Lee Evans (comedian)

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Lee Evans

Lee Evans in 2004 outside the Metro Radio Arena
Born 25 February 1964 (1964-02-25) (age 47)
Avonmouth, Bristol, England
Medium Stand up, Film
Nationality British
Years active 1988–present
Spouse Heather Nudds (m. 1984–present)
Website offthekerb.co.uk

Lee Evans (born 25 February 1964)[1] is an English[2] comedian, writer, actor and musician.

Contents

[edit] Personal life

Lee Evans was born in Avonmouth, Bristol, England to an Irish mother and a Welsh father, Dave Evans, a nightclub performer.[3][4] He left Bristol at the age of 13 and then went to The Billericay School in Billericay, Essex. After a spell as a boxer and two years at Thurrock art college in Essex, he followed his father into entertainment. In his teens he moved to Scarborough, North Yorkshire and also played drums in a punk rock band called The Forgotten Five.[5]

On 22 September 1984, he married Heather Nudds[6] with whom he has a daughter, Mollie (born 1994). They live in Billericay.[7]

[edit] Stand-up comedy

Evans rose to fame during the 1990s with loud, hot, sweaty, energetic stage performances and physical observational comedy. His slapstick humour has led to comparisons with Norman Wisdom, though Evans does not regard Wisdom as an influence.[8] In his earlier work, he used a dysfunctional character called Malcolm to illustrate unusual characters. In 1993, Evans won the Perrier Comedy Award for his work at the Edinburgh Festival.[9]

Evans' sweatiness drenches him on stage. During most of his headlining performances, he often takes an intermission, during which he has a quick shower and changes into a different suit. He has also said that his suits are regularly thrown away after just one performance, mainly because of the sweat, with dry-cleaners refusing to handle them.[10]

In November 2005, Evans broke the world record for a solo act performing to the biggest comedy audience, playing to 10,108 at the Manchester Evening News Arena.[11]

Evans toured the UK in Autumn 2008 with his brand new stand-up act entitled "Big". During his "Big" tour he performed in front of over 500,000 people on 59 dates.[12] This was scheduled to involve the first ever performance by a comedian at the O2 Arena in London until Chris Rock announced dates that would take place at the venue prior to Evans. The DVD was filmed at the O2 arena and was released on 24 November 2008 and it became the best selling comedy DVD in the UK for Christmas 2008 selling over 1,000,000 copies.[13][14]

Evans also appeared on the Channel 4's Comedy Gala for Great Ormond Street Hospital on 30 March 2010. He was the last act on stage and he received a comedy award and auctioned it to the audience.

Evans toured the UK again in 2011 with a new stand-up act entitled "Roadrunner", with 50 dates starting with Bournemouth in August, running until November in Cardiff. He appeared at the Wyvern theatre, Swindon on 10 June to test his new material (reading from notes) for the "Roadrunner" tour. He then sold out Bristol's Colston Hall for 3 nights to perfect his routine in July. The tour visits most of the UK’s major cities, plus two nights in Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, and includes four nights in Wembley Arena and four in the O2 Arena, meaning around 100,000 seats in London alone. Tickets went on sale Friday 15 October 2010 at 9 am.[15] Evans sold £7,000,000 worth of tickets the first day they went on sale and ticket sales currently stand at 267,909.[16] Due to popular demand, there have been a further 17 dates added to the tour in Bournemouth International Centre, Brighton Centre, Capital FM Arena, Wembley Arena, National Indoor Arena, The O2, Echo Arena, Motorpoint Arena, Odyssey Arena and The O2 (Dublin). This will bring the tour up to 67 dates in 14 cities which is 8 more than the record breaking tour of 2008.[17]

[edit] Tours

[edit] Big (2008)

