Chris Addison

Last updated

Chris Addison
Chris Addison cropped.jpg
Chris Addison in 2018
Birth nameChristopher David Addison
Born (1971-11-05) 5 November 1971 (age 52)
Cardiff, Wales, UK
Education University of Birmingham (BA)
Years active1995–present
Genres Observational, satire
Children2
Notable works and roles

Christopher David Addison (born 5 November 1971) [1] is a British [2] comedian, writer, actor, and director. He is perhaps best known for his role as a regular panellist on Mock the Week . He is also known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he later adapted for BBC Radio 4.

Contents

In addition to stand-up, Addison played Ollie Reeder in the BBC Two satire series The Thick of It and Toby Wright in its spin-off film In the Loop , starred in the Sky Living comedy-drama Trying Again and appeared in three episodes of series 8 of Doctor Who . He also co-created and starred in the BBC Two sitcom Lab Rats . On radio, he previously hosted the weekly comedy news satire show 7 Day Sunday on BBC Radio 5 Live from 2009 to 2010. In 2020, he co-created the FX parental comedy series Breeders starring Martin Freeman.

Early life

Addison was born in Cardiff, Wales, to English parents and moved back with his parents to Worsley, Salford, England, when he was four. [3] On the BBC Radio 4 programme Chain Reaction , he stated that he considers himself a middle class Mancunian. [3] He was educated at Manchester Grammar School, an independent school for boys in Manchester. [4] At MGS rather than playing cricket he played the game podex. [5] This was followed by the University of Birmingham, where he studied English Literature with the original intent of becoming a theatre director. [6] After his directing plans did not work out, he drifted into comedy as an alternative creative outlet. [3]

Career

Stand-up

Addison performing at Resofit, a benefit concert for Resonance FM, 2007 Chris AddissonResofit1.jpg
Addison performing at Resofit, a benefit concert for Resonance FM, 2007

Addison's first solo show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was in 1998, for which he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Perrier Awards. He continued to bring shows to the Fringe for several years, gaining two Perrier Award nominations – for his 2004 show Civilisation and 2005's Atomicity. [7] In 2005 he won the City Life Comedian of the Year Award, a stand-up competition in the North West of England.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

  • 1998 Chris Addison
  • 1999 Gentleman Scholar Acrobat
  • 2000 Cakes and Ale
  • 2001 Port Out, Starboard Home
  • 2002 The Ape That Got Lucky (later adapted for BBC Radio 4)
  • 2004 Civilization (nominated for Perrier Comedy Award, later adapted for BBC Radio 4)
  • 2005 Atomicity (nominated for Perrier Comedy Award)

Radio

First broadcast in 2004, Addison co-wrote and co-starred in the political satire The Department , along with John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman. It ran for 14 episodes over three series on BBC Radio 4, ending in 2006.

In August 2005, Radio 4 aired The Ape That Got Lucky , Addison's adaptation of his 2002 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show of the same name. This programme featured fellow comedians Geoffrey McGivern, Jo Enright and Dan Tetsell. On 8 May 2006, The Ape That Got Lucky won the gold award in the comedy production category at the Sony Radio Academy Awards. [8]

In 2006, Addison recorded Chris Addison's Civilization, again for Radio 4, based on his Edinburgh Fringe show of 2004; this again featured McGivern, Enright and Tetsell and was aired in four parts over the summer.

He has been a panellist on three of Radio 4's comedy panel games: Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive , first appearing in 2006, Just a Minute , first appearing in 2007, and The Unbelievable Truth , first appearing in 2009.

Addison hosted a series of the Radio 4 comedy series 4 Stands Up , which showcases up-coming and established comedy talent. As host, Addison performs a short opening set and introduces the acts, in the style of a compère at a comedy club. The first episode was broadcast on 2 April 2009.

On 10 May 2009, Addison hosted the Sunday Night Show on Absolute Radio in place of fellow stand-up comedian Iain Lee who was away due to being on his honeymoon.

Addison hosted 7 Day Sunday , a satirical news show on BBC Radio 5 Live along with his co-hosts Sarah Millican and Andy Zaltzman. The first episode aired in January 2010. Addison presented the second series of the show until February 2011, when he was replaced by Al Murray.

He is also good friends with Geoff Lloyd on Absolute Radio and has made a few appearances on Geoff Lloyd's Hometime Show .

