Chris Morris (satirist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Chris Morris
Born: September 5, 1965 (age 41)
Flag of United Kingdom Flag of England Bristol, England, United Kingdom
Medium: Radio, television, print
Nationality: Flag of England English
Years active: 1987-present
Genres: Black humor, satire
Subjects: Current events

Chris Morris (born September 5, 1965 in Bristol, England) is an English comedy writer, satirist, producer, director, actor and radio DJ.

Morris grew up in Cambridgeshire; both his parents were doctors. He was educated at Stonyhurst College, a Jesuit boys' boarding school in Lancashire, and studied zoology at the University of Bristol.

Contents

[edit] Early career

Chris showed his comic talent in the lower sixth form, when he played Charon in a production of The Frogs by Aristophanes.[citation needed]

On graduating, Morris took up a traineeship with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, where he took advantage of the free access to editing and recording equipment to create elaborate spoofs and parodies. On leaving Radio Cambridgeshire he worked at BBC Radio Bristol and Greater London Radio (GLR). He was fired by Radio Bristol, with varying accounts claiming that he had either been excessively abusive to a caller or had talked (and possibly eaten) over a news broadcast. However, the legendary incident in which he supposedly released helium into a news studio was part of a prepared 'sketch' item and did not lead to his suspension or dismissal. Also, despite rumours to the contrary, he was never fired or suspended from GLR and continued to broadcast with the station sporadically until his television career took off.

In 1991 Morris largely gave up work as a mainstream disc jockey and devoted himself to comedy with his radio project On the Hour. Working with Armando Iannucci, Patrick Marber, Richard Herring, Stewart Lee, Steve Coogan and others, he created a highly original spoof news show which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

[edit] Move into television

In 1994 a television series based on On the Hour was broadcast under the name The Day Today. The Day Today made a star of Morris, and also helped to launch the careers of Patrick Marber and Steve Coogan. 1994 proved to be Morris's most critically successful year. He presented a BBC Radio 1 series similar in content to, but sharper than, the GLR broadcasts, and teamed up with comedy legend Peter Cook, as Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling, in a series of improvised conversations for BBC Radio 3, entitled Why Bother?. Morris followed this with Blue Jam, a late-night ambient music and sketch show broadcast on Radio 1, which was later reworked for television as Channel 4's Jam.

The "sick comedy" which had bubbled under in On the Hour and The Day Today found full release, however, with Brass Eye, another spoof current affairs television documentary show, shown on Channel 4. Brass Eye later became known for its central device of tricking celebrities and politicians into throwing their support behind public awareness campaigns for made-up issues that were often absurd or surreal in the extreme (such as a designer drug called 'cake' and an elephant with its trunk stuck up its anus). In 2001 a reprise of Brass Eye on the subject of the moral panic that surrounds paedophilia led to a record-breaking number of viewer complaints (now the third highest on UK television after Celebrity Big Brother 2007 and Jerry Springer: The Opera), and a great deal of discussion in the press. Many complainants, some of whom later admitted to not having seen the programme (notably Beverley Hughes, at the time a government minister), felt the satire was directed at the victims of paedophilia, which Morris denies.

Some critics felt that the programme's target was actually media coverage of the subject [1]. Others highlight its satirical take on the willingness of celebrities to endorse campaigns close to public concerns without having researched them fully [2].

Morris also developed and produced Jam, a television reworking of his radio show Blue Jam. Darker and more unsettling that his previous work, the show explored such taboos as infant mortality, incest, anal sex, rape, suicide and sadomasochism through a series of unsettling, dreamlike sketches with a soundtrack of ambient music. This was followed by a 'remix' version, Jaaaaam.

