Simon Evans (comedian)

Simon Evans
Born (1965-05-09) 9 May 1965 (age 59)
Luton, Bedfordshire, England
MediumStand-up, Television, Radio
Alma materUniversity of Southampton
GenresObservational comedy, Black comedy, Satire
Subject(s)Everyday life, Family, Marriage, Human interaction, Current events
Children2
Websitewww.thesimonevans.com

Simon Evans (born 9 May 1965) is an English comedian and writer.

Early life

Evans' biological father was Bertold Wiesner.[1] He attended Verulam School in St Albans and then studied law at the University of Southampton, graduating[2][3] in 1986.

Stand-up comedy

Evans is a UK comedian with his own BBC Radio 4 series Simon Evans Goes to Market,[4] and with numerous other radio and TV appearances. He was on Live at the Apollo (January 2013) and was a weekly regular on Stand Up for the Week (Autumn 2013, Channel 4). TV appearances have also included Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow in Sunderland (BBC One, 2010) and Edinburgh Comedy Fest Live (BBC Three, 2010).

Evans toured his show Fringe Magnet in 2010–11, Friendly Fire 2011–2012, then Leashed which debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2013. In 2018 Evans toured his show Genius which garnered four-star[5] reviews at Edinburgh in 2017 and was described in The Scotsman as an "extraordinarily accomplished hour… a masterclass in socio-political comedy".[6]

In early 2010 Evans supported Lee Mack on his UK tour Going Out, and as a writer has made a long running contribution to Mack's BBC sitcom Not Going Out.

He has performed one-man shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 2000 and at the New Zealand Comedy Festival 2002, Cape Town Comedy Festival 2001 as well as in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Winnipeg and Dubai. In July 2004 he performed at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, and the following spring at the Aspen Comedy Festival in Colorado. Since July 2010 when he appeared alongside Emo Philips at Latitude Festival in Suffolk he has returned to Latitude on several occasions.[7][failed verification]

In early 2018, after an appearance on BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz, Evans was referred to by Rod Liddle in The Spectator as a right-wing comedian.[8] Dominic Maxwell in The Times (26 March 2018) described Genius as an intelligent, reliably funny show that nods to everything from John Ruskin to PornHub to Ivan Turgenev's two-kilo brain' and notes that 'Evans has fun with the right and the left'.

Evans also makes regular contributions in a slightly more serious vein, as a regular guest on current affairs TV shows (such as The Big Questions and Andrew Neil's This Week) as well as on live radio, such as BBC Radio 5 Live's Afternoon Edition. He was also part of the comedians' team on University Challenge: The Professionals (BBC Two) – being beaten by eventual series winners the Ministry of Justice – and has won Celebrity Mastermind (BBC One): his specialist subject was Ernest Shackleton.

Evans is also a regular columnist for the British Internet magazine Spiked.[9]

Television writing

Evans has written for TV shows including:

Television appearances

Evans has appeared on The Comedy Store (Five) and The Stand Up Show (BBC1). Evans's other television include shows on the Comedy Network, and appearances on Five's Company (Five), and as a contestant on The Krypton Factor where he was disqualified for not completing one stage of the Super Round.[11]

Radio

Evans appears regularly on BBC Radio 4 – hosting and writing seven series of the spoof news show The Way It Is (as Richard Richard), as well as appearing on numerous panel games including The News Quiz, Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive and The Unbelievable Truth, and discussion programmes such as Off the Page.

He is a regular contributor to both BBC Radio 4 and London Live and has had full-length comedy scripts commissioned by the BBC for both TV and radio.

  • The Way It Is (Radio 4) – Writer and performer
  • Best Policy (Radio 4) – Anchored
  • True Lies, A world without... and others (Radio 4) – Pundit/panellist
  • Beating the System (Radio 4) – Sole writer and performer
  • Troublestarter (Radio 4) – Three part series – Sole writer and performer
  • The Mighty Boosh (Radio 4) – Performer
  • The News Quiz (Radio 4) – Performer
  • The Big Booth (Radio 4) – Performer
  • Simon Evans Goes To Market (Radio 4)[15]

References

  1. ^ Shocking Discovery: 'I Have Hundreds Of Siblings' (video). Good Morning Britain. 21 April 2023.
  2. ^ "SIMON EVANS: The Work of The Devil Tour 2020 Review". Grapevine Birmingham. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  3. ^ "A funny thing happened on the way to the courtroom". The Scotsman. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  4. ^ Simon Evans Goes to Market, retrieved 13 August 2020
  5. ^ Rusk, Lynn (23 August 2017). "Simon Evans: Genius".
  6. ^ "Smart way to score intelligent laughs". The Scotsman. 23 August 2017.
  7. ^ "Simon Evans". Comedy CV. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  8. ^ "Spotted: a right-wing comedian on the BBC". The Spectator blog. 6 January 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  9. ^ "Simon Evans, Author at spiked". Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  10. ^ "BBC One – Not Going Out, Series 2, Art". BBC.
  11. ^ "Biography – Simon Evans". Retrieved 25 December 2024.
  12. ^ "BBC Two – Live at the Apollo, Series 8, Episode 6". BBC.
  13. ^ "BBC Two – Live at the Apollo, Series 10, Episode 3". BBC.
  14. ^ "BBC One – The Big Questions, Series 11, Episode 3". BBC.
  15. ^ "Simon Evans Goes to Market – BBC Radio 4". BBC. Retrieved 7 January 2018.