| Harry Hill | |
|---|---|
Hill in Putney with The Caterers in 2006 |
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| Birth name | Matthew Keith Hall |
| Born | 1 October 1964 Woking, Surrey, England |
| Medium | Stand-up, television, film |
| Nationality | British |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Genres | Improvisational comedy, Surreal comedy, Wit, Parody, Musical comedy, Insult comedy |
| Subject(s) | Humanity, Pop culture, Television, World history |
| Influences | Burt Kwouk, Ken Dodd |
| Influenced | Paul Burling |
| Spouse | Magda Archer (m. 1996–present) ; 3 children |
| Notable works and roles | Harry Hill's TV Burp Comic Relief |
| Website | www.harryhill.co.uk |
| BAFTA Awards | |
| Best Entertainment Performance 2008, 2009 Harry Hill's TV Burp Best Entertainment Programme 2008 Harry Hill's TV Burp |
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| British Comedy Awards | |
| Best Comedy Entertainment Programme 2006, 2008 Harry Hill's TV Burp Best TV Comedy Entertainment Personality 2006, 2009 Harry Hill's TV Burp |
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Harry Hill (born Matthew Keith Hall on 1 October 1964), is a Perrier Award–winning English comedian, author and television presenter. A former medical doctor (who remains on the General Medical Council's List of Registered Medical Practitioners), Hill began his career in comedy with the popular radio show Harry Hill's Fruit Corner.
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Hill was born in Woking, Surrey[1] and spent part of his childhood living in Hong Kong where he attended Island School.[2] The family then moved to Staplehurst, Kent where Hill attended the local primary school.[3] He was educated at Cranbrook School in Kent and St George's Hospital Medical School before training in neurosurgery at the University of London. Hill worked as a house officer at Doncaster Royal Infirmary, before quitting the medical profession because he "didn't feel in control of what was happening".[4]
Hill married illustrator Magda Archer in 1996 in Wandsworth, London.[2] They have three daughters, all born in Kensington and Chelsea, London: Kitty, Winnie and Frederica.[5]
In February 2006, Hill was a victim of identity theft; a sum of £280,000 was stolen from his bank account.[6] In September 2008, Hill worked with Fairtrade to release Harry's Nuts, a brand of fairtrade peanuts.[7]
He is known to have been a supporter for his namesake football club Harrow Hill F.C., (Also known as Harry Hill). In 2008 he was presented with a Harrow Hill badge, which he still wears to this day on episodes of TV Burp.
From 1997 Hill had his own Channel 4 television series called The Harry Hill Show (listed simply as Harry Hill on screen) which ran for three series. The show was essentially a reworking of the Radio series Harry Hill's Fruit Corner. Among the regular characters were Hill's big brother, 'Alan' (played by the comedian Al Murray) and his adopted son 'Little Alan' (played by Dr Matt Bradstock). Burt Kwouk appeared in many episodes of the Harry Hill Show and occasionally in Hill's major live standup shows. Kwouk played Harry's "Chicken Catcher" and each week he had an excuse as to why he has not yet captured a chicken, followed by a performance of the song Hey Little Hen. In later series Hill and Kwouk appeared in sketches as Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace. Hill's screen wife Mai Sung also made appearances on the show, mainly around the theme of trying to steal Hill's bank savings book. Another favourite on the show was Stouffer the cat, a curious-looking cat glove puppet made of blue rubber, a fetish item bequested to Hall during a dispute. Stouffer normally sits in a throne supported by a rubber arm in the style of Rod Hull, and is employed to intimidate guests during Hill's standup routines and as part of a strange children's TV parody sketch on his TV show. Stouffer's catchphrases are "he got a big face" and "sorted — respect due". The end of each episode was supposed to include an event called "The Badger Parade", a parade of puppet badgers that included Gareth Southgate badger and Tasmin Archer badger, among others. But every week there would be some kind of problem resulting in the badgers being unable to perform. In place of the badger parade, Hill would usually sing a song, with a guest he had invited onto the show.
