Chris Addison
(born 1972 in Manchester) is an English stand-up comedian, writer and actor with a career that has spanned over a decade. He is known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he later adapted for BBC Radio 4, as well as for his roles as Ollie in the BBC television satirical comedy The Thick of It
and Toby in its spin-off film In the Loop. He also starred in and co-created Lab Rats
, a sitcom that aired on BBC2 in 2008.
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CHRIS ADDISON TICKETS
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Early life
He was educated at
Manchester Grammar School and
Birmingham University, where he studied
English literature.
[1]
Career
Stand-up
Chris Addison has been performing
stand-up comedy since 1995, in that year he won the
City Life Comedian of the Year Award, a stand-up competition in the
North West of England.
Addison's first solo show at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe was in
1998, for which he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the
Perrier Awards. He continued to bring shows to the Fringe for several years, garnering two Perrier Award nominations — for his
2004 show
Civilisation
and
2005's
Atomicity
.
[2]
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
- 1997 Appeared as part of The Comedy Zone
showcase
- 1998 Debut solo Edinburgh Fringe show, nominated for Perrier Comedy Award (Best Newcomer)
- 1999 Gentleman, Scholar, Acrobat
- 2000 Cakes and Ale
- 2001 Port Out, Starboard Home
- 2002 The Ape That Got Lucky
(later adapted for BBC Radio 4)
- 2004 Civilization
(nominated for Perrier Comedy Award, later adapted for BBC Radio 4)
- 2005 Atomicity
(nominated for Perrier Comedy Award)
Radio
First airing in 2004, Chris Addison co-wrote and co-starred in the
political satire The Department
, along with
John Oliver and
Andy Zaltzman. This ran for fourteen episodes over three series on
BBC Radio 4, ending in 2006.
In August 2005, Radio 4 aired
The Ape That Got Lucky
, Addison's adaptation of his
2002 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show of the same name. This programme featured fellow comedians
Geoffrey McGivern,
Jo Enright and
Dan Tetsell. On 8 May 2006,
The Ape That Got Lucky
won the gold award in the comedy production category at the
Sony Radio Academy Awards.
[3]
In 2006, Chris Addison recorded
Chris Addison's Civilisation
, again for Radio 4, based on his
Edinburgh Fringe show of
2004; this again featured McGivern, Enright and Tetsell and was aired in four parts over the summer.
He has been a panellist on three of Radio 4's comedy panel games:
Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive
, first appearing in 2006,
Just a Minute
, first appearing in 2007, and
The Unbelievable Truth
, first appearing in 2009.
Addison is hosting the current series of the Radio 4 comedy series
4 Stands Up, which showcases up-coming and established comedy talent. As host, Addison performs a short opening set and introduces the acts, in the style of a
compere at a
comedy club. The first episode aired on 2 April 2009.
On 10 May 2009, Addison hosted the
Sunday Night Show on
Absolute Radio in place of fellow stand-up comedian
Iain Lee who was away due to being on his honeymoon.
Television
Dotcomedy
In 2000 Chris Addison co-hosted the short-lived
Channel 4 comedy series
Dotcomedy
with
Gail Porter. This was a late-night, risque show featuring video clips and other humour derived from the internet.
The Thick of It
Since 2005, Addison has appeared in the
BBC television satirical comedy series
The Thick of It
as Oliver "Ollie" Reeder, Junior Advisor (later Special Advisor) to the Secretary of State (Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship). He appeared in all six episodes of the first series, as well as the two specials 'Rise of the Nutters' and 'Spinners and Losers'.
Addison also featured in the film adaptation of
The Thick of It
, entitled
In the Loop, playing Toby, a character very similar to his part in the television original.
[4]
Chris Addison will reprise his role as Ollie when the
The Thick of It
returns for a new series.
Lab Rats
In July 2008,
BBC2 aired
Lab Rats, a sitcom starring Addison and co-written with Carl Cooper.
Lab Rats
featured cast members
Jo Enright,
Geoffrey McGivern and
Dan Tetsell, with whom Addison had worked previously on the radio adaptations of his one-man shows
The Ape That Got Lucky
and
Civilisation
.
Lab Rats
was a return to the traditional, joke-heavy, studio based sitcom format that has fallen out of fashion in recent times in favour of the single-camera sitcom.
[5]
Guest appearances
Addison has made appearances as a panellist on
Have I Got News For You
(four times) and
8 Out of 10 Cats
(twice).
Addison appeared on
The Graham Norton Show on 16 April 2009 promoting
In the Loop
.
Other work
From 2003 to 2005 Addison wrote a fortnightly
finance column for
The Guardian entitled 'Funny Money'. On alternate weeks, when the column was not written by Addison, writing duties passed to fellow stand-up
Dominic Holland.
[6]
Addison has written two books, both published by
Hodder and Stoughton:
Cautionary Tales for Grown Ups
in 2006, followed by
It Wasn't Me: Why Everybody is to Blame and You're Not
in 2008.
References
- Chris Addison: Swapping satire for sitcom - The Independent
- Perrier/if.comedy Award Past Winners
- Sony Radio Academy Awards 2006, The Comedy Award
- Sundance 2009: In the Loop puts rest of the fest in the shade
- guardian.co.uk search: funny money