# Date City Country Venue
Big 2008
1 September 2 Nottingham England Capital FM Arena
2 September 3
3 September 4
4 September 5
5 September 6
6 September 8 Cardiff Wales International Arena
7 September 9
8 September 10
9 September 11
10 September 12
11 September 13
12 September 14
13 September 18 Sheffield England Motorpoint Arena
14 September 19
15 September 20
16 September 21
17 September 25 Bournemouth International Centre
18 September 26
19 September 27
20 September 28
21 September 29
22 September 30
23 October 3 London O2 Arena
24 October 4
25 October 5
26 October 6
27 October 7 Brighton Brighton Centre
28 October 8
29 October 9 Birmingham The NIA
30 October 10
31 October 11
32 October 12
33 October 15 Belfast Northern Ireland Odyssey Arena
34 October 17 Birmingham England The NIA
35 October 19 London O2 Arena
36 October 20 Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
37 October 22 Glasgow Scotland SE&CC
38 October 23
39 October 24
40 October 25 Newcastle England Metro Radio Arena
41 October 27 Aberdeen Scotland AE&CC
42 October 28 Newcastle England Metro Radio Arena
43 October 30 London Wembley Arena
44 October 31
45 November 1
46 November 2
47 November 4 Brighton Brighton Centre
48 November 5
49 November 6
50 November 7
51 November 8
52 November 9
53 November 10
54 November 12 Manchester MEN Arena
55 November 13
56 November 14
57 November 15
58 November 16
59 November 18 London Wembley Arena

[edit] Roadrunner (2011)

# Date City Country Venue
Roadrunner 2011
1 August 24 Bournemouth England International Centre
2 August 25
3 August 26
4 August 27
5 August 28
6 August 29
7 September 1 Brighton Brighton Centre
8 September 2
9 September 3
10 September 4
11 September 5
12 September 6
13 September 8 Nottingham Capital FM Arena
14 September 9
15 September 10
16 September 11
17 September 12
18 September 14 London Wembley Arena
19 September 15
20 September 16
21 September 17
22 September 18
23 September 19
24 September 22 Birmingham The NIA
25 September 23
26 September 24
27 September 25
28 September 26
29 September 28 London O2 Arena
30 September 29
31 September 30
32 October 1
33 October 6 Sheffield Motorpoint Arena
34 October 7
35 October 8
36 October 9
37 October 10 London O2 Arena
38 October 11
39 October 13 Glasgow Scotland SECC
40 October 14
41 October 15
42 October 17 Aberdeen AECC
43 October 18
44 October 20 Newcastle England Metro Radio Arena
45 October 21
46 October 22
47 October 23
48 October 25 Dublin Ireland The O2
49 October 26
50 October 28 Belfast Northern Ireland Odyssey Arena
51 October 29
52 November 2 Liverpool England Echo Arena
53 November 3
54 November 4
55 November 8 Manchester MEN Arena
56 November 9
57 November 10
58 November 11
59 November 12
60 November 15 Cardiff Wales Motorpoint Arena
61 November 16
62 November 17
63 November 18
64 November 19
65 November 20
66 November 21
67 November 22

[edit] VHS/DVD/Bluray releases

Title Released Notes
Live At Her Majesty's Theatre 10 October 1994 Live at London's Her Majesty's Theatre
Live From The West End 30 October 1995 Live at London's West End Theatre
Live – Different Planet Tour 1996 Live at London's Lyric Theatre
Live In Scotland 16 November 1998 Live at Edinburgh's Playhouse Theatre
Wired And Wonderful – Live At Wembley 25 November 2002 Live at London's Wembley Arena
XL Tour 2005 – Live 28 November 2005 Live at Cardiff's International Arena
Big – Live At The O2 24 November 2008 Live at London's O2 Arena
Roadrunner – Live At The O2 21 November 2011 Live at London's O2 Arena
Roadrunner in 3D – Live At The O2 28 November 2011 Live at London's O2 Arena

[edit] Acting and other work

Evans has made a number of film appearances, most notably in Funny Bones, MouseHunt, There's Something About Mary (where he played an American posing as a Brit), The Fifth Element, The Ladies Man, The Martins and The Medallion. Evans also provided the voice for Zippo in the 2002 TV miniseries Dinotopia and Train in the 2005 film The Magic Roundabout.

From 1993–1994 Evans appeared in the Channel 4 late-night show Viva Cabaret!, both as a host and as a guest performer. In 1996, Evans starred in Channel 4 series, The World of Lee Evans. In 2001, he wrote a sitcom called So What Now?.

In 2004 he starred as a paranoid murder suspect in his first non-comic role in the film Freeze Frame. Although warned they may never grow back, he shaved his eyebrows (as well as his hair).