In 2001 Hill moved to ITV presenting an all-new show Harry Hill's TV Burp it has had ten series. The BAFTA award-winning show is a comic look at the week's television, showing clips from various UK television programmes and framing them with commentary or intercutting additional footage. Also broadcast on ITV1 was The All New Harry Hill Show, similar to his Channel 4 show, but with a bigger budget and more celebrity guests. Regular features included the Hamilton Challenge (featuring Neil and Christine Hamilton), and a Butterfly in Blue Jeans finale.
In 2005 Hill moved into new territory with Harry Hill's Shark Infested Custard, a 13-part show broadcast in the CITV children's television slot. While many of his previous characters including Stouffer and Garry Hill (Hill's fictional layabout son from his first marriage) remained, it also showcased several new characters including Speed Camera Boy, about an outsider who is half boy and half speed camera, and Evelynne Hussey and her Amazing Instruments. While the show featured a game show element, Help the Aged, it was very similar in structure to The Harry Hill Show. In this show he wore a pale yellow (custard-coloured) shirt with a giant collar instead of his usual white one.
Hill's instantly recognisable voice has led to work in voice-over roles on television commercials such as the holiday adverts for Boots in 2004. Hill also provides the voice over for You've Been Framed and once sang a song entitled "Bring on the Branston!" for the Branston Pickle adverts. Hill has appeared on the BBC Radio 4 series I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. In 2002 Hill's first novel, Flight from Deathrow, was published. The novel is based around accounts of the unlikely antics of real-life celebrities and politicians as seen through the eyes of the storyteller, as he drifts in and out of a coma. His second book, Tim the Tiny Horse, was published in October 2006, and his third, The Further Adventures of the Queen Mum, in October 2007. Also available is Harry Hill's Fun Book, a Christmas spin-off from his Channel 4 TV show, Harry Hill's Whopping Great Joke Book (also available as an iPhone app[8]) and Tim the Tiny Horse At Large, which is the sequel to the first book. In October 2009, Ebury Press published Harry Hill's TV Burp Book, a tie-in to the popular television programme, which included comics, spoofs and pin ups. In November 2010, Harry was set to release his debut comic album 'Funny Times'.[9] The album has been preceded by the release of the single 'I Wanna Baby'. About the same time as 'Funny Times' was released, Harry Hill released 'Livin' the Dreem' a fictional account of his life in 2010, featuring references to pop culture in 2010.
He had his own comic strip in The Dandy, called Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land, drawn by Nigel Parkinson. Hill was directly involved in its creation, and is co-credited alongside Parkinson. He is now the voice of the Green Flag ant in the Green Flag commercials. Harry is also a supporter of Gloucestershire non-league side Harrow Hill F.C. and met their former chairman during a book-signing in Cheltenham. When it was mentioned that Harrow Hill's nickname was 'Harry Hill' Harry thought it hilarious and now wears a Harrow Hill F.C badge on his suit. He is currently starring in the Sky Atlantic sitcom This is Jinsy as Joon Boolay.[10]
Between October and December 2010, Hill starred in a weekly online comedy series on the ChannelFlip website, called Harry Hill's Little Internet Show.[11]
Hill has released a selection of DVDs, Videos and Audio Books, many of which feature recordings of his sell-out live tours. The first, entitled 'Live', was released in 1995, featuring a performance from The Queen's Theatre, London.
In 2003, Hill was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.[12] In 2007 he was voted number five on Channel 4's hundred greatest stand-ups. On 13 December 2006, he won two Highland Spring British Comedy Awards, over the favourites Ant and Dec, which Hill made light of in his acceptance speeches.[13] In 2008 he won two Baftas and another in 2009 for best Entertainment Performance. In 2009 he won two British Comedy Awards, making it his sixth award. He also won again in 2011, but was unable to be there and sent Wagbo to collect it on his behalf. He was also nominated for 3 other awards, including the People's Choice Award, which was won by Miranda Hart.
| Preceded by Jonathan Wilkes |
Host of You've Been Framed 2004–Present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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