NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Paul Merton

Paul James Martin (born 9 July 1957), better known by the stage name Paul Merton, is an English actor, comedian and writer. He is best known as a panellist on the BBC television show Have I Got News for You and Radio 4's Just a Minute, as well as Channel 4's Whose Line Is It Anyway? in the first five series, and as the host of the BBC TV show Room 101 and the ITV improvisation show, Thank God You're Here. Statistics Population: 15,102 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TL535799 Administration District: East Cambridgeshire Shire county: Cambridgeshire Region: East of England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Cambridgeshire Historic county: Cambridgeshire Services Police force: Ambulance service: East of England Post office and telephone Post town: ELY... is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... Parsons Green looking south along the New Kings Road Parsons Green is an area in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... In English usage, nationality is the legal relationship between a person and a country. ... Whose Line Is It Anyway? (sometimes shortened to Whose Line? or abbreviated as WLIIA?) is a short-form improvisational comedy TV show. ... Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game which has been running continuously since its first broadcast on December 22, 1967. ... Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show; produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been running since 1990. ... This page is about the TV series Room 101. ... BAFTA Award The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ... The 2003 British Academy Television Awards were held on Sunday April 13 at the Dorchester Hotel in London. ... Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show; produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been running since 1990. ... The British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. ... is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... A stage name, also called a screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, comedians, musicians, djs, clowns, and professional wrestlers. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... For the documentary about Jerry Seinfeld, see Comedian (film). ... A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show; produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been running since 1990. ... Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game which has been running continuously since its first broadcast on December 22, 1967. ... This article is about the British television station. ... Whose Line Is It Anyway? (sometimes shortened to Whose Line? or abbreviated as WLIIA?) is a short-form improvisational comedy TV show. ... This page is about the TV series Room 101. ... For other uses, see ITV (disambiguation). ... This article is about the original Australian version. ...

His style is characterised by describing extremely improbable scenarios with a straight, almost serious, face. He rapidly grabs hold of any chance to expand on a subject and stretch its credibility to snapping point. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.^[1] In The Comedian's Comedian, a 2005 Channel 4 poll of fellow comedians, he was voted the 20th funniest comedian in the universe. A 2007 poll saw him voted alongside the likes of Oscar Wilde, Spike Milligan, Noël Coward and Winston Churchill as one of the ten greatest wits ever.^[2] Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 â€“ November 30, 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and author of short stories. ... Terence Alan Patrick SeÃ¡n Milligan KBE (16 April 1918â€“27 February 2002), known as Spike Milligan, was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet and playwright. ... NoÃ«l Coward Sir Noel Peirce Coward (spelling his forename NoÃ«l with the diaeresis was an affectation of later life, and Peirce is the correct spelling) (December 16, 1899 - March 26, 1973) was an English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ... Churchill redirects here. ...

Personal life

Merton was born on 9 July 1957 ^[3] in Parsons Green, London to an English father (a train driver on the London Underground). When his mother returned to work as a nurse, Merton and his younger sister were looked after by their grandfather, who lived with them in their council flat. is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... Parsons Green looking south along the New Kings Road Parsons Green is an area in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see Train (disambiguation). ... The London Underground is a rapid transit system that serves a large part of Greater London and some neighbouring areas of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. ... The council house is a form of public housing found in the United Kingdom. ...

He failed his eleven plus, and famously received an unclassified grade for metalwork at CSE before moving on to Wimbledon College, a Jesuit-run secondary school that had just become a comprehensive. His experience of victimisation there as a working-class boy became a frequent subject of his comedy. After leaving school, Merton worked at the Tooting Employment Office for seven years. The Eleven Plus is an examination which was given to students in their last year of primary education in the United Kingdom under the Tripartite System. ... The Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) was a former English school leaving qualification which was available along with the GCE O Levels between the period from 1965 to 1987. ... Wimbledon College is a state-maintained voluntary-aided Roman Catholic (Jesuit) secondary school for boys aged 11 to 19. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ... A comprehensive school is a secondary school that does not select children on the basis of academic attainment or aptitude. ... For the crater on Mars, see Tooting (crater). ...

Merton married the actress Caroline Quentin in 1990, but they divorced in 1998. Merton subsequently had a relationship with comedian Sarah Parkinson; they were married unofficially in a service in The Maldives in 2000, they were officially married three months before her death from breast cancer on 23 September 2003. Caroline Quentin (born June 11, 1961, in Reigate) is an English actress. ... Sarah Parkinson (c. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Breast cancer is cancer of breast tissue. ... is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Shortly before becoming a household name on Have I Got News for You, Merton had suffered a mental breakdown and booked himself into the Maudsley psychiatric hospital for six weeks,^[4] about which he has since talked frankly, in an interview with The Guardian he was reported to have been "hallucinating conversations with friends, and became convinced he was a target for the Freemasons".^[5] For the EP by Black Flag, see Nervous Breakdown. ... The Maudsley Hospital in Denmark Hill, Camberwell, South London is unique as a psychiatric hospital in that it was always intended to be a centre of treatment and research rather than confinement and asylum. Now part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM) the hospital derives its origins... For other uses, see Guardian. ...

