Sean Lock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sean Lock (born April 22, 1963) is an English comedian and writer. Born in Woking, Surrey, he began his career in comedy as a stand up comedian. He won the British Comedy Award in 2000 in the category of Best Live Comic, and was nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award. He is also well known for his appearances on television and radio. He has also written material for such comics as Bill Bailey, Lee Evans and Mark Lamarr.
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[edit] Early career
Lock's first television appearance was in 1994, when he appeared as a supporting artist in Rob Newman and David Baddiel's tv show Newman and Baddiel in Pieces. He toured with the duo as their support act, and - as a result - became the first comedian to perform at Wembley Arena. Unfortunately for Lock, his comedic offerings were not appreciated by the audience and he subsequently became the first comedian to be booed off the stage at Wembley too. Newman and Baddiel were widely reported as being the first comedians to have performed at Wembley, but in his capacity as their support act, Lock actually takes this honour.
[edit] 15 Minutes of Misery
Continuing with stand-up as the mainstay of his workload, he also made regular appearances on various radio panel shows, script edited for Bill Bailey's 1998 BBC2 series, Is It Bill Bailey? and had his own show on BBC Radio, 15 Minutes of Misery.
As the title suggested, these shows filled a 15 minute time slot and also featured Kevin Eldon and Hattie Hayridge. The premise involved Sean eavesdropping on his neighbours in his South London tower block (all played by Lock, Eldon and Hayridge) using a bugging device fitted by his plumber, which was known as "The Bugger King" (which had "nothing to do with meat or sex").
15 Minutes of Misery lasted for one series of six programmes in late 1998 and early 1999, and would later be expanded into the half hour series, 15 Storeys High. From ostensibly the same tower block, Lock's character was now given a flatmate (the hapless Errol) and a job at the local swimming baths, as well as a somewhat dour and intolerant demeanour.
The bugging device was no longer used, but the antics of Sean's neighbours still featured heavily in the show. The plots for this series were more linear in a "traditional" sitcom style, although they still showed Lock's brand of surreal humour.
15 Storeys High would transfer to television after two radio series, with Lock's character renamed 'Vince', for a further two series in 2002 and 2004.
[edit] Other television work
In 2005 and 2006 he became a regular team captain on the panel game 8 Out of 10 Cats, and has appeared on the comedy quiz programme QI. He has also appeared on Have I Got News For You, both as a guest and a presenter.
In spring 2006, he hosted his own entertainment show on Channel 4 called TV Heaven, Telly Hell (the second series of which begins production in November 2006), and also guested on the World Cup special edition of They Think It's All Over.
Sean also took part in an episode of the BBC Radio 4 panel game The 99p Challenge and still gigs regularly. He has 3 daughters, is an avid football fan and holds a season ticket for Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's home ground.
[edit] Quotes
- "A bit of advice: never read a pop-up book about giraffes."
- On the art vs pornography debate: "If you can't masturbate to it, it's Art."
- On the chances of winning the lottery: "It's a statistical fact that you're more likely to crawl over a council tip and find a magic fridge."
- "In 1926 the Queen Mother laid the first block of stone in our tenement. After a month or so the Council realised she was going to take forever so they had to let her go and get the builders in."
- "The hardest job I ever had was doing the horoscopes for the Big Issue."