Television

The Thick of It

From 2005 to 2012, Addison appeared in the BBC television satirical comedy series The Thick of It as Oliver "Ollie" Reeder, Junior Advisor (later Special Advisor) to the Secretary of State (Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship). He appeared in all of the four series, as well as the two specials 'Rise of the Nutters' and 'Spinners and Losers'.

Addison also featured in the film spin-off of The Thick of It, titled In the Loop , playing Toby Wright, a character very similar to his part in the television original. [9]

Lab Rats

In July 2008, BBC Two aired Lab Rats , a sitcom starring Addison and co-written with Carl Cooper. Lab Rats featured cast members Jo Enright, Geoffrey McGivern and Dan Tetsell, with whom Addison had worked previously on the radio adaptations of his one-man shows The Ape That Got Lucky and Civilisation.

Lab Rats was a return to the traditional, joke-heavy, studio based sitcom format that has fallen out of fashion in recent times in favour of the single-camera sitcom. [6] The series was not generally well received by critics and was not renewed for a second series.

Mock the Week

After several guest appearances on the comedy panel show Mock the Week , in September 2011 Addison became a regular panellist, appearing in every episode since the second part of series 10 until series 12 (2013). He appeared alongside other regular panellists Hugh Dennis and Andy Parsons and the show's host, Dara Ó Briain.

Other TV acting projects

In 2014 Addison starred in the Sky Living series Trying Again .

Guest appearances and hosting

In 2000 Addison co-hosted the short-lived Channel 4 comedy series Dotcomedy with Gail Porter. This was a late-night, risque show featuring video clips and other humour derived from the Internet.

He has appeared on Have I Got News for You six times, Would I Lie to You? once and 8 Out of 10 Cats twice. Addison also appeared in episode 3 of series 5 of Live at the Apollo . He has thrice appeared on QI .

Addison appeared on The Graham Norton Show on 16 April 2009 promoting In the Loop . On 18 April 2010 he appeared on The Andrew Marr Show to comment on the week's political issues, including the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland and The First Election Debate.

He appeared on Skins as Professor David Blood, the college director of Roundview College and father of third Generation character Grace Violet. On 4 November 2010 Addison hosted the BBC's Have I Got News For You , having previously been a guest on the show.

In the summer of 2011 Addison hosted an E4 comedy chat show called Show and Tell, with each of the 8 episodes featuring three guest stand-up comedians. [10]

Addison has also made an appearance in children's television show Horrible Histories .

In August 2014, it was announced that Addison would make a guest appearance in the two-part series finale of the eighth series of Doctor Who with his former The Thick of It co-star Peter Capaldi, who plays the Twelfth Doctor. [11] His character, Seb, first appeared in the mid-series episode "The Caretaker" and then appeared in further episodes including "Dark Water" and "Death in Heaven".

Directing and producing

In 2013, he began working as a director on Armando Iannucci's HBO sitcom Veep . He directed 13 episodes. In 2016, he won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series and received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. Alongside directing, he also served as executive producer in 2015. For this work on Series 3, he and the other producers on the show received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. They won the award for Series 4 and 5.

In 2020, sitcom Breeders premiered on both US TV channel FX and Britain's Sky One. Breeders was co-created by Addison, main co-star Martin Freeman and comedy writer Simon Blackwell and is based on Freeman's own experience as a parent. Addison directed fifteen episodes.

Film

Addison directed the 2019 comedy The Hustle , starring Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway, a remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), which in turn was a remake of Bedtime Story (1964). [12]

Addison is set to direct Ralph Fiennes playing George Frederick Handel in a period comedy-drama, Hallelujah. [13]

Other work

From 2003 to 2005 Addison wrote a fortnightly finance column for The Guardian titled "Funny Money". On alternate weeks, when the column was not written by Addison, writing duties passed to fellow stand-up Dominic Holland.

Addison has written two books, both published by Hodder and Stoughton: Cautionary Tales for Grown Ups in 2006 and It Wasn't Me: Why Everybody is to Blame and You're Not in 2008.

In 2011 and 2012 he appeared in a range of Direct Line adverts as a Direct Line representative alongside difficult customers, played by fellow comedic performers Alexander Armstrong, Amelia Bullmore and Lorna Watson. [14] On 9 April 2011 he was part of the Comedy Takeover on TV channel Dave, where he presented and selected the shows.

In 2011 he took part in three shows of the 16-date Uncaged Monkeys tour along with Brian Cox, Robin Ince, Ben Goldacre, Simon Singh and Dara Ó Briain.

