Simon Amstell

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Simon Amstell

Born: November 29, 1979 (age 27)
Flag of England Gants Hill, London, England
Occupation: Stand-up comedian, television presenter, script writer
Website: http://www.simonamstell.com/

Simon Gordon Amstell (born 29 November, 1979) is an English comedian and television presenter. In 2007, Amstell was nominated for The Times Breakthrough South Bank Show Award. He has been described by Heat magazine as a "one man advert for geek chic" and by The Times as "at once the David Dimbleby, Howard Stern and Johnny Rotten for a generation of chart-smart pre-pubescents...".

Contents

[edit] Early life

Amstell was born in Gants Hill[1] into a Jewish family. He attended Beal High School in Redbridge.

[edit] Career

[edit] Nickelodeon

His first professional television appearance was in 2000, as a presenter on the UK children's channel Nickelodeon. He claims he was sacked for being "sarcastic and mean to children".[2]

[edit] Popworld

From 2000 to 2006 he presented Popworld on Channel 4 with Miquita Oliver. He voiced the characters "Timothy the Popworld melon" and "Richard the Popworld horse". On Popworld he developed a highly ironic, surreal and leftfield style which gained the show a cult following, but angered many of its guests. One such example was a mock interview with singer Lemar called "Lemar From Afar," in which Amstell shouted questions into a megaphone from one end of a car park while Lemar stood at the other end. Another was a "Si-chiatrist" interview with Luke Pritchard, the singer of The Kooks in which Amstell played the role of psychiatrist and Pritchard and a fellow band member his patients. Amstell made repeated reference to the relationship between Pritchard and his ex, singer Katie Melua, which at the outset prompted discomfort in Pritchard and elicited the remark from him that "that's a bit personal".[3]. Unabashed, Amstell went on to ask him if he'd ever called her Katie "Manure". Amstell was also very open about his homosexuality on the show. During an interview with Blu Cantrell he informed her she looked quite "hard". She laughed and told him it was a line he should use on more girls, to which Amstell raised his eyebrows and murmured; "That won't be necessary." Amstell was unafraid to ask quirky, unusual and even irrelevant questions to celebrities. He is also infamous for hugging and flirting with Beenie Man despite his Homophobic lyrics and making Britney Spears cry.[4]

[edit] Other appearances

Amstell presented The Morning After Show and had a regular spot on Christopher Price's Liquid News. He has made guest appearances on Bo' Selecta!, Never Mind The Buzzcocks (which has led to him acquiring the permanent position of host) and Comic Relief and hosted Channel 4's coverage of V and O2 Wireless festivals. He also briefly presented on Radio 2 and London radio station XFM and presented the Red carpet coverage of the BAFTA Awards for Orange Mobile and it's online services. He is known to turn down much television work.

[edit] Never Mind the Buzzcocks

Amstell now hosts Never Mind The Buzzcocks full time - his first episode aired at the end of October 2006. He had said that he hoped to beat "the universal, exceptionless rule that when a new host takes over an old show it is a horrible, embarrassing disaster".[5] During the third episode of his second full series (Series 20, broadcast 14 February 2007) he caused Preston, lead singer of The Ordinary Boys, to walk off set by reading extracts from the autobiography of Preston's wife, Chantelle Houghton, in a manner Preston thought was insulting.[6] Simon also poked fun at Towers of London frontman, Donny Tourette, several times when he was on the show. This lead to Donny repeatedly insulting Simon throughout the show in a joking manner.

In March 2007, Amstell won a Royal Television Society award for best Entertainment performance for his work on Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

[edit] Stand up

Amstell also performs as a stand up comedian. He was the youngest ever finalist of the BBC New Comedy Awards, and was also listed in the Leicester Mercury Comedian of The Year Competition and the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year Competition.[citation needed] In August 2005 he performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, presenting an evening of music, comedy and chat. He returned to the Fringe in August 2006 to perform stand-up at the Pleasance Dome. He also appeared at the Carling Festivals in the Cabaret and Comedy tent, with a comedy set based around anti-Semitism, prejudice, The Big Issue, monkeys and a £2,000 Christian Dior suit. He also co-wrote an episode of E4 teen drama Skins. [7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Guardian - Where you're smiling
  2. ^ 'I always want the funny line' (interview) The Guardian
  3. ^ Video of interview Youtube
  4. ^ Pop Go The Evils. The Daiy Mirror (mirror.co.uk) (2006-14-04). Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
  5. ^ BBC Press release - Simon Amstell is new host of Never Mind The Buzzcocks
  6. ^ "Singer Preston storms off TV quiz", BBC News, BBC, January 11, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  7. ^ 'Skins' star Hannah Murray - article at Digital Spy

[edit] External links



Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Format: Episodes, Intros Round, Identity Parade
Hosts: Mark Lamarr, Simon Amstell, Guest hosts
Captains: Phill Jupitus, Sean Hughes, Bill Bailey
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/i/m/Simon_Amstell_5c7a.html"
In other languages