Andy Parsons

Last updated

Andy Parsons
Andy Parsons Glastonbury 2013.jpg
Parsons at the Glastonbury Festival 2013
Birth nameAndrew John Parsons
Born (1966-11-30) 30 November 1966 (age 57)
Weymouth, England, UK
MediumStand-Up
Education Christ's College, Cambridge (BA)
Years active1992–present
Genres Satire
Notable works and roles Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections (2001–07)
Mock the Week (2005–2015)
Website www.andyparsons.co.uk

Andrew John Parsons (born 30 November 1966) [1] is an English comedian and writer. He regularly appeared on Mock the Week from Series 3 to Series 14. With comedy partner Henry Naylor, he has written and presented nine series of Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections for BBC Radio 2.

Contents

Early life

Parsons was born in Poole, Dorset. [2] He attended Parc Eglos Primary School, Helston Comprehensive School in Cornwall and Churston Ferrers Grammar School, Torbay (Devon) [3] [ failed verification ] before going to Christ's College, Cambridge to study Law, [4] where he met and formed a double act with Henry Naylor which twice toured with the National Student Theatre Company and once with the Footlights. [5] After completing his studies, Parsons got a job working as a legal clerk on a case at the Greenock shipyards, which he describes as "the most tedious thing I'd ever done." [5] [6] With Naylor he established TBA, London's first sketch comedy club. [7]

Writing/television

His first TV writing job was for Spitting Image and he went on to become one of the main writers. He has also appeared as a guest on They Think It's All Over , QI , and BBC Radio 5 Live's Fighting Talk . Parsons left Mock the Week in October 2015 after nine series as a regular panelist, missing only five episodes. He, like the other regular panellists on Mock the Week, kept the same seat throughout the series, Parsons being the one on host Dara Ó Briain's left.

He has also presented The PMQ show on BBC Radio 5 Live and was a regular during the 2010 World Cup on the BBC Radio 2 show Never Write Off The Germans.

Parsons also appeared in World's Most Dangerous Roads alongside Ed Byrne, travelling along the Road of Bones in Siberia, visiting the coldest inhabited place on Earth and sleeping in a tent at -53 °C.

After writing for Week Ending , Parsons and Naylor were offered their own show Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections in 2001. They have also performed live versions of the show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (1993–2001) and at international comedy festivals in Sydney (1998/99), Melbourne and Adelaide (both 1998).

Stand-up comedy

In Sept 2000 Parsons was making appearances at Up The Creek Comedy Club in Greenwich, often alongside Jimmy Carr. [8]

Parsons regularly performs solo shows at comedy festivals, and also at The Comedy Store. He is the Time Out Comedy Award Winner 2002.

In 2008, he co-wrote and starred in a BBC Radio 4 sitcom called The Lost Weblog of Scrooby Trevithick and a second series, Scrooby Trevithick, aired in 2010. He toured in the UK with his show Andy Parsons: Citizens! in 2009. [9] The show was recorded at the Lyric Theatre, London on 28 September 2009 and released on DVD in November that year under the title Britain's Got Idiots which was shown on BBC2 in October & December 2010.

In 2010, Parsons took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala , a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London on 30 March. [10]

His 2011 UK National Tour was called Gruntled. [2] and his 2013 tour was called I've Got A Shed. His third DVD Slacktivist was released on 25 November 2013 and was televised on BBC Two in December 2014.

His 2015 tour was entitled Live & Unleashed - But Naturally Cautious. [11] Also in 2015 Andy started the Slacktivist Action Group. Occurring monthly with MPs, journalists, experts and comedians. [12]

2017 brought the new tour Peak Bullsh*t.

His 2019 tour, called Healing The Nation, ran from September 2019 to March 2020, and then resumed after the Covid pandemic, with new material, in September 2021.

His 2023/2024 UK Tour is called Bafflingly Optimistic.

Activism

Parsons backed the People's Vote, a campaign group that called for a public vote on the final Brexit deal between the UK and the European Union. [13] [14]

Stand-up shows

YearTitleNotes
2009Citizens!
2011Gruntled
2013I've Got a Shed
2015Live and Unleashed - But Naturally Cautious
2017-18Peak Bullsh*t
2019-22Healing the Nation
2023-24Bafflingly Optimistic

DVD releases

TitleReleasedNotes
Britain's Got Idiots Live23 November 2009Live at London's Lyric Theatre
Gruntled Live 201114 November 2011Live at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire
Slacktivist Live25 November 2013Live at Harrogate's Theatre
Live and Unleashed but Naturally Cautious27 November 2015Live at Margate's Theatre Royal

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Herring</span> English comedian and writer (born 1967)

Richard Keith Herring is an English stand-up comedian and writer whose early work includes the comedy double act Lee and Herring. He is described by The British Theatre Guide as "one of the leading hidden masters of modern British comedy".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stewart Lee</span> British stand-up comedian, screenwriter and television director

Stewart Graham Lee is an English comedian. His stand-up routine is characterised by repetition, internal reference, and deadpan delivery.

