Mark Lamarr
 |
Mark Lamarr | |
|---|---|
| File:MarkLamarr.jpg Mark Lamarr in 1999 | |
| Born | Mark Jones |
| Years active | 1985 – present |
Mark Lamarr | |
|---|---|
| Career | |
| Show | Shake Rattle & Roll |
| Station | BBC Radio 2 |
| Time slot | 21:00–22:00. Thursday |
| Show | The Reggae Show Alternative Sixties God's Jukebox |
| Station(s) | BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 |
| Time slot | 21:00–22:00 Wednesday 21:30–22:30 Monday 00:00–03:00 Saturday |
| Style | Disc Jockey |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Website | www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/lamarr |
Mark Lamarr (born Mark Jones on 7 January 1967 in Swindon, Wiltshire) is an English comedian and a presenter on radio and television.
Early life
Lamarr was born in the Park South area of Swindon and has three elder sisters. He passed five O-Levels and dropped out of school at 17. Plucked from obscurity after writing the poem "Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Work" (published in 1987), his act developed from poetry to stand-up comedy. He took to performing at The Comedy Store, London in 1985, and was spotted on the touring circuit for the launch of Channel 4's The Big Breakfast in 1992 and co-presented The Word.
Filmography
Television
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
He became the host of Never Mind The Buzzcocks when the show launched in 1996 and continued to host until 2005, when it was announced that Mark was to take a break from Never Mind The Buzzcocks after 150 episodes, to concentrate on other projects. The first series in 2006 was hosted by guest presenters. It now appears Lamarr has left the show permanently; he has been replaced by Simon Amstell, one of the guest presenters from the early 2006 series.
Shooting Stars
He was a team captain in the first three series of Shooting Stars, where he displayed a mixture of dour boredom and contempt towards hosts Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer who, in turn, mocked his "50s throw-back" appearance.
The Word
Talking about his TV career to Jo Brown of Cheers Magazine, Lamarr said The Word was:
No fun at all; it was a horrible, horrible, repulsive environment to work in, mainly due to the company. They were just very... just an obnoxious group of people to deal with, and I think that came across in the shows they ended up producing. And Shooting Stars was strangely no fun whatsoever, because I was sort of playing a particularly moody, almost mute character and you end up just doing that... I mean it was always fun with Vic and Bob because they are old friends and it was nice working with them, but no, it wasn't fun.[1]
Fifteen Storeys High
The two series of acclaimed sitcom Fifteen Storeys High were co-written by Lamarr with the comedian Sean Lock and Martin Trenaman. He was also credited as producer under his real name, Mark Jones.
Radio
On radio, Mark has presented his own show on BBC GLR, BBC Radio Five Live and has presented occasional shows on BBC Radio 1.
On 20 July 1998, Lamarr launched his popular radio show on BBC Radio 2 called Shake, Rattle and Roll, where he plays tracks from his own sizeable record collection of obscure rock and roll gems. He also presents The Reggae Show series and Mark Lamarr's Alternative 60s, where he presents lesser known tracks from the 1960s.
On 22 April 2006, Mark began a new show on Radio 2 airing Friday Nights/Saturday mornings and named 'God's Jukebox'. The show airs from Midnight to 3am and during the show, he plays a wide variety of music from the past 70 years including Soul, Ska, Reggae, Country, Gospel and Rap.
Mark also presents a music show for British Airways on-board listeners as part of their in-flight entertainment. In this show he keeps up the esoteric nature of his radio shows by presenting a usually obscure mix of rock and roll, blues, reggae, soul and R 'n B.
Personal life
Mark Lamarr had one known relationship, with a secretary and model named Alison Webb when she was 31 and he was 32. They were living together in Lamarr’s house in the Chiswick area of London. Lamarr stated in an interview that
We didn’t break up because there was someone else or because I had that itch or anything. I just probably realised I wasn't the kind of person who was going to spend the rest of my life with someone, and it was probably best to lay those cards on the table.[2]
He also stated that he has no desire for marriage, and prefers living alone. Despite public perception of him as a television personality, Lamarr prefers to be seen as a stand-up comedian.[3] Lamarr has been buying records almost his entire life, and has an extensive record collection of at least 10,000 records.[4]. He takes frequent excursions to the United States to buy records. He draws on his collection for his various radio shows on BBC Radio 2.