From 2004 – 2005 he played Leo Bloom in the London production of The Producers along with Nathan Lane, with whom he also starred in MouseHunt, in which they played brothers. In 2007 he appeared in the 50th anniversary production of The Dumb Waiter. May 2007 saw him star in the television drama The History of Mr Polly.

Evans is also a singer and musician as is shown on the Lee Evans XL Live Tour 2005. He can play a variety of instruments, including the mandolin, the ukulele, the guitar, the bass, the electronic keyboard, the piano and drums.

He also has his own production company that produces his stand up DVDs called Little Mo Films, named after his daughter whom he often refers to as Little Mo.

Evans appeared as Malcolm Taylor, a Welsh scientist employed by UNIT in a Doctor Who Easter 2009 special, entitled "Planet of the Dead".[18] In 2010 Lee ran the London Marathon with Tony Ground, he finished with a time of 4 hours 55 minutes 10 seconds.

Evans was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Anglia Ruskin University on 24 November 2009.[19] This was followed by a second Doctorate from the University of East London on 9 December 2010.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Television

[edit] Film

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Lee Evans I". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0262968/. Retrieved 27 February 2008. 
  2. ^ Cook, William (30 August 2001). "No more crying for this clown". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4725381/No-more-crying-for-this-clown.html. 
  3. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6zEtZNBSD8#t=07m50s Lee Evans on "Opie and Anthony"
  4. ^ "Lee Evans Biography (1964–)". Filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/55/Lee-Evans.html. Retrieved 4 June 2011. 
  5. ^ White, Jim (27 January 1996). "Oooh, er, cripes". The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/oooh-er-cripes-1325941.html. Retrieved 28 April 2008. 
  6. ^ "Lee Evans 2005 Interview". http://www.channelonline.tv/entertainment/comedy/features/lee%20evans.lpf. [dead link]
  7. ^ "Lee Evans (I) – Biography". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0262968/bio. Retrieved 27 February 2008. 
  8. ^ 'All I've ever felt on stage is pain', Daily Telegraph, 25 Oct 2004, "I saw his films as a kid. It surprises me because if you watch my act it's nothing like his really."
  9. ^ "if.comedy – Past winners.". if.comedy. http://www.if.com/eddies/past-winners.html. Retrieved 27 February 2008. 
  10. ^ "Lee Evans Interview". Daily Mirror (UK). 31 October 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QiTXF0uMcI. Retrieved 27 February 2008. 
  11. ^ "Comic Evans breaks crowd record". BBC News. 20 November 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4454572.stm. Retrieved 27 February 2008. 
  12. ^ "Lee Evans : Big On Tour 2008". Leeevansbigtour.co.uk. http://www.leeevansbigtour.co.uk/index.html. Retrieved 4 June 2011. 
  13. ^ "Lee's Big achievement: News 2008". Chortle.co.uk. 22 December 2008. http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2008/12/22/8027/lees_big_achievement. Retrieved 4 June 2011. 
  14. ^ "Lee Evans sells a million DVDs". Chortle.co.uk. http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2009/01/12/8110/lee_evans_sells_a_million_dvds. Retrieved 4 June 2011. 
  15. ^ "Lee Evans to Tour again in 2011". Chortle.co.uk. http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2010/10/12/11920/lee_evans_to_tour_again#ixzz12Q4Tcrqu. Retrieved 4 June 2011. 
  16. ^ "Lee Evans breaks box office record". Chortle.co.uk. 17 October 2010. http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2010/10/17/11948/lee_evans_breaks_box_office_records. Retrieved 4 June 2011. 
  17. ^ "Lee Evans announces extra tour dates". Leeevans2011tour.co.uk. http://www.leeevans2011tour.co.uk/. Retrieved 4 June 2011. 
  18. ^ "All Aboard For Next Special!". BBC Doctor Who Website. 23 January 2009. http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/news/latest/090123_news_01. Retrieved 23 January 2009. 
  19. ^ "Essex comedian Lee Evans to get honorary degree". thisistotalessex.co.uk. 15 October 2009. http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/go/Essex-comedian-Lee-Evans-honorary-degree/article-1423432-detail/article.html. Retrieved 3 April 2010. 

[edit] External links

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