Career

Merton often claims that he was inspired to go into comedy at a young age watching clowns at a circus, remembering, "I had no idea that adults could behave like that."^[6] He gained his earliest professional credits under his birth name, including an appearance as a yokel in an episode of The Young Ones. On joining Equity he found that the name Paul Martin was already taken, so he renamed himself after Merton, the district of London where he grew up. Bumpkin redirects here. ... The Young Ones was a popular British sitcom, first seen in 1982, which aired on BBC2. ... The British Actors Equity Association (now called Equity) is the British actors trade union. ... The London Borough of Merton is a London borough in south west London. ...

Stage

Though he had harboured serious ambitions of becoming a performing comedian since his school days, it was not until April 1982, at the Comedy Store in Soho, that his dream was realised. He recalls that on only his second or third night he found the dour role that has informed his comic approach ever since. The Comedy Store is a comedy club located in Soho, London, England that was opened in 1979 by Peter Rosengard. ... Cast-iron architecture in Greene Street SoHo is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. ...

He has been a member of the London improv group The Comedy Store Players since 1985, and still regularly performs with them. The Comedy Store Players is a goup of improvising comedy performers known for their performances at The Comedy Store in London. ...

One of these early routines at the Comedy Store involved the report of a policeman who had been given a hallucinogenic drug. This routine was very popular and went on to be included in his television series. Merton recalls, "I walked all the way home to my bedsit in Streatham. I was on a cloud. And that one night got me through every single bad gig after that — and there were a lot of them. I was so lucky to get that encouragement early on. It kept me going over the next eighteen months of just dying the whole time."^{[citation needed]} The general group of pharmacological agents commonly known as hallucinogens can be divided into three broad categories: psychedelics, dissociatives, and deliriants. ... An assortment of psychoactive drugs A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a chemical substance that acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it alters brain function, resulting in temporary changes in perception, mood, consciousness and behavior. ... Streatham is a place in the London Borough of Lambeth in the United Kingdom . ...

In 1986, while performing in the Edinburgh Fringe, he was mugged while helping a friend put up posters. He was kicked in the head and had to go to hospital. A year later, Merton returned to Edinburgh. His one-man show was receiving very good reviews. However, while playing football with fellow comedians, he broke his leg, and whilst in hospital, he suffered a pulmonary embolism and contracted hepatitis A. He lost the £3,000 he had paid in advance for the theatre and would have been in worse trouble had the Comedy Store not held a benefit for him. "I was getting the reviews of my life — they were saying 'Go and see this man!'", he said. "And I was in a hospital bed. They should have said 'Go see this man and take a bunch of grapes with you'."^{[citation needed]} A street performer on the Royal Mile, with volunteer (2004). ... For the town in the Republic of Ireland, see Hospital, County Limerick. ... For other uses, see Edinburgh (disambiguation). ... Species Hepatitis A virus Hepatitis A (formerly known as infectious hepatitis) is an acute infectious disease of the liver caused by the hepatovirus hepatitis A virus. ...

In 1999, Merton undertook a stand-up tour entitled "and this is me PAUL MERTON". "I did this show on tour last autumn," he explained to one of his audiences.^[7] "I did sixty-eight dates. I did shows all over the place: Liverpool, Dublin, Stoke. Sixty-eight dates, two hours per night. Two hours, and not one laugh." This article is about the temperate season. ... For other uses, see Liverpool (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Dublin (disambiguation). ... This page is about Stoke-on-Trent in England. ...

Merton, speaking to Melvyn Bragg at the former's home, explained: "I hadn't done stand-up comedy for about ten years, and it was like I'd never done it. People had no idea I'd been a stand-up comedian; they thought I was born to sit behind a desk and make quips about the week's news."^[7] Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, FRSL, FRTS (born 6 October 1939, in Wigton, Cumberland) is a British author and broadcaster. ...

