Paul Putner (born March 1966) is an English actor and comedian.

Life and career

Putner was born in March 1966 in East Grinstead,

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

. He studied at

LAMDA LaMDA, which stands for Language Model for Dialogue Applications, is a family of conversational neural language models developed by Google. The first generation was announced during the 2021 Google I/O keynote, while the second generation was ...

where he won the

Kenneth More Kenneth Gilbert More, CBE (20 September 1914 – 12 July 1982) was an English film and stage actor. Initially achieving fame in the comedy '' Genevieve'' (1953), he appeared in many roles as a carefree, happy-go-lucky gent. Films from this per ...

prize for comedy acting. His first significant TV role saw Putner as numerous characters in ''

The Glam Metal Detectives ''The Glam Metal Detectives'' is a comedy show produced by the BBC in 1995. Shown on BBC2 on Thursday nights at 9, it combined sketch and sitcom elements. As with other shows launched in this timeslot, ''The Glam Metal Detectives'' attempted to ...

'' shown on BBC2. His real break in comedy came after he set up the club ''The Regency Rooms'' with fellow performers

Steve Furst Steven Jonathan Furst (born 3 September 1967) is a British comedian, actor and writer. He appeared in the Orange mobile phone cinema adverts in the UK (with Brennan Brown), playing the role of Eliot, a spoof studio executive, and has appeare ...

and

Oliver Darly Oliver may refer to: Arts, entertainment and literature Books * ''Oliver the Western Engine'', volume 24 in ''The Railway Series'' by Rev. W. Awdry * ''Oliver Twist'', a novel by Charles Dickens Fictional characters * Ariadne Oliver, ...

. The club developed a cult following and was attended by many comics.

Richard Herring Richard Keith Herring (born 12 July 1967) is an English stand-up comedian and writer, whose early work includes the comedy double act Lee and Herring (alongside Stewart Lee). He is described by ''The British Theatre Guide'' as "one of the lead ...

saw Paul performing there and cast him in his play ''Punk's Not Dead'' at the

Edinburgh 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 ...

. This role led to many others including TV roles in

Lee and Herring Lee and Herring were a British standup comedy double act consisting of the comedians Stewart Lee and Richard Herring. They were most famous for their work on television, most notably ''Fist of Fun'' and '' This Morning with Richard Not Judy'' ...

's shows. He has appeared in numerous British TV and radio shows, including '' This Morning With Richard Not Judy'' (1998), ''

Sir Bernard's Stately Homes ''Sir Bernard's Stately Homes'' is a British TV comedy series first shown in 1999 on BBC Two and later repeated on Play UK. Only six ten-minute programmes were produced, all written by and starring Matt Lucas (comedian), Matt Lucas and David W ...

'' (1999), ''

Spaced ''Spaced'' is a British television sitcom created, written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright, about the (comedic and sometimes farcical and action-packed) misadventures of Daisy Steiner and Tim Bi ...

'' (1999), ''

Rock Profile ''Rock Profile'' is a British television comedy show written by and starring comedy partnership Matt Lucas and David Walliams, both later widely known for the sketch show ''Little Britain''. ''Rock Profile'' first appeared on the channel UK Pl ...

'' (2000), ''

The Day the Music Died On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were all killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson. The event later beca ...

'' (2004–2007), ''

Look Around You ''Look Around You'' is a comedic parody of British science television shows, devised and written by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, and narrated in the first series by Nigel Lambert. The first series of eight 10-minute shorts was shown in ...

'' (2004) and '' Little Britain'' (2003–2005). He appeared in a minor role as a zombie in the comedy movie ''

Shaun of the Dead ''Shaun of the Dead'' is a 2004 zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Pegg stars as Shaun, a downtrodden salesman in London who is caught in a zombie apocalypse with his friend Ed ( Nick Frost). The ...

'' in 2004, and could also be heard on the zombies' 'commentary' track on the DVD release. More recently he has appeared in the

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' ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

comedy ''

Nebulous ''Nebulous'' is a post-apocalyptic science fiction comedy radio show written by Graham Duff and produced by Ted Dowd from Baby Cow Productions; it is directed by Nicholas Briggs. The series premiered in the United Kingdom on BBC Radio 4. Set ...

'' (2005), ''

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 ...

'' on Radio 4 in 2007, ''

The Peter Serafinowicz Show ''The Peter Serafinowicz Show'' is a British sketch comedy show written by and starring Peter Serafinowicz. Its debut was on 4 October 2007 at 21:30 on BBC Two as part of the newly launched "Thursdays Are Funny" brand on the channel and Thursda ...

'' in 2007 and ''

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle ''Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle'' is a British comedy series created by and starring Stewart Lee and broadcast on BBC Two. It features stand-up comedy and sketches united by a theme for each episode. It was script-edited by Chris Morris and was ...

'' in 2009 and 2014. He has also contributed material to programmes including ''The Impressionable Jon Culshaw'', '' Little Britain'', ''

'' and is a co-creator of the website "TV Dregs". In 2005, Putner took the starring role (as a

mime Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...

) in the 7th district section of the film ''

Paris, je t'aime ''Paris, je t'aime'' (; ''Paris, I love you'') is a 2006 anthology film starring an ensemble cast of actors of various nationalities. The two-hour film consists of eighteen short films set in different arrondissements (districts). The 22 director ...

'' written and directed by

Sylvain Chomet Sylvain Chomet (; born 10 November 1963) is a French comic writer, animator and film director. Early career Born in Maisons-Laffitte, Seine-et-Oise (now Yvelines), near Paris, he studied art at high school until he graduated in 1982. Chomet ...

. The film opened the "

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

" section of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. From late 2005 until early 2007 Putner toured in the ''

Little Britain Live ''Little Britain Live'' is a stage show based on the TV sketch series '' Little Britain'', performed by its stars, David Walliams and Matt Lucas, and directed by Jeremy Sams. Supporting characters are played by Paul Putner and Samantha Power (wi ...

'' show, and later appeared in

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 Fl ...

and

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series ''Little Br ...

' TV follow-up, '' Come Fly with Me''. In 2010 and 2011, Putner played the ill-fated Gerald "Jelly" Kelly in the ''

Only Fools and Horses ''Only Fools and Horses....'' is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan (writer), John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas ...

'' prequel trilogy, ''

Rock & Chips ''Rock & Chips'' is a British television comedy-drama miniseries and a prequel to the sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses''. The show is set in Peckham, southeast London, during the early 1960s, focusing primarily on the lives of Del Trotter, Freddie ...

'', written by John Sullivan. In 2013, he appeared in

Kevin Eldon Kevin Eldon (born 2 October 1959) is an English actor and comedian. He featured in British comedy television shows of the 1990s including ''Fist of Fun'', '' This Morning with Richard Not Judy'', '' Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge' ...

's sketch show, ''

It's Kevin ''It's Kevin'' is a British television comedy show, created by and starring the actor and comedian Kevin Eldon. It was screened on BBC Two between March and April 2013. Reception Following the first episode, Serena Davies writing for The Tele ...

''. Also in 2013, Putner appeared in an episode of the second series of ''

Wizards vs Aliens ''Wizards vs Aliens'' is a British science fantasy television programme produced by BBC Cymru Wales and FremantleMedia Enterprises for CBBC and created by Russell T Davies and Phil Ford. The series focuses on the exploits of 16-year-old wiz ...

'' as a troll called Mervyn.

External links

*
TV Dregs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Putner, Paul 1966 births Living people 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art English male comedians English male radio actors English male television actors Male actors from Sussex People from East Grinstead