In July 2013 he received an honorary degree from the University of Birmingham. [15]

In February 2016 Addison took the speaking role of Smith, an Englishman, in the French opera L'Étoile at The Royal Opera House, London. [16]

Addison became a Patron of Social Enterprise UK in 2017.

Stand-Up DVDs

Personal life

Addison currently lives in Bromley, South East London, with his wife and two children: a boy and a girl. [17] [18]

As of March 2020, he was a member of the Labour Party. [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Morris (satirist)</span> English comedian

Christopher J. Morris is an English comedian, radio presenter, actor, and filmmaker. Known for his deadpan, dark humour, surrealism, and controversial subject matter, he has been praised by the British Film Institute for his "uncompromising, moralistic drive".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Dennis</span> British comedian and actor (born 1962)

Peter Hugh Dennis is an English comedian, presenter, actor, impressionist and writer. He was a panellist in every episode of the comedy show Mock the Week (2005–2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Davies</span> English comedian, presenter and actor

Alan Roger Davies is an English stand-up comedian, writer, actor and TV presenter. He is best known for his portrayal of the title role in the BBC mystery drama series Jonathan Creek (1997–2016) and as the only permanent panellist on the BBC panel show QI since its premiere in 2003, outlasting its original host Stephen Fry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Vegas</span> English actor, ceramicist and comedian

Michael Joseph Pennington, better known as Johnny Vegas, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He is known for his thick Lancashire accent, husky voice, angry comedic rants, and use of surreal humour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Merchant</span> English comedian, actor, director and writer (born 1974)

Stephen James Merchant is an English comedian, actor, director, and writer. He was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series The Office (2001–2003), and co-writer, co-director, and co-star of both Extras (2005–2007) and Life's Too Short (2011–2013) alongside Ricky Gervais. With Gervais and Karl Pilkington, he hosted The Ricky Gervais Show in its radio, podcast, audiobook, and television formats; the radio version won a bronze Sony Award. He also provided the voice of the robotic "Intelligence Dampening Sphere" Wheatley in the 2011 video game Portal 2. Merchant co-developed the Sky One travel documentary series An Idiot Abroad (2010–2012) and co-created Lip Sync Battle (2015–present).

Geoffrey M. McGivern is a British actor in film, television, radio and stage, as well as a comedian. He is best known for originating the role of Ford Prefect in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

<i>Mock the Week</i> British celebrity panel show

Mock the Week was a topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. Presented by Dara Ó Briain, he and Hugh Dennis appeared in every episode, with a variety of other stand-up comedians being regular or guest panellists during the show's history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Zaltzman</span> British comedian

Andrew Zaltzman is a British comedian who largely deals in political and sport-related material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhod Gilbert</span> Welsh comedian

Rhodri Paul Gilbert is a Welsh comedian and television and radio presenter who was nominated in 2005 for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award. In 2008 he was nominated for the main comedy award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alun Cochrane</span> British comedian

Alun Cochrane is a British comedian, and actor. He was born in Glasgow and raised in Mirfield, West Yorkshire. He was a co-presenter on The Frank Skinner Show on Absolute Radio (2011-2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miles Jupp</span> English actor and comedian (born 1979)

Miles Hugh Barrett Jupp is an English actor, singer, and comedian. He began his career as a stand-up comedian before playing the role of the inventor Archie in the children's television series Balamory. He also played John Duggan in The Thick of It, Nigel in the sitcom Rev and appeared on many comedy panel shows. In September 2015, Jupp replaced Sandi Toksvig as the host of The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Watson</span> British comedian and writer

Mark Andrew Watson is an English comedian, novelist and producer.

The Ape That Got Lucky was a four-part radio series broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2005. Written by Chris Addison and Carl Cooper, it was based around Chris Addison giving a lecture on the evolution of man from "ugly ape" into the all time "Top Species".

<i>Lab Rats</i> (British TV series) British TV series or programme

Lab Rats is a 2008 BBC Two situation comedy set in a university science laboratory starring Chris Addison, who co-wrote the series with Carl Cooper. The series was produced by regular collaborator Simon Nicholls and directed by Adam Tandy. Its executive producer was Armando Iannucci with whom Addison worked in The Thick of It.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Millican</span> English comedian

Sarah Jane Millican is an English comedian, writer and presenter. Millican won the comedy award for Best Newcomer at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In February 2013 she was listed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Radio 4's Woman's Hour, and in the same year she married fellow comedian Gary Delaney. Her first book, How to Be Champion, was published in 2017. Millican has performed on various tours, mainly across the United Kingdom, over the years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holly Walsh</span> English comedian

