The Pin is a comedy double-act composed of Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen. They wrote and starred in a

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' ...

show of the same name from 2015 to 2019.

Background

The

double act A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases f ...

met at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, where they joined the

Cambridge Footlights Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University. History Footlights' inaugural ...

. Whilst members, they co-wrote and performed the sketch show ‘Good Clean Men’ with

Joey Batey Joey Batey (born 1989) is an English actor, musician, singer, and songwriter. He is known for portraying the bard Jaskier in the Netflix fantasy series ''The Witcher'', where he sang " Toss a Coin to Your Witcher", as well other songs featured in ...

, Joe Bannister, Mark Fiddaman and Simon Haines, and they co-wrote and performed in two international tour shows: 2010's 'Good For You,' directed by Liam Williams and Daran Johnson, and 2011's 'Pretty Little Panic' directed by Keith Akushie and James Moran. 'The Pin' was originally the title of a show written and performed by Ashenden, Owen, and original member Mark Fiddaman in their final year at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

in 2011. After graduating, the three moved to London and started developing shows at the Invisible Dot comedy club to take to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Pin became a duo when Fiddaman left to pursue graduate studies at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

Works

Their shows at Edinburgh have garnered great critical acclaim from the likes of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', and more. In 2015 the pair's debut

series aired, followed by a second series in 2016, and a third, this time in the 6.30 pm slot, with half-hour long episodes. In 2021, they guest starred in an episode of BBC comedy Ghosts.

''The Comeback''

The pair wrote and starred in a new play ''The Comeback'' at the

Noël Coward Theatre The Noël Coward Theatre, formerly known as the Albery Theatre, is a West End theatre in St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster, London. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's ...

in London's West End which opened on 8 December 2020 during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

(with a socially distanced audience). The run was due to end on 3 January 2021, however due to the London Tier 3 restrictions announced by the government, the run was paused after 16 December 2020. It reopened on 7 July 2021 and ran until 25 July 2021.

Awards

The Pin was the 2013 winner of London Sketchfest's prize for 'Best Act,' and the first series of their Radio 4 show won them the award for 'Best Comedy' at the 2016 BBC radio awards. There were nominated for the South Bank Sky Arts Award 'Breakthrough Act' 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pin, The English comedy writers English male comedians English comedy duos Comedy theatre characters Theatre characters introduced in 2013 Comedy film characters Comedy radio characters Comedy television characters Male characters in theatre Male characters in radio Male characters in television