Richard Ayoade

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Richard Ayoade
Born 1977
Whipps Cross, London, England
Years active 1997 – present

Richard Ayoade (born 1977 in Whipps Cross, London[1]) is an English stand-up comedian and actor. His father is from Nigeria and his mother is from Norway.

Ayoade studied in Ipswich, Suffolk and later studied law at St Catharine's College, Cambridge where he became president of the prestigious Footlights.[2]

Contents

[edit] Garth Marenghi

Ayoade co-wrote the stage show Garth Marenghi's Fright Knight with Matthew Holness, appearing in the show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2000 where it was nominated for a Perrier Award. In 2001 he won the Perrier Comedy Award for co-writing and performing in the sequel to Fright Knight, Garth Marenghi's Netherhead.

In 2004 Ayoade and Holness took the Marenghi character to Channel 4, creating the spoof horror comedy series Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. He directed and also appeared as Dean Lerner, Garth's publisher, who plays Thornton Reed, a camp hospital administrator who bears a trademark shotgun and answers to Hospital boss "Won Ton". He also has a habit of upstaging Garth.

Ayoade's Darkplace character, Dean Learner was resurrected in 2006 to host a comedy chat show, Man to Man with Dean Learner, on Channel 4. The different guests were played each week by Holness.

[edit] The Mighty Boosh

Ayoade was part of the original cast of Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding's The Mighty Boosh: he was selected to play the role of dangerous villain Dixon Bainbridge. However, by this time he was under contract by Channel 4 and was only able to act in the pilot before leaving the Boosh. The part was taken by fellow Darkplace actor Matt Berry. He since returned in the second series, to play the part of the belligerent shaman Saboo, where he improvises the line 'an erotic adventurer of the most deranged kind' when describing Noel Fielding's nephew who was also in the scene. Ayoade continued his association with The Mighty Boosh in the third series, acting as script editor and also reprising his role of Saboo in the three episodes "Eels", "The Strange Tale of the Crack Fox" and "Party".

[edit] The IT Crowd

Ayoade is now a recognisable face in Britain due to his role as the technically brilliant but socially awkward Maurice Moss in Channel 4's The IT Crowd, which has so far run for two series. A third series has been confirmed,[3] while Ayoade may find himself performing the same material in America having reprised his role of Moss for the pilot of an NBC remake of the British show. He is the only actor from the original line-up to have been carried over.[4] The American show was originally announced to have a mid-season (2007/2008) debut, although it's unclear whether NBC will go ahead with it as no further episodes have been made.[5]

[edit] Other notable work

In 2005, he played the role of Ned Smanks in Chris Morris' and Charlie Brooker's Nathan Barley.

Ayoade also directed, co-wrote and co-starred (with fellow Darkplace castmember Matt Berry) in AD/BC: A Rock Opera, and has appeared on T4.

He directed the video for the Arctic Monkeys song 'Fluorescent Adolescent' and has recently directed Super Furry Animals' new video "Run Away", which has Matt Berry in the lead role.[citation needed]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Nevin, Charles. "When you're smiling", The Guardian, 2005-11-19. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
  2. ^ "1997-1998". Retrieved on 2007-10-20. 
  3. ^ Simpson, Gemma (October 12, 2007). Q&A: Graham Linehan. silicon.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-16.
  4. ^ Richard Ayoade to star in U.S. IT Crowd too. Sitcom.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-26.
  5. ^ NBC May Unplug 'IT Crowd'.

[edit] External links

Cultural offices
Preceded by
Sarah Moule		 Footlights President
1997–1998		 Succeeded by
Kevin Baker
v • d • e
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Cast and crew
Matthew Holness · Richard Ayoade · Matt Berry · Alice Lowe · Andrew Hewitt
Characters
See also
Languages