[edit] A controversial figure

Morris has also covered other controversial subjects. He once falsely suggested on the radio that Jimmy Savile and Conservative MP Michael Heseltine had died; had a show faded mid-broadcast when he played a scurrilous cut-up of the Archbishop of Canterbury's funeral oration for Diana, Princess of Wales, although Radio 1 had previously cleared this for broadcast and this was an error on their part as they mistook it for another censored sketch on a similar theme; and performed a song in the style of Pulp lead singer Jarvis Cocker about notorious child-murderer Myra Hindley with the following lyrics: "Every time I see your picture, Myra/I have to phone my latest girlfriend up and fire her/And find a prostitute who looks like you and hire her/Oh, me oh Myra."

In 1994 Morris portrayed a fictional rapper, Fur-Q, for a sketch satirising hip hop's glamorisation of guns and violence promoting his song "Uzi Lover" (a parody of Phillip Bailey's song "Easy Lover") featuring the lyric "Uzi like a metal dick in my hand, magazine like a big testicle gland, bitch wanna try it, I said keep it quiet.. shove it up your motherfuckin ass and fry it". He would visit similar territory in Brass Eye, with JLB-8 (Jailbait), an Eminem clone who openly worked paedophile themes into his music and thus had a huge following of preteen girls.

In 2002 Morris ventured into film with the short My Wrongs 8245 - 8249 and 117, adapted from a Blue Jam monologue about a man led astray by a sinister talking dog. It was the first film project of Warp Films, a branch of Warp Records. In 2003 this won the BAFTA for best short film.

In 2005 Morris worked on a sitcom entitled Nathan Barley, based on the character created by Charlie Brooker for his website TVGoHome. Co-written by Brooker and Morris, the series was broadcast on Channel 4 in early 2005.

[edit] Recent work

Morris was a cast member in The IT Crowd, a Channel 4 sitcom focusing on the office and home lives of two "geeks" who work in the information technology department of the fictional company Reynholm Industries. The series is written and directed by Graham Linehan (writer of Father Ted and Black Books, with whom Morris collaborated on The Day Today, Brass Eye and Jam) and produced by Ash Atalla (The Office). Morris played Denholm Reynholm, the eccentric managing director of the company. This marks the first time Morris has acted in a substantial role in a project which he hasn't developed himself and is far more mainstream than his earlier work. The series began on Channel 4 on February 3, 2006 and ran for 6 weeks.

Channel 4 have confirmed that Morris is working on a new film, satirising terrorism and suicide bombers. [3]

[edit] Other information

Morris often co-writes and performs incidental music for his television shows, notably with Jam and the 'extended remix' version, Jaaaaam.

In 2003 he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. [4]. In 2004, Channel 4 aired a show called The Comedian's Comedian in which foremost writers and performers of comedy ranked their 50 favourite acts. Morris was at number eleven, above many acclaimed comedians including Bill Hicks, Peter Sellers and Eddie Izzard.

Morris supplied some sketches on British band Saint Etienne's early recordings. British band Stereolab's song 'Nothing To Do With Me' from their 2001 album 'Sound Dust' featured various lines from Chris Morris sketches as lyrics.

Morris is widely regarded as someone reluctant to discuss his work, although he has given rare interviews. He lives in Brixton, with actress Jo Unwin, and has two children.

[edit] Works

[edit] External links

 v • d • e Chris Morris
Radio Shows
No Known Cure • Chris Morris • Loose Ends • Up Yer News • The Chris Morris Christmas Show • On the Hour • Why Bother? • The Chris Morris Music Show • Blue Jam
Television Shows
The Day Today • Brass Eye • Jam/Jaaaaam • Brass Eye Special • Nathan Barley
Other Projects
Big Train • BEST BAR (NONE) • Second Class Male/Time To Go • The Smokehammer • Absolute Atrocity Special • Bushwhacked • My Wrongs 8245 - 8249 and 117 • The IT Crowd
Related articles
Charlie Brooker • Armando Iannucci • Peter Cook
This box: view • talk • edit
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../c/h/r/Chris_Morris_%28satirist%29_42e5.html"