radio presenter, who co-hosted ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' on BBC Radio 1 with Zoe Ball from 13 October 1997 to 25 September 1998. Early career Kevin Greening grew up in Bristol whe ...

Show.

''The 11 O'Clock Show''

Garner made the transition to television in the multi-award winning satirical series ''Brass Eye'', which he wrote for and appeared in. He was then invited to take part in a new topical late night comedy show for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

called ''

The 11 O'Clock Show ''The 11 O'Clock Show'' is a satirical late-night British television comedy series on Channel 4 which featured topical sketches and commentary on news items. It ran between 30 September 1998 and 8 December 2000, most notably hosted by Iain Lee a ...

''. It was here that Garner worked alongside the likes of

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad' ...

Sacha Baron Cohen Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is an English actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral ...

Mackenzie Crook Paul James "Mackenzie" Crook (born 29 September 1971) is an English actor, comedian, director and writer. He played Gareth Keenan in ''The Office'', Ragetti in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films, Orell in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'', ...

Daisy Donovan Daisy Constance Donovan (born 23 July 1973) is an English television presenter, actress and writer. Early life Donovan was born in London. Her father was fashion photographer and film director Terence Donovan; her mother, Diana (''née'' St. ...

and

Iain Lee Iain Lee (born Iain Lee Rougvie; 9 June 1973) is an English broadcaster, writer, and former television presenter and stand-up comedian who hosts the phone-in talk show '' The Late Night Alternative'' on "pay to view" Patreon. Lee's career began ...

. Whilst making ''The 11 O'Clock Show'', Garner also started to collaborate with

Paul Kaye Paul Kaye (born 15 December 1964) is an English comedian and actor. He is known for his portrayals of shock interviewer Dennis Pennis on ''The Sunday Show'', New York lawyer Mike Strutter on MTV's ''Strutter'', Thoros of Myr in HBO's ''Game of ...

on the final stages of the

Dennis Pennis Paul Kaye (born 15 December 1964) is an English comedian and actor. He is known for his portrayals of shock interviewer Dennis Pennis on '' The Sunday Show'', New York lawyer Mike Strutter on MTV's '' Strutter'', Thoros of Myr in HBO's ''Game ...

era. Along with Ant Hines, Garner and Kaye then wrote and developed a series of scripts for Channel 4 on which they collaborated with Ricky Gervais,

Matt Lucas Matthew Richard Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He is best known for his work with David Walliams on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little Britain'' (2003–2006, 2020) and '' Come Fly ...

Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. H ...

and

Nick Frost Nicholas Jonathan Frost (born 28 March 1972) is a British actor, author, comedian, painter, producer and screenwriter. He has appeared in the ''Three Flavours Cornetto'' trilogy of films, consisting of ''Shaun of the Dead'' (2004), ''Hot Fuzz ...

. After ''The 11 O'Clock Show'', Garner went on to write for and/or appear in such shows as ''

Da Ali G Show ''Da Ali G Show'' is a British Satire, satirical television series created by and starring English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. In the series, Baron Cohen plays three unorthodox journalists: faux-streetwise poseur Ali G, Kazakh reporter Borat Sag ...

'', ''

Bo Selecta ''Bo' Selecta!'' is a British television sketch show written and performed by Leigh Francis. It was broadcast on Channel 4 from 2002 until 2009 and lampooned popular culture, becoming known for its often Surreal humour, surreal, abstract toil ...

'', ''

The Harry Enfield Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'', ''

The Priory The Priory Hospital, Roehampton, often referred to as The Priory, is a private mental health hospital in South West London. It was founded in 1872 and is now part of the Priory Group, which was acquired in 2011 by an American private equity firm ...

'', ''

High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman ''High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman'' is a British television comedy show broadcast on BBC Three and featuring character comedian Marc Wootton who plays an effete and slightly vicious medium/psychic. It is narrated by Patrick Stewart, with anim ...

'' and '' My New Best Friend''. He has also written extensively for comedian

Jimmy Carr James Anthony Patrick Carr (born 15 September 1972) is a British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer, and actor. He is known for his deadpan delivery of controversial one-liners and distinctive laugh, for which he has been both praised and criti ...

''The Pilot Show''

Garner created, wrote and starred in E4/Channel 4's ''

The Pilot Show ''The Pilot Show'' is a British TV comedy show written and created by Paul Garner. Commissioned by E4 and subsequently airing on Channel 4 in 2004, the show duped celebrities and members of the public into appearing on what they believed were pi ...

'' which lured celebrities and members of the public into appearing on what they thought were genuine TV shows such as ''Lapdance Island'' and ''Who Wants To Be A Spaceman?'' A 16-part series of ''The Pilot Show'', (renamed '' BSTV'') was then made for American television with Garner once again starring in it, writing and executive producing. Garner has also appeared as an actor in various shows such as '' Pulling'' and ''The Jim Jeffries Show''. Most notably, Garner played the part of "Dave Millman",

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 ...

's police officer husband in the sitcom ''

Angelos The House of Angelos (; gr, Ἄγγελος), feminine form Angelina (), plural Angeloi (), was a Byzantine Greek noble lineage which rose to prominence through the marriage of its founder, Constantine Angelos, with Theodora Komnene, the youn ...

'' on

Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

. In January 2008, Garner appeared on

Russell Brand Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian and actor known for his flamboyant, loquacious style and manner. Brand has received three British Comedy Awards: Best Newcomer (2006), Best Live Stand-Up (2008), and the award for ...

's ''

Celebrity Hijack ''Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack'' was a special series of ''Celebrity Big Brother'', a spin-off series of the British reality television programme '' Big Brother''. It was broadcast on E4 from 3–28 January 2008. A number of closely associated ...

'' and, masquerading as a disgruntled cameraman, barricaded himself into the '' Big Brother'' house and had to be forcibly ejected by Russell and a pair of security guards.

Strutter

Garner has created, written and appeared alongside Paul Kaye in two series of the award winning MTV show ''

Strutter "Strutter" is a song by the American rock band Kiss, released in 1974 on their self-titled debut album, ''Kiss''. It was the third single released from the album and failed to chart. "Strutter" is one of the few Kiss songs written by Gene Simmo ...

''. The show holds the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for 'The Most Number of Swear Words in a TV Show' beating the previous holder ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...

''. He has also worked with

Marc Wootton Marc James Wootton (born 8 February 1975) is an English actor, comedian and writer, best known for his role as Mr Poppy in the ''Nativity!'' film series. Wootton has also appeared in ''High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman'', ''La La Land'', ''Nig ...

on the Showtime series ''

La La Land ''La La Land'' is a 2016 American romantic musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle. It stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a struggling jazz pianist and an aspiring actress, respectively, who meet and fall in love ...

.''

Conviction

In 2014, Garner was convicted of demolishing a listed 17th-century outbuilding on his Hertfordshire home. He was ordered to pay fines of £35,120.

References

External links

Official SiteInterview with The Humourdor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garner, Paul 1973 births English male comedians English television directors English television writers Living people Place of birth missing (living people) English male television actors English male writers British male television writers