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David Vitty

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Dave Vitty (Comedy Dave)
Born
David Lloyd Vitty

(1974-04-24) 24 April 1974 (age 50)
British Hong Kong
Spouse(s)Emma Pontefract (2003 - 2006)
Jayne Sharp (2008 - 2011)
ChildrenNicole Catherine Vitty
Career
ShowThe Chris Moyles Show
StationBBC Radio 1
Time slot6:30am - 10am
StyleDisc jockey
CountryUnited Kingdom
WebsiteChris Moyles
Chappers & Dave

David Lloyd Vitty (born 24 April 1974 in Hong Kong)[1] is a radio presenter working in the UK. He is best known as having worked alongside Chris Moyles at BBC Radio 1. He was originally a broadcast assistant on Moyles' early morning show, but soon became the show's head writer and 'Director of Comedy'. He moved with Moyles to the drivetime slot, and then to The Radio 1 Breakfast Show, during which time the programme was known as The Chris Moyles Show. In total, he spent 14 years from 1998-2012 working alongside Moyles.

Dave has also presented other shows on Radio 1 and BBC Radio 5 Live, as well as some presenting work on television, most notably on Channel 4's Coach Trip. He is a former contestant on Dancing on Ice.

Background

Educated at Bedford School, Vitty studied Radio Production at college, but never had any ambitions to be on-air. He began working as a copywriter[2] and then moved onto becoming a "tech op" for Radio 1 on 5 December 1996. In 1997, he then met Chris Moyles - they got on well with each other and Moyles invited Vitty to work with him on his early morning show. When Moyles transferred to drive time in 1998, Vitty went with him and became "Comedy Dave" after comedian Lee Hurst asked Vitty on the show who he was, he said "Super Dave" to which Lee sarcastically responded "Comedy Dave more like".[3]

On 22 April 2011, Vitty and his wife, Jayne Sharp announced they were to split.[4]

The Chris Moyles Show

Vitty's regular daily contribution to the The Chris Moyles Show was the "Tedious Link" (which launched September 2002 - a parody of Jo Whiley's now-defunct "Tenuous Link"), a collection of loosely connected information, where one fact lead into another by way of juxtaposition, which then eventually lead into the title of a song (or the musicians responsible for it), often a "classic" or memorable tune, which was usually played at precisely 9 a.m., preceded by the Greenwich time pips. Once the song had been played he was questioned by listeners and the rest of the crew about the validity of the information given out during the "Tedious Link" (the theme tune from Treasure Hunt is usually played in the background). The theme music from the TV comedy show Bottom was used as the "bed" (underlying music) for the feature but for January 2009 Chris Moyles unveiled a new purpose-written jingle and music.

Around 9:05 a.m., Vitty sang "Let's get ready to ramble", signifying the start of the feature "Half-Time in the Show", holding onto the last syllable for a good ten to twenty seconds, in the style of Michael Buffer. This feature was dropped on the show's return for the new year in January 2009.

It was announced on the show on 11 July 2012 that Chris Moyles would be leaving the Radio 1 Breakfast Show in September 2012. Moyles went on to play Herod in a UK tour of the Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Jesus Christ Superstar in September - October 2012. It was unclear what activities Comedy Dave will move on to, but on this show Moyles simply said "We're off.." implying that the whole team was leaving.

Vitty did not return when The Chris Moyles Show did in September 2015 on Radio X, as he is currently running a production company, called Stripey Horse.

Marathon broadcast for Comic Relief

Moyles announced in February 2011 that both he and Vitty would, in aid of Comic Relief, attempt to present Radio 1's Longest Show Ever with Chris Moyles and Comedy Dave for Comic Relief, a record previously held by Simon Mayo.[5] The show began at 6.30am on Wednesday 16 March and at 7.31pm on Thursday 17th Moyles and Vitty reached the 37-hour mark which gained them the record for the Longest Radio Show in BBC Radio 1 history.[6] They continued to broadcast and at 8.30am Friday 18th broke the Guinness World Records' record for the 'Longest Marathon Radio DJ (Team) Show'. By the end of the show at 10.30am, they had set a new record of 52 hours and raised £2.4 million for Comic Relief 2011 via online and SMS donations.[7]

Subsequently, the total raised has increased to £2,821,831 and with an audience of 2.84 million, it was the most popular live BBC Red Button radio feature ever.[8] 3.8 Million people watched on the Radio 1 Website.

Other radio work

On 5 January 2013 Dave made his debut on BBC Three Counties Radio presenting Saturday Breakfast for two weeks.[9]

Stripey Horse

In 2014 Dave set-up a production company called Stripey Horse along with Nic Franklin, Luke Hammersley and Nicola Martin.

Bands

Vitty is part of the comedy folk band Folk Face with Dominic Byrne who was the newsreader on The Chris Moyles Show.

Dancing on Ice

Vitty appeared on the 6th series of Dancing on Ice with British adagio ice skater Frankie Poultney. He was knocked out in the skate-off on Sunday 13 February 2011.

Other achievements

Vitty has co-presented cover shows on Radio 1 entitled Chappers and Dave, with the ex- The Scott Mills Show sidekick Mark Chapman. On 30 December 2006, on the "Celebrity Couples Edition" of The Weakest Link, Chapman and Vitty won, beating the Chuckle Brothers in the final round. They both tour student unions across the UK regularly on their 'Chappers and Dave World Tour', and have raised money for both Comic Relief and Sport Relief by visiting football stadiums across the UK.

Vitty once accidentally took Simon Mayo's Radio 1 morning show off air for fifteen minutes.[10]

On 28 February 2007, Vitty appeared in an edition of Ready Steady Cook, beating radio colleague, and fellow band member of Folk Face, Dominic Byrne. He previously presented a programme called Shed Sports 1 on Nuts TV and co-presented on UK Play's The Chris Moyles Show.

Vitty appeared on BBC game show, Hole in the Wall in an episode aired on 26 September 2009. He failed to get through any of the holes[11]

On 29 December 2009, Vitty appeared on Celebrity Mastermind, raising money for Cancer Research UK. He finished third overall on 17 points after the general knowledge round, having recovered from scoring 6 points on the first round answering questions about British motorways.

Between 2010 and 2012, David provided the narration for Channel 4 series Coach Trip for a total of four series.[12] He also occasionally features in the weekly Moan-In section of Richard Bacon's programme on BBC Radio 5 Live and has co-presented the football phone-in 6-0-6, also on 5 Live.

References

  1. ^ Chris Moyles Team - Dave
  2. ^ Interview with 'Comedy' Dave
  3. ^ "The Gospel According to Chris Moyles: The Story of a Man and His Mouth"
  4. ^ The Sun: Not so funny day for Comedy Dave
  5. ^ "Chris Moyles sets world record for longest broadcast". telegraph.co.uk. 18 March 2011.Jack Caba,
  6. ^ "Chris Moyles and Comedy Dave attempt world record radio broadcast"; SWNS; 16 March 2011, (Retrieved 16 March 2011)
  7. ^ "Chris Moyles breaks radio show record for Comic Relief" (Retrieved 13:13 Friday, 18 March 2011)
  8. ^ "Moyles record grabs 2.8m on Red Button,". digitalspy.co.uk. 23 March 2011.Laughlin Andrew,
  9. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p012ddbd
  10. ^ 'A little bit about Chris and the team', Radio 1 website
  11. ^ Hole in the Wall
  12. ^ "Comedy Dave to narrate new 'Coach Trip'". Digital Spy. 23 August 2010. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
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