Robert Renwick Mortimer was born in Middlesbrough on 23 May 1959,[1] and grew up with three brothers in the town's Linthorpe area.[2] His father, a biscuit salesman, died in a car crash when Mortimer was seven.[3] At around the same time, Mortimer accidentally burnt down his family's home with a stray firework.[4][5] He attended King's Manor School in Middlesbrough, where his schoolmates included future sports presenter Ali Brownlee.[6] A keen football fan, he had trials for local club Middlesbrough F.C., but abandoned his footballing dreams due to early-onset arthritis.
Mortimer left school with three A-Levels and went on to study law at the University of Sussex and University of Leicester. There, he became involved in political causes and the punk movement, starting a band called Dog Dirt.[7] After leaving university with an LLM in Welfare Law, he moved to London and became a solicitor for Southwark Council. He then moved to a private practice in Peckham, where his work with Public Health Act cases regarding cockroach infestations of council properties led to a local paper, the South London Press, dubbing him "The Cockroach King".[8] According to his autobiography, he was mugged during this time by one of his clients, who stopped and apologised after recognising him; he continued to represent the client.[9]
In 1986, Mortimer went to the Goldsmith's Tavern in New Cross, London, to see a new show by the comedian Vic Reeves. Mortimer was impressed by the performance, particularly the character Tappy Lappy, which was Reeves attempting to tap dance while wearing a Bryan Ferry mask and planks on his feet. Mortimer approached Reeves after the show, and the two began writing material for the next week's show together. They also became good friends and formed a band, the Potter's Wheel. Mortimer began to perform on the show, which was christened Vic Reeves Big Night Out, creating such characters as the Singing Lawyer, Graham Lister, Judge Nutmeg and the Man With the Stick.
The show became successful in South London and eventually outgrew Goldsmith's Tavern, moving in 1988 to the Albany Empire in Deptford. Mortimer soon became an integral part of the performance, providing him with a weekly break from his legal work, which had begun to disillusion him.[citation needed][10]
Reeves and Mortimer made their television debut on the short-lived 1989 comedy chat show One Hour with Jonathan Ross, in the game show segment known as "Knock down ginger". Later that year, the duo made their first television pilot together, Vic Reeves Big Night Out. The television show remained true to the nightclub act's variety show format. Mortimer took a 10-week break from his legal job to record the series and never returned.
The two later created a one-off pilot for a sitcom called The Weekenders in 1992, followed by the sketch show The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer in 1993, and Shooting Stars, a comedy panel show that first aired in December 1993. After being commissioned, Shooting Stars ran for five series between 1995 and 2002, with a special anniversary edition broadcast in December 2008. A sixth series was broadcast in late 2009, followed by a seventh series in mid-2010, and an eighth in 2011.
In 2003, Mortimer and Reeves were listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.[11] In a 2005 poll to find the Comedians' Comedian, the duo were voted the 9th greatest comedy act of all time by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.[12]
On 27 February 2008, Reeves announced that he and Mortimer were working together on a new sitcom about superheroes who get their powers through a malfunctioning telegraph pole.[14]
In October 2015, the pair cancelled the first leg of their live tour, 25 Year of Reeves and Mortimer: The Poignant Moments, after Mortimer underwent an emergency triple heart bypass.[15]
On 29 December 2017, Mortimer and Reeves starred in a relaunch and new singular episode of their comedy Big Night Out for the BBC. The show has been remade and subsequently renamed to Vic and Bob's Big Night Out. The episode remained true to the classic Big Night Out formula and was composed of various comedy songs, skits, characters and sketches. This was the first time the Big Night Out series had featured Mortimer's name in the title. A full series of Vic and Bob's Big Night Out began on BBC Four in November 2018.
Mortimer voiced the computer-animated bulldog in adverts for Churchill Insurance.[17] Churchill's "Oh, yes!" catchphrase is believed to be an impersonation of Potter the Janitor (played by Deryck Guyler) from the television series of the 1970s, Please Sir!.[18] Older adverts had Mortimer's voice responding to questions posed by his comedy partner, Vic Reeves. In April 2005, however, Reeves was removed from the adverts, after he was convicted of drink-driving.[19]
In July 2002, Mortimer fought and defeated Les Dennis in the BBC's first Celebrity Boxing match, as part of Sport Relief 2002.