Television

His breakthrough as a television performer came as a result of the improvised comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? from 1988 onwards, which moved to TV from BBC Radio 4, although he had previously appeared on Saturday Live, performing stand-up comedy. He remained on Whose Line until 1993. Have I Got News for You started in 1990, and two series of his own sketch show, Paul Merton: The Series, followed soon after. In 1996, Merton performed updated versions of fifteen of Ray Galton & Alan Simpson's old scripts for an ITV series, Paul Merton in Galton & Simpson's.... Six of these scripts were previously performed by Tony Hancock. These were very badly received by both critics and public, and although a selection of episodes were initially released on VHS, it was not until June 2007 that the complete series was released on DVD.^[8] Whose Line Is It Anyway? (sometimes shortened to Whose Line? or abbreviated as WLIIA?) is a short-form improvisational comedy TV show. ... old Radio 4 logo BBC Radio 4 is a UK domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ... Saturday Live was an innovative television comedy and music show broadcast in the UK by Channel 4 from 1985 to 1987. ... Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show; produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been running since 1990. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Ray Galton, OBE (born 1930) and Alan Simpson, OBE (born 1929) are British scriptwriters who met in 1948 at a Tuberculosis sanatorium in London. ... Ray Galton OBE (born 1930), and Alan Simpson OBE (born 1929), are British scriptwriters who met in 1948 at a tuberculosis sanatorium in London. ... Biography published in 1978 (1983 paperback reprint shown) Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 â€“ 24 June 1968) was a major figure in British television and radio comedy in the 1950s and 1960s, known as Tony Hancock. ... Bottom view of VHS cassette with magnetic tape exposed Top view of VHS cassette with front casing removed The Video Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS, is a recording and playing standard. ... DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc - see Etymology) is a popular optical disc storage media format. ...

Also in 1996, Merton took a break from Have I Got News for You during its eleventh series, making only one appearance as a guest on fellow captain Ian Hislop's team. Merton later explained that at the time he was "very tired" of the show and that he thought it had become "stuck in a rut". Nevertheless, he added that he felt his absence gave the programme the "shot in the arm" it needed and that it had been "better ever since".^[9] In 2002, following allegations in the UK tabloids linking the show's chairman, Angus Deayton, with prostitutes and drug use, the host was asked to resign from the show. Merton hosted the first episode after Deayton's departure and was described as "merciless" in his treatment of his former co-star.^[10] Ian Hislop (born 13 July 1960) is the editor of British satirical magazine Private Eye, a team captain on the popular satirical current affairs quiz Have I Got News for You and a comedy scriptwriter. ... Gordon Angus Deayton (born January 6, 1956) is an English comic actor and television presenter. ...

In 1999 Merton replaced Nick Hancock as host of Room 101, a chat show in which guests are offered the chance to discuss their pet hates and consign them to the oblivion of Room 101. He hosted 64 editions. In 2007, his final guest was Ian Hislop (himself becoming the first interviewee to appear twice, having also been on an edition with Hancock). Hislop's selections purposely included items that Merton was known to like, such as The Beatles and the films of Charlie Chaplin.^[11] Nick Hancock (born January 25, 1962) is a British actor and television presenter. ... This page is about the TV series Room 101. ... Room 101 is a place introduced in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. ... The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ... Charles Chaplin redirects here. ...

In 1999, Merton starred alongside Ronnie Corbett as one of the ugly sisters in ITV's Christmas pantomime. His other co-stars were Samantha Janus, Ben Miller, Harry Hill, Frank Skinner and Alexander Armstrong. Ronnie Corbett in Extras Ronald Balfour Corbett, OBE (born 4 December 1930 in Edinburgh, commonly credited as Ronnie Corbett) is a British comedian and actor, best known as one of The Two Ronnies. ... For other uses, see ITV (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Pantomime (disambiguation). ... Samantha Janus (born 2 November 1974 in Brighton) is an English actress and singer. ... Ben Miller (born 1966) is a British comedian, director and actor. ... Dr Matthew Hall (born October 1, 1964), better known as Harry Roy Hill, is an English stand-up comedian and author who has graduated to being a star of British television by way of a BBC radio series Harry Hills Fruit Corner. ... For other persons named Frank Skinner, see Frank Skinner (disambiguation). ... Alexander Armstrong is a British comedian. ...

He was rumoured to be a possible new host of Countdown to replace both Richard Whiteley^[12] and his successor, Des Lynam,^[13] but decided not to pursue this. Countdown is a British game show presented by Des OConnor and Carol Vorderman. ... John Richard Whiteley, OBE DL (28 December 1943 â€” 26 June 2005) was an English television presenter and journalist. ... Desmond Michael Lynam (born 17 September 1942) is an Irish sports presenter and game show host on British television and radio, born in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland. ...

