Richard Sandling is a British comedian, film reviewer, presenter, writer, director, actor and musician from

South Benfleet South Benfleet is a town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Benfleet, in the Castle Point district of Essex, England, 30 miles east of London. It is adjacent to the village of North Benfleet. The Benfleet SS7 post town include ...

. He won ''

So You Think You're Funny So You Think You're Funny? (SYTYF) is an annual stand-up comedy competition for new acts. The competition began in 1988 in the United Kingdom. The finals are held every August at The Gilded Balloon during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Past wi ...

'' in 2007.

Career

Comedy

Sandling started off his career in comedy by running and MCing (the now defunct) ''Squat Betty Alternative Comedy Club'' in

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

and has performed stand-up comedy at the

Edinburgh Festival 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 ...

a number of times, both as a solo act and as part of sketch double act ''Kiosk of Champions'' with

Stuart Goldsmith Stuart Goldsmith (born 1977) is an English actor, stand-up comedian and former street performer. He has presented the '' Comedian's Comedian'' podcast since 2012. Career Goldsmith grew up in Bristol and trained at Circomedia circus school. He ...

. He has performed all over the UK as well as North America and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. In 2008 he was part of the Montreal Just For Laughs Britcom Show, and in 2012 he was the only British nominee at

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

’s

The Comedy Awards The Comedy Awards was an annual award ceremony run by the American television network Comedy Central, honoring the best of comedy. It was held twice, in 2011 and 2012. The 2011 ceremony took place on March 26 and aired on April 10 on CMT, Comedy ...

in New York. Since 2009 Richard has run ''Perfect Movie''. Perfect Movie is a stand up and sketch comedy night all about films featuring recreations of top comedians favourite movie scenes, games, trailers, sketches and more. During the 2020 lockdown he livestreamed the show every Saturday Night. When the show started in 2009

Nick Helm Nicholas Tristan Phillip Helm (born 1 October 1980) is an English comedian, actor and rock musician known for his comedic confrontational delivery. His routines have been described as "brash and bullish". Many of his performances begin with him ...

was a regular guest doing every show for the first three years.

Film

In 2020 Sandling made his directorial feature film debut with ''PHASE''. Filmed remotely, in isolation entirely via

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

, ''PHASE'' is a sci-fi comedy about a performer who spends a day on Zoom with family and friends while waiting to relaunch his musical career in lockdown - and also possibly fight off an invasion of pan-dimensional clones. The cast included Sandling himself,

Phill Jupitus Phillip Christopher Jupitus (, ''né'' Swan; born 25 June 1962) is an English stand-up and improv comedian, actor, performance poet, cartoonist and podcaster. Jupitus was a team captain on all but one BBC Two-broadcast episode of music quiz ''N ...

and

Stephen Frost Stephen Frederick Eustace Frost (born 28 December 1955) is an English actor and comedian. Early life Frost was born in Redruth, Cornwall, and is the son of the abstract artist Terry Frost and brother of painter Anthony Frost. Career Work w ...

, amongst others. Richard is also an award-winning short form filmmaker making mashups, video art and narrative pieces. A huge enthusiast for avant garde and experimental cinema, Richard runs ''Squat Betty Avant Garde Film Night'' every month at Resistance Gallery in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common land, Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heat ...

to promote and show experimental short films from all over the world. As an actor, Richard’s film credits include '' Nan The Movie'', ''Nightshooters'', ''A Fistful of Lead'', ''

Nina Forever ''Nina Forever'' is a 2015 British comedy horror, horror comedy film written and directed by brothers Ben and Chris Blaine. It stars Fiona O'Shaughnessy, Abigail Hardingham, and Cian Barry. It premiered at the 2015 SXSW film festival. Fiona O'S ...

'', '' The Comedian's Guide to Survival'' and '' Ashens and The Quest For The Game Child''. He was the Myspace.com/comedy film reviewer for a time and is featured in the documentary '' The People vs. George Lucas''.

Television

His TV work includes a season regular on '' Catherine Tate’s Nan Specials'' and '' Zapped,'' as well as appearances in ''

Peep Show A peep show or peepshow is a presentation of a live sex show or pornographic film which is viewed through a viewing slot. Several historical media provided voyeuristic entertainment through hidden erotic imagery. Before the development of the ci ...

'', '' Miranda'', and '' Russell Howard’s Good News''.

Personal life

A collector of VHS tapes, Richard has performed three Edinburgh shows about his passion for VHS.

References

External links

Official site

Don't Ever Heckle Richard Sandling - Londonist

Article
on British Sex Comedies for

Erotic Review ''Erotic Review'' is a monthly UK-based lifestyle publication. Covering eroticism and sex-related topics, it was first published in 1995 as a print magazine, migrating to an eZine format in June 2010. In addition to the monthly magazine, avail ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandling, Richard British comedians Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century English male actors English male television actors English male comedians English stand-up comedians Male actors from London English YouTubers YouTubers from London