Mortimer produced and presented the second match, The Fight, a year later, which saw Grant Bovey versus Ricky Gervais.
In 2005, Mortimer hosted his first major TV series without Reeves, a comedy panel game for BBC One, called 29 Minutes of Fame, which featured regular guests such as Jo Brand.
Also in 2005, Mortimer voiced the character of Father Nicholas in the animated BBC Three series Popetown. The show was not broadcast by the channel, for fear of offending Catholic viewers, though it saw a DVD release later that year.[20]
Mortimer has been a regular guest panellist on the BBC1 quiz show Would I Lie to You? since 2012, having appeared in eleven episodes up to the 2022 series. He has since stated that his appearances on this show have given him more recognition than any of his previous work.[21]
In November 2013, Mortimer appeared on an episode of Ross NobleFreewheeling.
Also in 2013, Mortimer played Frank in the E4 sitcom Drifters.
In April 2015, Mortimer took over from the late Rik Mayall as Bombardier Bedford, the mascot of Wells Bombardier Beer.
Since March 2016, Mortimer has written and co-hosted regular comedy podcast, Athletico Mince, alongside Andy Dawson.[22]
Mortimer has appeared on numerous episodes of the Sky1 comedy panel game Duck Quacks Don't Echo, hosted by his regular Would I Lie to You? team captain, Lee Mack.
In June and July 2018, Mortimer teamed up with his longtime friend and fellow comedian, Paul Whitehouse, in a BBC2 six part comedy series, Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. The two friends, who have both suffered from heart conditions, shared their thoughts and experiences while fishing at a variety of locations around the UK.[23] Six series of the programme have aired to date; a book was released in 2020,[24] series 4 and Christmas specials aired in 2021 and 2023.[25][26]
On 25 August 2021, Mortimer appeared on episode 116 of the food and comedy podcast Off Menu, hosted by comedians James Acaster and Ed Gamble.[28] His dream menu was an Odeon Cinema hotdog as a starter, with ketchup and mustard, swirled by his own finger. Main course was a "perfect vindaloo" with poppadoms and chips. Side dish was a shallow fried turbot. His chosen drink was a citrus IPA served at minus 20 degrees. Dessert was a syrup sponge pudding and custard, made by his wife. He was allowed to have a Boost baguette and a cube of frozen custard on his way home.[29]
In September 2021, Mortimer released an autobiography titled And Away....[30][31]
Mortimer wrote The Satsuma Complex, a Sunday Times bestselling comic novel published in 2022.[32] An audiobook was released, narrated by Mortimer and Sally Phillips.[33]
In October 2015, Mortimer underwent triple bypass surgery, which led to the cancellation of the first leg of the Reeves and Mortimer 25 years tour.[35] On the day of his hospital admission, he married Lisa Matthews, his girlfriend of 22 years, under a special marriage licence express from London. They have two sons.[36]
Mortimer is a lifelong fan of his hometown football team Middlesbrough and the rock band Free. During his appearance on Desert Island Discs, he revealed that he dealt with crippling shyness until the age of 30, which only began to improve after his initial television success; he also reflected on how his father's early death had shaped his personality, despite not realising how much this event had affected him as a child.[37]
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Reeves and Mortimer, colloquially known as Vic and Bob, are a British double act consisting of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. They have written and starred in several comedy programmes on British television since 1990, with Reeves having made his first TV appearance in 1986. They have often been referred to as a modern-day Morecambe and Wise.
James Roderick Moir, also known by his stage name Vic Reeves, is an English comedian and artist. He has a double act with Bob Mortimer as Reeves & Mortimer. He is known for his surreal sense of humour.
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Tamsin Morwenna Banks is a British actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She appeared in the Channel 4 comedy sketch show Absolutely, and wrote, produced, and appeared in the British ensemble film The Announcement. She voices Mummy Pig, Madame Gazelle and Dr Hamster in the children's series Peppa Pig. She adapted Nick Hornby's novel Funny Girl for Sky Max and is a writer on Slow Horses for Apple TV+.
