Marcus Brigstocke is many things to many people. Professionally, he is a
writer, a
standup comedian and an
actor. He has appeared on
television, on the
radio and on the
silver screen. When questioned on his
proclivity for such a variety of activities, Marcus riposted:
"To be honest, I'm a bit of a tart"
Fortunately, he went onto say "
as long as I'm performing, I'm quite happy. Stand-up is an extension of me anyway. In my stand-up I do characters and voices and stuff, so basically it is acting"
1
Marcus's first tentative steps along the road to comedy were taken at
Bristol University where, after forming a group named
Club Seals with fellow funnymen Danny Robins and Dan Tetsell, he did shows for university crowds and national audiences. In 1996 he won the BBC New Comedian Award at the
Edinburgh Festival.
Other notable appearances at the Edinburgh Festival include:
Where you might have seen or heard him
Marcus has appeared in a selection of television shows, for the
BBC,
Channel 4,
Five,
ITV,
Sky and
UK Gold. They include:
He was also a panellist on the short lived
Casting Couch2 and has previously co-hosted the
Q Awards with the
Davina McCall.
Marcus is also frequently heard on the radio, mostly on
Radio 4 and
BBC 7. He has appeared in numerous shows including the
The Now Show,
Think the Unthinkable,
The Museum of Everything,
2000 Years of Radio and
99p Challenge.
His acting career has had a slow start with roles in a few films and one stage production. Marcus played the part of Frankie in
Patrick Marber's
Dealers Choice at the
Kings Head theatre, and also made a "
blink and you will miss it"
3 appearance as a DJ in
Richard Curtis’
Love Actually. He is also in
Neil Gaymen’s
A Short Film About John Bolton where he played an inept arts presenter and has been working on a "low/no budget film
Buried Alive with some friends and colleagues from the BBC - writers
James Carey and
Adam Bromley."
4
Characters
As well as his straight stand up, Marcus has a few comedy characters as part of his repertoire.
David Oxley, BA Hons, presenter of We are History and "a boorish supposed academic whose views on history are completely at odds with all other thinking"7
Marcus the Man, or GTKMB
"Who are your favourite comedians and who has influenced you?"8
"
Peter Cook is my biggest comic hero of all time, and
Jim Henson, who did
The Muppet Show, which really made me laugh and still does. There are lots of others. As a stand-up, I'm required to laugh at
Bill Hicks, so I do. But I thought that Peter Cook was an awesome talent and did things that were very brave. Running
The Establishment Club - that was a real forerunner for things like the
Comedy Store and the circuit we have now."
Other Marcus titbits:
1. http://www.chortle.co.uk/TV/tvfeatures/wearehistory.html
2. So short lived I've had trouble finding any more enlightening information but there is a snippet at http://www.memorabletv.com/quizshows/quizshowsctoe.htm
3. http://www.marcusbrigstocke.com/biog.asp
4. http://www.marcusbrigstocke.com/biog.asp
5. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0563530774/searchbug-21/026-2143573-5882018
6. http://www.marcusbrigstocke.com/biog.asp
7. http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/w/wearehistory_66603660.shtml
8. http://www.chortle.co.uk/TV/tvfeatures/wearehistory.html
9. http://www.marcusbrigstocke.com/biog.asp
10. Marcus’ side of the story is here: http://www.marcusbrigstocke.com/pacman.asp I am sure I’ve heard this from more than one source, and maintain neutrality. It’s fun on the fence =)