Marc Wootton

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Marc Wootton
Born
Marc James Wootton

(1975-02-08) 8 February 1975 (age 50)
Occupation(s)Actor, comedian, writer
Years active2002–present

Marc James Wootton (born 8 February 1975) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for his role as Mr Poppy in the Nativity! film series. He also starred in the television series High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman , La La Land , Nighty Night and voiced Max in Counterfeit Cat .

Contents

Career

Wootton began performing as a schoolboy in Portsmouth, and one of his first comedic creations was the Russian Gavroski Brothers, which he took to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 2008, he said of this experience: "They were three agitprop activist peasants trying to spark a revolution. 'Like a Soviet Cyderdelic?’ I suggest – and he reacts as if this has never occurred to him before." [1]

He quickly moved on to theatre directing, and at the same time ran the Canal Cafe Theatre in London. [1]

At the same time, Wootton co-created mockumentary Cyderdelic, initially as a stage act with Barry Castagnola and Liam Woodman, becoming a success at the 2000 Edinburgh Festival. [1]

Wootton made early television appearances on the Channel 4 comedy show The Eleven O'Clock Show and BBC Three's Cyderdelic , E4 comedy The Pilot Show and the BBC Two sitcom Thin Ice . His breakthrough role came with the Channel 4 comedy gameshow My New Best Friend , in which contestants had to convince their closest friends and relatives that a series of awful characters (played by Wootton) were their new best friend, for a prize of £10,000. [2] He then wrote and starred in the BBC Three sketch show Marc Wootton Exposed , the first series of which started on 13 January and finished on 25 February 2008. [3]

His regular character Shirley Ghostman, a parody of television psychics such as Derek Acorah and Colin Fry, was spun off into his own series, High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman, for BBC Three. The series was shelved after an in-character appearance by Wootton on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross , during which he made a number of jokes referencing "Jews, cancer patients and Hitler". [4] The BBC apologised after receiving over 350 complaints.

Ghostman returned, along with other characters, in Wootton's six-part show La La Land . The series premiered on the Showtime USA network on 25 January 2010 and premiered on BBC Three on 27 April 2010. In 2018, Wootton wrote and starred in the six part comedy series High & Dry for Channel 4 in the UK, which debuted on the station on 4 May 2018. [5]

Collaborations

Wotton played the role of softly spoken dating agent Gary Furze (Lasso The Moon agency) in the first series of Julia Davis' Nighty Night . In the second series he played Dennis, Linda's aggressive husband. Wootton collaborated with Julia Davis again in the semi-improvised character comedy Couples, for BBC Radio 4. [6] In 2014, he starred in the first episode of the comedy anthology series Inside No 9 , "Sardines". [7]

In 2006, Wootton appeared in the film Confetti as a best man, Snoopy. In 2009 he starred in Debbie Isitt's Christmas comedy film Nativity , a role he reprised in the sequel, Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger , released in November 2012. [8]

Filmography

YearTitleRole [9] Notes
2002-2004 Cyderdelic Su Long7 episodes
2003 My New Best Friend VariousAlso writer
The Pilot Show Various
2004-2005 Nighty Night Gary Furze / Dennis2 episodes
2005 High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman Various8 episodes
2006Thin IceDennis
Confetti Snoopy
2008 Marc Wootton Exposed Various3 episodes; also creator and writer
Gavin & Stacey DuncanSeries 2 episode 4
2009 Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel Toby
Brave Young MenOwen Malloy
Nativity! Mr. Poppy
2010 La La Land Various6 episodes; also creator and writer
Neighbors from Hell 3 episodes; voice only
2011 Arthur Christmas PeterVoice only
2012DelocatedThe Glaze10 episodes
Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger Mr. Poppy
2013 Way to Go Cozzo6 episodes
The Harry Hill Movie Barney Cull
2014 Inside No. 9 JohnEpisode: "Sardines"
Trouble & the Shadowy DeathblowShort film
Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey? Mr. Poppy
Psychobitches The Goddess Kali1 episode
2015 The Bad Education Movie Officer Geoffrey
High & Dry BlapBrettAlso writer
2015-2016 Drunk History: UK Harold Godwinson /
Joe Mears /
Dr. Robert Knox
3 episodes
2016-2017 Counterfeit Cat MaxVoice only' 51 episodes
2018 High & Dry Brett6 episodes; also writer and creator
2020GooseberryNoodleAlso creator
2022 Question Team Harry KlunderSeason 2, episode 3
2023 Greatest Days Jeff
2024 The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin Moose Pleck

Theatre

Radio

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Winding up the wind-ups". Chortle . 9 January 2008.
  2. Fordy, Tom (4 June 2020). "The most excruciating prank show ever made: meet the survivors of Marc Wootton's My New Best Friend". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  3. "Programme Information: Network TV Week 3" (Press release). BBC. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
  4. Plunkett, John (19 April 2005). "Ross's psychic spooks chatshow viewers". London: MediaGuardian. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  5. Gibsone, Harriet (6 July 2018). "Marc Wootton: 'My funniest item of clothing? It has to be a Prada man dress'". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  6. "Couples – BBC Radio 4".
  7. "Inside No. 9: Season 1, Episode 1 | Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  8. "What the cast of Nativity! look like now". Cosmopolitan. 18 December 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  9. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1742630/?ref_=fn_al_nm_2 [ user-generated source ]
  10. "Till the Stars Come Down | National Theatre". www.nationaltheatre.org.uk. Retrieved 27 February 2024.