Simon Amstell

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Simon Marc Amstell
Simon Amstell at One Big Laugh, Bloomsbury Theatre (2006)
Born	29 November 1979 (1979-11-29) (age 29) Gants Hill, London, England
Occupation	Stand-up comedian Television presenter Script writer
Years active	1993–present
Website Simon Amstell Homepage

Simon Marc Amstell (born 29 November 1979) is a BAFTA nominated,^[1] award-winning English comedian and television presenter. In 2007, Amstell was nominated for "The Times Breakthrough South Bank Show Award".

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Youth 1.2 Nickelodeon 1.3 Popworld 1.4 Never Mind the Buzzcocks 1.5 Stand up 2 Personal life 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Youth

Amstell's first television appearance was in 1993, when he appeared as a contestant on the Channel 4 game show GamesMaster.^[2][3][4]. He also appeared on Good Morning with Anne and Nick doing his impression of Dame Edna Everage.^[5]

Amstell started performing on the comedy circuit when he was just 14 and later caught the eye of television executives by becoming the youngest finalist of the BBC New Comedy Awards in 1998.

[edit] Nickelodeon

His first professional television appearance was in 1998, as a presenter on the UK children's channel Nickelodeon. He claims he was sacked for being "sarcastic and mean to children."^[6]

[edit] Popworld

From 2000 to 2006 he presented Popworld on Channel 4 with Miquita Oliver. He voiced the characters "Timothy the Popworld melon" and "Richard the Popworld horse". On Popworld he developed a highly ironic, surreal and left field style which gained the show a cult following, but angered many of its guests. One such example was a mock interview with singer Lemar called "Lemar From Afar," in which Amstell shouted questions into a megaphone from one end of a car park while Lemar stood at the other end. Another was a "Si-chiatrist" interview with Luke Pritchard and Hugh Harris of The Kooks, in which Amstell played the role of psychiatrist and Pritchard and Harris his patients. During his time at Popworld, Amstell was at the centre of several controversies, including making Britney Spears cry after asking her if she thought she'd "gone a bit nuts".^[7]

[edit] Never Mind the Buzzcocks

Amstell's first guest star appearances on the comedy pop quiz show Never Mind The Buzzcocks were on 27 October 2003 and on 20 March 2005. Amstell then took over from Mark Lamarr as host of the show with his first episode as host airing at the end of October 2006. He said at the time that he hoped to beat "the universal, exceptionless rule that when a new host takes over an old show it is a horrible, embarrassing disaster".^[8]

In March 2007, Amstell won the 2006 Royal Television Society Award for Best Entertainment Performance^[9] for his work on Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

In June 2007, Simon wrote with Dan Swimer Imagine... A Mildly Amusing Panel Show, a spoof version of Alan Yentob's arts programme Imagine. Alan Yentob and Simon Amstell play themselves in a mock interview between clips of Simon's episodes of Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Simon was spotted soon after the production sitting on a bench feeding some stray cats.

In December 2007, Amstell won two British Comedy Awards' for "Best Comedy Entertainment Personality" and "Best Comedy Entertainment Series" for Never Mind The Buzzcocks. On 23 January 2008, Never Mind the Buzzcocks won the Best Entertainment Programme^[10] award at the Broadcast Awards 2008. In February 2008, Amstell wrote with Dan Swimer, Never Mind the Buzzcocks - A Moving Tribute, which implied (satirically) that Amstell had either died or retired from the show. He had not, of course, as the show continued from October 2008.

On 25 April 2009, Amstell announced via his internet mailing list that he will not be hosting another series of Never Mind the Buzzcocks because of his desire to concentrate on his live tours and performances instead.^[11]

[edit] Stand up

Amstell also performs as a stand up comedian. He has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe every August 2005-2007. He has also appeared at the Carling Festivals in the Cabaret and Comedy tent for the last two years. In 2008, Amstell completed his first UK tour.

[edit] Personal life

This section requires expansion.

Amstell was born in East London into a Jewish family.^[12] He attended Beal High School in Redbridge. His religion and sexuality figure occasionally in his work.^[13][14]

Amstell came out as gay two months into his work on Popworld, claiming that no one believed him initially, "so I had to keep going on about it."^[6] His orientation has been referred to both on Popworld and Never Mind The Buzzcocks, with John Barrowman challenging him to a "gay-off" on NMTB. Simon answered jokingly, "I haven't even told my Mum yet!"^[15]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Simon Amstell

• SimonAmstell.com Simon Amstell's Official site
• Simon Amstell at the Internet Movie Database
• Simon Amstell Official agent's website
• Simon Amstell on Chortle

v • d • e Never Mind the Buzzcocks List of episodes · List of Identity Parade guests · List of Rounds Presenters Simon Amstell (2006 – 2008) · Mark Lamarr (1996 – 2005) Guest Presenters Jonathan Ross · Ricky Wilson · Lauren Laverne · Jeremy Clarkson · Huey Morgan · Dale Winton (Guest presenters, 2006) Team Captains Regular Captains Phill Jupitus · Bill Bailey (2002 – 2008) · Sean Hughes (1996 – 2002) Guest Captains Mark Ronson · Stephen Fry · Bob Mortimer · Johnny Vegas · James Corden · Jack Dee · Frank Skinner · Davina McCall · Mark Watson · Dermot O'Leary · Omid Djalili · Russell Brand (Guest captains, 2008) · Noel Fielding (Guest captain, 2007)