Simon Evans (comedian)

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Simon Evans
Born (1965-05-09) 9 May 1965 (age 60)
Luton, Bedfordshire, England
Alma mater University of Southampton
Children2
Comedy career
Medium Stand-up, Television, Radio
Genres Observational comedy, Black comedy, Satire
Subjects Everyday life, Family, Marriage, Human interaction, Current events
Website www.thesimonevans.com

Simon Evans (born 9 May 1965) is an English comedian and writer.

Contents

Early life

Evans was born in Luton. In 2018, he learned that his biological father was the prolific sperm donor Bertold Wiesner. [1] He attended Verulam School in St Albans and then studied law at the University of Southampton, graduating [2] [3] in 1986.

Career

He has performed one-man shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 2000 and at the New Zealand Comedy Festival 2002, Cape Town Comedy Festival 2001 as well as in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Winnipeg and Dubai. In July 2004 he performed at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, and the following spring at the Aspen Comedy Festival in Colorado. Since July 2010 when he appeared alongside Emo Philips at Latitude Festival in Suffolk he has returned to Latitude on several occasions. [4] [ failed verification ]

In early 2010 Evans supported Lee Mack on his UK tour Going Out, and as a writer has made a long running contribution to Mack's BBC sitcom Not Going Out.

He toured his showsFringe Magnet in 2010–11, Friendly Fire 2012–2013, then Leashed from August 2014.

From 2017 to 2019 Evans toured his show Genius, which then became Genius 2.0. This was described in The Scotsman in a five star review by Kate Copstick as an "extraordinarily accomplished hour… a masterclass in socio-political comedy". [5] and which also garnered several other four-star [6] reviews.

From 2019 to 2023, he toured his show Work of the Devil, in which he shared the revelation concerning his parentage, after significant interruptions from the Covid 19 lockdowns. From 2023 to 2025, Evans toured his show Have We Met?

Evans had a BBC Radio 4 series Simon Evans Goes to Market, [7] and numerous other radio and TV appearances. He has appeared twice on Live at the Apollo and was a weekly regular on Stand Up for the Week (Autumn 2013, Channel 4). TV appearances have also included Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow in Sunderland (BBC One, 2010) and Edinburgh Comedy Fest Live (BBC Three, 2010).

In early 2018, after an appearance on BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz , Evans was referred to by Rod Liddle in The Spectator as a right-wing comedian. [8]

Evans is also a regular columnist for the British Internet magazine Spiked . [9] and has also written for UnHerd, The Spectator, Quillette and The Daily Telegraph.

Television writing

Evans has written for TV shows including:

Television appearances

Evans has appeared on The Comedy Store (Five) and The Stand Up Show (BBC1). Evans's other television include shows on the Comedy Network, and appearances on Five's Company (Five), and as a contestant on The Krypton Factor where he was disqualified for not completing one stage of the Super Round. [11]

Radio

Evans appears regularly on BBC Radio 4 – hosting and writing seven series of the spoof news show The Way It Is (as Richard Richard), as well as appearing on numerous panel games including The News Quiz, Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive and The Unbelievable Truth, and discussion programmes such as Off the Page.

He is a regular contributor to both BBC Radio 4 and London Live and has had full-length comedy scripts commissioned by the BBC for both TV and radio.

References

  1. Shocking Discovery: 'I Have Hundreds Of Siblings' (video). Good Morning Britain. 21 April 2023.
  2. "SIMON EVANS: The Work of The Devil Tour 2020 Review". Grapevine Birmingham. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  3. "A funny thing happened on the way to the courtroom". The Scotsman. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  4. "Simon Evans". Comedy CV. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  5. "Smart way to score intelligent laughs". The Scotsman. 23 August 2017.
  6. Rusk, Lynn (23 August 2017). "Simon Evans: Genius".
  7. Simon Evans Goes to Market , retrieved 13 August 2020
  8. "Spotted: a right-wing comedian on the BBC". The Spectator blog. 6 January 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  9. "Simon Evans, Author at spiked" . Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  10. "BBC One – Not Going Out, Series 2, Art". BBC.
  11. "Biography – Simon Evans" . Retrieved 25 December 2024.
  12. "BBC Two – Live at the Apollo, Series 8, Episode 6". BBC.
  13. "BBC Two – Live at the Apollo, Series 10, Episode 3". BBC.
  14. "BBC One – The Big Questions, Series 11, Episode 3". BBC.
  15. "Simon Evans Goes to Market – BBC Radio 4". BBC. Retrieved 7 January 2018.