Merton is known to be a keen student of comedy, and particularly the early film comedians. In 2006, BBC Four broadcast Paul Merton's Silent Clowns: a four-part documentary series on the silent comedy craft of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and Harold Lloyd.^[14] Merton examined their respective careers, interspersed with moments from a live show in which he presented clips of their work. Among the audience were many children, who were seeing the performers for the first time. Merton took a stage version of this show to the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in late 2007 took the show on a UK tour. A tie-in book was written by Merton and published by RH Books in late 2007. The Independent described it as "clearly a labour of love" but criticised the exhaustive and overly-thorough plot synopses of the films discussed.^[15] For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 4. ... Joseph Francis Kieran Keaton (October 4, 1895 â€“ February 1, 1966) was an Academy Award-winning American silent film comic actor and filmmaker. ... Laurel and Hardy, in a promotional still from their 1937 feature film Way Out West. ... Harold Clayton Lloyd (April 20, 1893 â€“ March 8, 1971) was an American film actor and director, most famous for his silent comedies. ...

Also in 2007 he presented a four-part travel documentary, Paul Merton in China, which was broadcast on Five from 21 May 2007. He has finished filming a new travel series about India.^[16] ^[17] Five, launched in 1997, is the fifth and final national terrestrial analogue television channel to launch in the United Kingdom. ... is the 141st day of the year (142nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ...

Merton hosts the British version of Thank God You're Here, which premiered on ITV in January 2008. This article is about the forthcoming British version. ... For other uses, see ITV (disambiguation). ...

Radio

In the late 1980s Merton appeared on BBC Radio 4's The Big Fun Show. Between 1993 and 1995, Merton was amongst the regular cast members on the Radio 4 improvisational comedy series The Masterson Inheritance. Besides his regular appearances on Just a Minute, he has also joined the I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue team for the occasional programme. In 2000 he presented Two Priests and a Nun Go into a Pub in which he interviewed British and Irish comedians who had (like Merton himself) been brought up as members of the Roman Catholic Church. In 2009, Merton will start a Radio 4 series in which he reads Spike Milligan's war memoirs in an audio-book fashion. The Masterson Inheritance was a improvisational comedy series broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 1993 to 1995. ... Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game which has been running continuously since its first broadcast on December 22, 1967. ... Im Sorry I Havent a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or simply Clue, is a BBC radio comedy which has run since 1972-04-11. ... Catholic Church redirects here. ... Terence Alan Patrick SeÃ¡n Milligan KBE (16 April 1918â€“27 February 2002), known as Spike Milligan, was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet and playwright. ...

Awards

After seven nominations for a BAFTA award for Best Entertainment Performance, Merton finally won the award in April 2003, defeating fellow Have I Got News for You star Angus Deayton, who had been dismissed from the show the previous October. He was nominated for the 2007 BAFTA award for his travel documentary Paul Merton in China.^[18] In 2008, Merton presented Bruce Forsyth with a BAFTA Fellowship: Forsyth had given Merton his award in 2003.^[19] The British Academy Television Awards, also known as the BAFTAs or, to differentiate them from the BAFTA Film Awards, the BAFTA Television Awards, are the most prestigious awards given in the British television industry, analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States. ... Gordon Angus Deayton (born January 6, 1956) is an English comic actor and television presenter. ... The British Academy Television Awards, also known as the BAFTAs or, to differentiate them from the BAFTA Film Awards, the BAFTA Television Awards, are the most prestigious awards given in the British television industry, analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States. ... Bruce Forsyth, CBE (born Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson on 22 February 1928) is a British showman and entertainer who achieved celebrity on the show Sunday Night at the London Palladium, and became a household name in the UK, going on to present the television shows The Generation Game, Play Your...

References

Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... Whos Who, ISBN 0-713-662-751, is an annual British publication by A & C Black of very short biographies of about 30,000 famous and/or important Britons, published since 1849. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... The South Bank Show is a British television arts magazine show, presented by Melvyn Bragg and seen in over 60 countries â€” including Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden and the USA. Its stated aim is to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 343rd day of the year (344th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 141st day of the year (142nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see The Independent (disambiguation). ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Bibliography

In contemporary usage, a parody (or lampoon) is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ... Cover of the first English edition of 1793 of Benjamin Franklins autobiography. ... Mein Kampf (English translation: My Struggle) is a book by the German-Austrian politician Adolf Hitler, which combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitlers National Socialist political ideology. ... Julian Clary (born 25 May 1959) is an English comedian and writer who is openly gay and known for his playing-on-stereotypes camp style, with a heavy reliance on innuendo and double entendre. ...

External links

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... The domain name bbc. ... Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show; produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been running since 1990. ... Ian Hislop (born 13 July 1960) is the editor of British satirical magazine Private Eye, a team captain on the popular satirical current affairs quiz Have I Got News for You and a comedy scriptwriter. ... Gordon Angus Deayton (born January 6, 1956) is an English comic actor and television presenter. ... Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show; produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been running since 1990. ... This is a list of episodes from the satirical news-based panel game Have I Got News for You. ... For the documentary about Jerry Seinfeld, see Comedian (film). ... Parsons Green looking south along the New Kings Road Parsons Green is an area in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...

Contents

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