Vic Reeves Big Night Out is a cult British comedy stage show and later television series which ran on Channel 4 for two series in 1990 and 1991, as well as a New Year special. Its live incarnation marked the beginnings of the collaboration between Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer and started their Reeves and Mortimer comedy double act.
The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer is a BBC TV sketch show written by and starring double act Vic & Bob. Its first series appeared in 1993 following the duo's move to the BBC after parting company with Channel 4. The show developed and expanded upon the absurd, anarchic comedy that the pair had first explored on Channel 4's Vic Reeves Big Night Out.
Bang Bang, It's Reeves and Mortimer is a British comedy television series, the third by comedy double act Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer and their second in a sketch show format. Directed by Mark Mylod and produced by Alan Marke, it first aired in 1999 on BBC2.
Daniel Renton Skinner is an English actor and comedy writer, working in stage, film and television. Skinner often performs as the character Angelos Epithemiou, and is also one half of the Brian and Roger podcast.
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Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) is a British television series, produced by Working Title Television for BBC One, written and produced by Charlie Higson. It is a revival of the 1960s television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and stars Vic Reeves as Marty Hopkirk and Bob Mortimer as Jeff Randall, two partner private detectives, Emilia Fox as Jeannie Hurst, Hopkirk's fiancée, and Tom Baker as Wyvern, a spirit mentor. Two series were commissioned and were broadcast in 2000 and 2001 with the pilot episode airing 18 March 2000.
The Weekenders is a one-off comic television pilot starring Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, produced by Granada Television for Channel 4. Broadcast on Wednesday 17 June 1992 as part of a series of pilots entitled Bunch of Five, it was a surreal sitcom in which two friends, Jim and Bob, visit a meat festival taking place in an open field. They are then chased by aliens who want the meat they have bought to feed their queen.
Pett Productions was an independent production company, established by Bob Mortimer, Vic Reeves and Lisa Clark in 2001. The company was based at the Maidstone Studios in Maidstone, Kent and has produced several television shows in comedy, reality, documentary and internet format. It was dissolved in May 2015.
Vic Reeves' House Arrest was a weekly radio comedy series written by and starring Vic Reeves. It was produced by Open Mike Productions and broadcast on BBC Radio 2 It co-starred Reeves' wife Nancy Sorrell, his comedy partner Bob Mortimer, and The Mighty Boosh star, Noel Fielding. It was first broadcast in 2007 in the 1pm slot on Saturday afternoons.
The Fast Show, known as Brilliant in the US, is a BBC comedy sketch show that ran from 1994 to 1997, with specials in 2000 and 2014. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and Caroline Aherne. Other significant cast members included Felix Dexter, Paul Shearer, Rhys Thomas, Jeff Harding, Maria McErlane, Eryl Maynard, Colin McFarlane and Donna Ewin.
Morgana Robinson is a British comedian, impressionist, writer and actress. She has appeared in her comedy sketch programme The Morgana Show, Morgana Robinson's The Agency, House of Fools and Very Important People.
House of Fools is a British comedy television series that was first broadcast on BBC Two on 14 January 2014. Bob Mortimer and Vic Reeves wrote the show, and star in it as themselves.
The Brian Pern documentaries are a British comedy spoof-documentary series about a fictional ageing rock star, Brian Pern, the former frontman of the 1970s progressive rock group Thotch. The series is written by Rhys Thomas and Simon Day, and stars Day as Pern, with Michael Kitchen, Paul Whitehouse and Nigel Havers in supporting roles.
Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing is a factual entertainment television show featuring friends Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse, both comedians. The show features Mortimer and Whitehouse reflecting on life after their shared major heart problems, while on a fishing trip to various locations around Britain. The series was first broadcast on BBC Two in 2018 and has been recommissioned every year since. An hour-long Christmas special was added from 2020 onwards Series 7 is being expanded to 8 episodes in 2024. In season 3, Ted the Patterdale Terrier was introduced in the show, and has been featured in most episodes since.
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