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- "Robin Cooper" redirects here. For the Australian politician, see Robin Cooper (Australian politician).
Robert Popper is a BAFTA winning comedy producer, writer and actor, best known as co-creator of the mock BBC documentary Look Around You, in which he also plays the part of Jack Morgan. He also wrote the books The Timewaster Letters, The Return of The Timewaster Letters and The Timewaster Diaries under the pseudonym of Robin Cooper.
He also wrote all the episodes of Friday Night Dinner.
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[edit] Television and Film
Popper began his career in the television industry working for The Comic Strip. Later, he was employed as a Commissioning Editor for Entertainment and Comedy at Channel 4. His commissioning credits include the series Bo' Selecta!, Black Books, Spaced and Bremner, Bird and Fortune. He also commissioned three series of the Comedy Lab whilst at the channel. During this time, he also made his first appearance as a comedian on The Eleven O'Clock Show. He left the role to work on the first series of Look Around You (2002) with Peter Serafinowicz. Look Around You was a spoof educational science comedy which ran on BBC2. It was written and produced by Popper (who featured onscreen in one episode as "Jack Morgan") and Serafinowicz (who appeared far more frequently, and also wrote and played all the music in the series). Look Around You was nominated for a BAFTA and a British Comedy Award. Popper co-wrote the short film Hello Friend with Graham Linehan in 2003.
In 2005, Popper returned to the screen with a second series of Look Around You, again co-written by himself and Peter Serafinowicz. Made up of six half-hour shows, Look Around You 2 resembled an early-80s Tomorrow's World . Popper appeared in all six episodes as Jack Morgan. Besides Popper and Serafinowicz, the series featured Josie D'Arby and Olivia Colman as presenters. Look Around You 2 won the Rose D'Or TV Award in 2006 for Best Comedy Series. Popper was a programme consultant and co-writer for the TV sketch comedy The Peter Serafinowicz Show (2007), in which he also made several brief onscreen appearances.
Popper was the script editor for the fourth series of Bo' Selecta! and the first series of The Inbetweeners.[1] He was producer for the third and fourth series of Peep Show.[2] Both series won the British Comedy Award for Best Comedy, and Popper won a BAFTA for series 4.
Popper also worked on the fourteenth series of South Park; he was signed up by creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker following a week long brainstorming session, and worked on the final four episodes of first half-season.[3] Popper created and wrote the Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner, which aired from February 2011. He is currently working with Peter Serafinowicz on a new television series and website, based on spoof religion Tarvuism for US network Adult Swim.[4] In 2009 they produced a 30 minute podcast entitled Radio Spiritworld (inter-dimensional) (sometimes shortened to rsw) for BBC Radio 4.[5] The pair are developing this into a radio series, entitled The Other Side.
Popper had a small, uncredited role in Edgar Wright's 2004 film Shaun of the Dead, in which he played a news reporter, and also appeared in the Wright's next film, Hot Fuzz (2007), credited as "Not Janine."[6] Popper reprised his Look Around You character, Jack Morgan, for an appearance in the music video for Frankie & The Heartstrings' 2011 single "Hunger."
[edit] Books
Robert Popper is a regular contributor to Jack magazine. He also wrote the books The Timewaster Letters and The Return of the Timewaster Letters under the pseudonym Robin Cooper. The books were a set of mad letters he wrote to weird associations and hobby groups. The books became bestsellers and have so far sold nearly 300,000 copies. The third "Robin Cooper" book, The Timewaster Diaries, was published in 2007, was serialised on Radio 4's Book of the Week programme 16–20 July 2007, read by Paul Whitehouse.[7] The Timewaster Letters was released in the USA in the summer of 2008 and there have been a number of Robin Cooper Timewaster Phone Calls released on the web.
[edit] Tangerinegate
Popper was responsible for a minor hoax regarding Gordon Brown in February 2010 known as "Tangerinegate".[8] Popper, who often makes prank phone calls, rang up London radio station LBC claiming he had seen Brown throw a tangerine into a laminating machine during a fit of rage, breaking the machine.[9] This hoax was reported as a true event in The Daily Telegraph[10] and The Sun,[11] as well as being referenced (as 'alleged') on comedy news show The Bubble. The Financial Times (FT) website published a blog post, stating its belief that the story was a hoax.[12] The FT also reported on the emergence of a computer animated version of the events from Hong Kong.[13] Similar stories regarding Gordon Brown having temper tantrums were widely published in the British media during February 2010, following publicity about Andrew Rawnsley's upcoming book The End of the Party.[14]
The Financial Times later issued a follow-up post acknowledging the hoax.[15]
[edit] References
- ^ "The Inbetweeners". Robertpopper.com. http://www.robertpopper.com/about-robert-popper/the-inbetweeners/. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
- ^ "Peep Show". Robertpopper.com. http://www.robertpopper.com/about-robert-popper/peep-show/. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
- ^ "Popper joins South Park : News 2010 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". Chortle. 2010-03-28. http://chortle.co.uk/news/2010/03/28/10749/popper_joins_south_park. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
- ^ "Say 'Hebbo' to Tarvuism! : News 2008 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". Chortle. 2008-10-14. http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2008/10/14/7588/say_hebbo_to_tarvuism!. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
- ^ "Twitter / Robert Popper: Exciting news - my and @se". Twitter.com. 2009-08-05. http://twitter.com/robertpopper/status/3144435407. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
- ^ "About". Robertpopper.com. http://www.robertpopper.com/about-robert-popper/. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
- ^ "The Timewaster Diaries (Audiobook)". Robertpopper.com. http://www.robertpopper.com/books/the-timewaster-diaries-audiobook/. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
- ^ Tangerinegate... by Robert Popper
- ^ Robert Popper. "‘Tangerinegate’". Robertpopper.com. http://www.robertpopper.com/2010/02/27/gordon-brown-calls-lady-a-citric-idiot/. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Reporter, Staff (2010-02-23). "Minister: Charity boss is a PRAT | The Sun |News". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2864619/Minister-Charity-boss-is-a-PRAT.html. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
- ^ "Did Gordon throw a fruit into a machine during factory visit? | Westminster blog | Jim Pickard and Alex Barker share their views on the UK’s political scene for the Financial Times – FT.com". Blogs.ft.com. 2010-02-22. http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2010/02/did-gordon-throw-a-fruit-into-a-machine-during-factory-visit/#comments. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
- ^ "Gordon the fighting puppet returns armed with tangerines | Westminster blog | Jim Pickard and Alex Barker share their views on the UK’s political scene for the Financial Times – FT.com". Blogs.ft.com. 2010-02-25. http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2010/02/gordon-the-fighting-puppet-returns-armed-with-tangerines/. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
- ^ http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780670918515,00.html?strSrchSql=Andrew+Rawnsley*/The_End_of_the_Party_Andrew_Rawnsley
- ^ "The Tangerinegate hoax | Westminster blog | Jim Pickard and Alex Barker share their views on the UK’s political scene for the Financial Times – FT.com". Blogs.ft.com. 2010-02-27. http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2010/02/the-tangerinegate-hoax/. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