Holly Dione Walsh is an English comedian and comedy writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Gray</span> British comedy writer, producer and director

Sean Gray is a British comedy writer, producer and director. He is known for his work on the HBO series Veep, the BAFTA-winning BBC series The Thick of It and Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle and the feature film The Day Shall Come. He is a two-time Emmy-winner and Golden Globe-nominee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josh Widdicombe</span> English comedian and presenter

Josh Widdicombe is an English comedian, presenter and actor. He is best known for his appearances on The Last Leg (2012–present), Fighting Talk (2014–2016), Insert Name Here (2016–2019), Mock the Week (2012–2016) and his BBC Three sitcom Josh (2015–2017). He also won the first series of Taskmaster in 2015 and the show's first Champion of Champions special in 2017. Widdicombe also hosted Hypothetical with fellow comedian James Acaster (2019–2022). During the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, Widdicombe started the Parenting Hell podcast with fellow comedian Rob Beckett.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elis James</span> Welsh comedian

Owain Elis James is a Welsh comedian, broadcaster and actor. James is known as a stand-up comedian, for his weekly radio show and podcast for BBC Radio 5 Live, his football punditry and presenting, and for his TV acting roles. James's first language is Welsh and he performs stand-up in English and Welsh.

Mike Bubbins is a Welsh comedian, writer and actor. He has appeared in various TV projects as himself and acted in several BBC sitcoms. Bubbins makes regular appearances on radio and has performed stand-up comedy throughout the UK, supporting Rhod Gilbert and Rich Hall. Bubbins has performed his stand-up show Retrosexual Male at the Edinburgh Festival and appeared on Stand Up at BBC Wales.

References

  1. ↑ "Chris Addison: The thinking man's comic adjusts to fame" The Independent (13 November 2011). Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  2. ↑ Addison, Chris (17 February 2013). "Chris Addison on 'Veep', the American cousin of 'The Thick of It'". The Daily Telegraph .
  3. 1 2 3 "Chain Reaction – Series 8 – 2. Rebecca Front talks to Chris Addison". BBC Radio 4 . Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "Drama". Manchester Grammar School. Retrieved 15 April 2018. MGS Drama has a long and proud theatrical tradition, as Old Boys including Sir Ben Kingsley, Robert Powell, Sir Nicholas Hytner and Chris Addison can confirm.
  5. ↑ BBC (2021) Test Match Special, BBC Radio 5, 4th Sep.
  6. 1 2 Hall, Julian (10 July 2008). "Chris Addison: Swapping satire for sitcom". The Independent . London. Archived from the original on 20 May 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  7. ↑ "Perrier/if.comedy Award Past Winners". ifcomedy.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  8. ↑ "Sony Radio Academy Awards 2006, The Comedy Award". Zafer Associates. Archived from the original on 24 December 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  9. ↑ Jeremy Kay (23 January 2009). "Sundance 2009: In the Loop puts rest of the fest in the shade". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
  10. ↑ "Show & Tell". E4. Archived from the original on 24 July 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  11. ↑ Kelly, Stephen (2014) "The Thick of It's Chris Addison to reunite with Peter Capaldi in Doctor Who finale", Radio Times , 19 August 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014
  12. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (19 January 2017). "Anne Hathaway, Rebel Wilson Are The 'Nasty Women' In MGM's 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' Remake".
  13. ↑ Wiseman, Andreas (27 April 2018). "Ralph Fiennes & Chris Addison Team Up On Comedy-Drama 'Hallelujah!' From 'Rush', 'Yardie' Producers".
  14. ↑ Alex Brownsell (4 January 2011). "Direct Line drops red phone in favour of comedy ads – Marketing news". Marketing magazine. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  15. ↑ "University of Birmingham Honorary Graduands for July 2013". Birmingham.ac.uk. 28 June 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  16. ↑ Ashley, Tim (3 February 2016). "L'Étoile, Royal Opera House". The Guardian . p. 32. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  17. ↑ "Chris Addison". The Guardian. London. 26 April 2010.
  18. ↑ Duerden, Nick (3 March 2013). "Chris Addison: He's like a can of Red Bull made flesh". The Independent. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  19. ↑ Chris Addison [@mrchrisaddison] (8 March 2020). "Members of the Labour Party and associated personages! I just sent you an email about voting for @DrRosena for Deputy Leader, which is exactly what I'm doing. You should TOTALLY do that too, IMH, as the kids say, O. https://quiz.drrosena.co.uk" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.