| Jeff Leach | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1984 London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Comic and Presenter |
| Influenced by | Bill Hicks, Billy Connolly, Eddie Izzard, Louis CK |
| Website | |
| http://www.jeffreyleach.com | |
Jeff Leach (born 1984) is a British actor, comedian, television/radio presenter famed for his revealing style and rock and roll persona on and off stage. He has been active on the stand up comedy circuit in the UK since February 2010 and has presented shows since January 2009 for TV channels including BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, E4, Current TV and Virgin Media. He has also appeared as a comic guest on television shows for BBC Three, ITV and Channel Five and written columns for Cosmopolitan Magazine, Huffington Post and Nuts Magazine. Leach currently presents The National Lottery EuroMillions show on BBC One, is the face of music channel Virgin Media interviewing artists such as Lady GaGa, Kelly Rowland and Professor Green and has been commissioned by BBC Three to front an authored documentary entitled Confessions of a Sex Addict to air on January 11, 2012.
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Leach was born and raised in London. Once finishing secondary school, Leach travelled to Auckland in New Zealand living there for a year working at George FM radio station.[1] Upon his return he studied a BA degree in English Literature and Theatre Studies at University of Warwick graduating in 2006 with a 2:1. During his time at university he was an executive of the Student Radio Association and acted as Station Manager of his student radio station RaW 1251AM. This love of radio extended as he assisted producers and presenters on work experience placements at BBC Radio 1, Xfm and Kerrang! Radio.
Towards the end of his university studies Leach was chosen to perform a leading role in a professional performance of The Monatgues and The Capulets by Lupa De Vega as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Complete Works Festival. After university Jeff worked in the music industry as a club night promoter and booker for at the London Barfly venues. He also DJ'd under the moniker DJ Men In Masks [2] playing at major festivals around Europe such as Glastonbury Festival, Reading Festival, Bestival, Snowbombing, Distortion and Beatherder. During this time Jeff held residencies in London at 333 club in Old Street East London, Le Baron in Paris and Apollo in Barcelona. He also had remixes released on Ministry of Sound's record label for Example's hit "Won't Go Quietly" and on Island Records for his remix of Natalie Imbruglia.
It was at Bestival 2009 that Jeff met a producer from Remedy Productions and gained a screen test which lead to his first television presenting role.
Leach's first television role was fronting a fourteen episode series entitled The Surgery on BBC Switch for BBC Two. The show was part of a teen bracket aimed at discussing problems teenagers faced in life in a live studio audience atmosphere. He also fronted Scene Stealers for the channel before moving on to more music orientated programming. He became the face of Virgin Media conducting all of their interviews and continuity links and covering V Festival from 2009–present day. In 2009 Leach also presented T In The Park for BBC Three with Edith Bowman and Nick Grimshaw. During that summer he also presented Big Brother's off-shoot programme Big Brother's Big Mouth on E4.
During 2010 he continued to work for Virgin Media and BBC Three on shows such as Most Annoying People 2010, Comic Relief Naughty Bits, Ross Lee's Ghoulies on Nickelodian and What Did I Do Last Night? for Current TV.
2011 saw Leach focus his attentions on comedy alongside immersive and authored documentary programmes. At Current TV he presented a second series of What Did I Do Last Night? and went undercover into the male escorting industry in Male Hookers Uncovered in which he actually had sex with a client for cash to take immersive documentaries to the 'next level'.[3] In November 2011, BBC Three announced that Jeff Leach would be fronting an authored documentary featuring his live stand up comedy about his sex addiction entitled Confessions of a Sex Addict to be aired on January 11, 2012 at 21:00 (GMT).
Leach began his stand up career in February 2010 and has been earning his stripes on the UK live comedy club circuit, in various competitions and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He became a London New Comedian Award 2010 finalist, Laughing Horse New Act 2011 and Leicester Square New Comedian 2011 semi-finalist and was placed in the Top Ten for the Amused Moose Laughter Awards 2011 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2011 at the Pleasance Courtyard in The Hut venue, the preview for which he performed a double header alongside Russell Kane at the Paradise by way of Kensal Green in London.
Press reviews [4]:
"he must be an altruist… comedic tour-de-force" (5 STARS) Three Weeks, 2011 [5]
“relentless brilliance in both his writing and performance” (5 STARS) New Current, 2011
“he’s charismatic and charming… pretty darned impressive” Steve Bennett, Chortle, 2011 Daily Telegraph Critic’s Choice ‘Pick of the Fringe’, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011
“smart, sexy and quite, quite filthy” (4 STARS) Hairline, 2011
“The sexual charisma of Russell brand and undercutting self-awareness of Jack Whitehall… unsparing attractive honesty!” Edinburgh Is Funny, 2011
"exciting, raw, watch this face" FRONT, 2011
"Leach is a black-clad, Svengali-like presence" Daily Mail, 2010
“last summer’s favourite festival stand-up” Esquire, 2011
"Jeff Leach is a hilarious hottie" Heat Magazine, 2010
Since October 2011 Leach has hosted a weekly comedy podcast on Total Rock internet radio station. The podcast has featured other stand up comedians such as Paul Foot, Steve Hughes, Mike Gunn, Sean Collins and Katherine Ryan.