Henry James Naylor is a British comedy writer, director and performer. He is also a playwright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy Porter</span> English actress, presenter and comedian

Lucy Donna Porter is an English actress, writer, presenter and comedian. She has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Brighton Festival and many clubs around Britain. She is also a regular voice on BBC Radio 4 in various panel shows, including Quote... Unquote and The Personality Test.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Delaney</span> English writer and comedian

Gary Delaney is an English writer and stand-up comedian. His style of humour is one-liners involving puns. He is known for delivering them in a slightly deadpan manner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Zaltzman</span> British comedian

Andrew Zaltzman is a British comedian who largely deals in political and sport-related material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell Howard</span> British comedian and presenter

Russell Joseph Howard is an English comedian, television presenter, radio presenter, and actor. He has hosted his own television shows, Russell Howard's Good News and The Russell Howard Hour, and appeared on the topical panel TV show Mock the Week. He won "Best Compère" at the 2006 Chortle Awards and was nominated for an Edinburgh Comedy Award for his 2006 Aberdeen Festival Fringe show. Howard has cited comedians Lee Evans, Richard Pryor, and Frank Skinner as influences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhod Gilbert</span> Welsh comedian

Rhodri Paul Gilbert is a Welsh comedian and television and radio presenter who was nominated in 2005 for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award. In 2008 he was nominated for the main comedy award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen K. Amos</span> English comedian

Stephen Kehinde Amos is a British comedian and television personality. A regular on the international comedy circuit, he is known for including his audience members during his shows. He began his career as a compere at the Big Fish comedy clubs in South London, and has been nominated for Chortle's Best Compere Award three times in 2004, 2007 and 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Davies</span> Welsh comedian and actor

Gregory Daniel Davies is a Welsh comedian, actor, presenter, and writer. He is best known for his role as Mr Gilbert in The Inbetweeners, and the Taskmaster in Taskmaster. He also starred as Dan Davies in Man Down and Ken Thompson in Cuckoo. He currently writes and stars as Paul "Wicky" Wickstead in The Cleaner. He has appeared on Mock the Week, Fast and Loose, Live at the Apollo, and Would I Lie to You?.

Geoffrey Frank Norcott is an English comedian, writer and political commentator. He first performed in 2001 and has appeared on Mock the Week, Live at the Apollo and Question Time, and written for The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and Spiked.

Stewart Francis is a Canadian comedian, actor and writer. Known for his deadpan delivery of irreverent one-liners and humorous wordplay, Francis has toured worldwide as a stand up, particularly in the US, the UK, and in his native Canada. He has made numerous appearances on mainstream British television in shows such as Live at the Apollo and Mock the Week. In the US, he was a regular guest on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Whitehall</span> English comedian, actor, presenter and writer (born 1988)

Jack Peter Benedict Whitehall is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is known for his roles as JP in the comedy-drama series Fresh Meat (2011–2016) and as Alfie Wickers in the sitcom Bad Education also co-writing the latter and its film adaptation, The Bad Education Movie (2015).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bridget Christie</span> English writer and comedian (born 1971)

Bridget Louise Christie is an English stand-up comedian, actress and writer. She has written and performed 13 solo stand-up shows and several comedy tours, in addition to radio and television work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seann Walsh</span> English comedian and actor

Sean Christopher Walsh, known professionally as Seann Walsh, is an English stand-up comedian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micky Flanagan</span> English comedian (born 1962)

Michael John Flanagan is an English comedian. Flanagan has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and toured Britain with stand-up shows. He presented Micky Flanagan: What Chance Change? for Radio 4 and has appeared on various TV shows including Mock the Week, A League of Their Own, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Was It Something I Said?, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow and I Love My Country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Gamble</span> British comedian (born 1986)

Edward Stephenson Jamison Gamble is an English comedian, known for co-presenting The Peacock and Gamble Podcast and his regular appearances on Mock the Week. He studied at Durham University, where he began his comedy career performing with the Durham Revue, and was a finalist in the 2007 Chortle Student Comedy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angela Barnes</span> English comedian

Angela Barnes is an English stand-up comedian, mostly known for her appearances on Mock the Week.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Robins (comedian)</span> English stand-up comedian and presenter

John Michael David Robins is an English stand-up comedian and radio presenter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nish Kumar</span> British stand-up comedian and presenter

Nishant Kumar is a British stand-up comedian, television presenter, political commentator, and podcast host. He became known as the host of satirical comedy The Mash Report, now known as Late Night Mash. He has also presented BBC Radio 4 Extra's topical comedy show Newsjack, the Comedy Central series Joel & Nish vs The World, the BBC Radio 4 programme The News Quiz and Hello America on Quibi. Since May 2023, he has been the co-host of the political podcast Pod Save the UK.

References

  1. ↑ "Andy Parsons". Chortle. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  2. 1 2 "What's on: Andy Parsons' Gruntled". The Westmorland Gazette. 4 April 2011. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  3. ↑ "Andy Parsons reveals his West Country roots". North Devon Journal. 12 March 2009. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
  4. ↑ "Christ's College – Alumni". christs.cam.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
  5. 1 2 "What's on leisure – Andy Parsons". Cambridge News. 12 April 2011. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013.
  6. ↑ "Doubled up: Parsons and Naylor's comedy careers". Chortle. 6 July 2003. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.
  7. ↑ BBC. "Parsons And Naylor's Pull-Out Sections".
  8. ↑ "Listings". News Shopper. 27 September 2000. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  9. ↑ Solutions, Powder Blue Internet Business. "Parsons lands R4 show : News 2007 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk.{{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  10. ↑ Chamberlain, Julia (31 March 2010). "C4 Comedy Gala at the O2, London". Chortle. Archived from the original on 3 April 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  11. ↑ "- Andy Parsons". Andy Parsons.
  12. ↑ "SLACKTIVIST ACTION GROUP". andyparsons.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  13. ↑ Quinn, Ben (16 April 2018). "Brexit: MPs from four parties jointly launch push for people's vote campaign". The Guardian . Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  14. ↑ Coulter, Martin (15 April 2018). "Brexit: Patrick Stewart, Andy Parsons, Anna Soubry, Chuka Umunna and Layla Moran launch campaign for 'People's Voice' referendum on final EU deal". London Evening Standard . Retrieved 3 May 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.