Danny Wallace (humorist)
Danny Wallace (born November 16, 1976) is a British writer, based in London, best known for his work with the comedian Dave Gorman and for starting the "collective" known as Join Me.
Wallace was born in Dundee. He started at 13, writing reviews for videogames mags like Sega Power and Super Play. At 18 he then began writing about entertainment and comedy, mainly through the magazine Comedy Review. As a journalist, Wallace has worked for The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Star, Melody Maker, Total Film, Total Football, T3, .net, and dozens of others. He has reported from cities as far afield as Shanghai, New York, Warsaw, Prague, Cape Town, and Singapore.
As a writer, he has penned various scripts and pilots for the BBC. He was part of the original team behind the British Comedy Award-winning Dead Ringers, writes for the Sony Award-winning Sunday Format, and produced the critically acclaimed cult radio hit The Mighty Boosh, for Radio 4. He has worked with British comedians Ross Noble and Tony Hawks, but is perhaps best known for his work with Dave Gorman who was his flatmate. It was Wallace who challenged Gorman to find 54 other people called Dave Gorman ("one for every card in the deck, including the Jokers") and then accompanied Gorman on his quest. Gorman and Wallace co-wrote the cult book Are You Dave Gorman?.
In 2003, he wrote the book Join Me, about how he started the 'cult' of that name. The popular quote is that "it's not a cult, it's a collective", because Danny did not want to encourage the wrong ideas - however, he has begrudgingly admitted that it is, hence the book's cover blurb: "The true story of a man who started a cult by accident."
In 2005, his next book Yes Man was published. In it, he describes how he spent six months "saying Yes where once (he) would have said No", to make his life more interesting and positive. Also in 2005, Danny Wallace's quest to start his own country in his flat in Bow Quarter filmed for the TV series How to Start Your Own Country. It currently airs on BBC 2.
External links
- Danny Wallace homepage - further details about BBC projects and books.
- Citizens required - a request for citizens for the new country.
- Join Me - the website of his cult, Join Me.