Julian Barratt

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Julian Barratt
Julian Barratt.jpeg
Julian Barratt in 2006
Birth name Julian Barratt Pettifer
Born (1968-05-04) 4 May 1968 (age 45)
Leeds, England, UK
Nationality British
Years active 1995 – present
Spouse Julia Davis

Julian Barratt Pettifer (born 4 May 1968 in Leeds), known professionally as Julian Barratt, is an English comedian, musician, music producer and actor. Barratt is best known for playing the character of Howard Moon in the cult comedy The Mighty Boosh, which he also co-wrote with comedy partner Noel Fielding. In 2012 Barratt directed his first music video for the song "All of Me" by New York's Tanlines.

Contents

Career [edit]

The Mighty Boosh [edit]

Main article: The Mighty Boosh

Barratt stars as the character Howard Moon opposite Noel Fielding's Vince Noir in the comedy series The Mighty Boosh. Howard labels himself a "jazz maverick" and claims to be a multitalented intellectual, calling himself a 'man of action', but he is actually unsuccessful in his literary and romantic ventures. He is unpopular with many of the characters, including Mrs. Gideon (who always forgets his name), Bob Fossil (who often uses Howard as a puppet for his bizarre schemes), and Bollo (who often says his name wrong or ignores him completely).

Other television [edit]

Apart from his work on The Mighty Boosh, Barratt has had parts in other dramas, often alongside Noel Fielding. He co-starred as Dan Ashcroft, a frustrated magazine writer, in the Channel 4 media satire, Nathan Barley. He appeared in the surrealistic black comedy series Asylum alongside Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson (writers and stars of Spaced). The character of Brian Topp in Spaced was written for Barratt but the part eventually went to Mark Heap. Barratt played Jackson, a musician in How Not to Live Your Life who was a threat to the Don's (Dan Clark) self-esteem. He starred in the "Freelance Scientist" commercial for Metz alcopop.[1] He appeared as The Padre in the spoof horror series Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. He also starred in and was a writer for the 1998 sketch show Unnatural Acts alongside Fielding. Before this Barratt was involved in TV show The Pod with friend Tim Hope about a fictional techno band called The Pod. The show was unusual as it was animated, except for the heads of Barratt and Hope. Barratt also appeared in the film Lucky Break alongside James Nesbitt in 2001.

Barratt has recently completed his directing début for Warp films with theatre director Dan Jemmett. Curtains is set in a Norfolk seaside town. It is a dark comedy about a Punch and Judy man. In 2012 Barratt directed his first music video for the song "All of Me" by New York's Tanlines.

Recently, Barratt can be heard as the voice over on many adverts; More Th>n Car, House and Pet insurance, as well as the Directgov advert. He has appeared in the music video for Mint Royale's 'Blue Song', alongside Noel Fielding, Nick Frost and Michael Smiley.

In late 2010 Barratt took part in Sky Comedy's 'Little Crackers'. He wrote and directed a 15 minute film based on his teen band, Satan's Hoof. On 12 March 2011, Barratt made a brief appearance as Heathcliff in Noel Fielding's Wuthering Heights dance on the Let's Dance for Comic Relief finale. Barratt narrated the 2011 documentary Seven Dwarves.

In 2012, Barratt appeared in the TV movie Treasure Island on Sky1, as well as narrating the BBC 2 documentary 'The Tube'. He also had a part as an art teacher in the BBC drama White Heat.

In 2013 he appeared in the fifth series of Being Human, he played a new werewolf character named Larry.

Theatre [edit]

From 3 June to 9 July 2011, Barratt performed the role of the Mayor in a production of Nikolai Gogol's classic comedy The Government Inspector at the Young Vic Theatre in London. In October 2012, he returned to the stage in Lucy Kirkwood's play NSFW at the Royal Court.

Personal life [edit]

Barratt is an accomplished musician and spans many genres; he played guitar for Little Chief during their European tour, and claiming to be a jazz fusion fanatic, he started a band as a teenager known as Satan's Hoof, which never really took off. He was in a band called Groove Solution in the early 90s with Dave Westlake. He has also played with Chris Corner in IAMX. He composes all of the music for The Mighty Boosh. The music included in the series is a variety of genres including rap, heavy metal and psychedelic rock. Because of this, he has been called "the Genre Spanner".[citation needed]

Barratt is known to be shy, often quiet and self-deprecating.[2] Unlike his comedy partner Noel Fielding, he prefers not to appear in television comedy quiz shows saying he would 'rather be at home with a book.' He enjoys dog racing and online snooker. He is in a relationship with comedienne Julia Davis. On 25 June 2007, the couple became parents to twins, Arthur and Walter. They live in North London.

He adopted his middle name, Barratt, as his professional last name to distinguish himself from an already well known reporter named Julian Pettifer.[3]

Filmography [edit]

Awards [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ York, Peter (5 September 1999). "PETER YORK ON ADS: No 289: METZ". The Independent. Retrieved 9 February 2011. 
  2. ^ "Julian Barratt". BBC. Retrieved 18 September 2009. 
  3. ^ "Julian Barratt". TV.com (CNET Networks, Inc.). Retrieved 17 June 2008. 

External links [edit]
Main characters
TV series
Radio series
Stage productions
Books
Related articles
Authority control
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