Editing Simon Munnery

{{short description|British comedian}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{Infobox comedian
| name              = Simon Munnery
| image             = Simon Munnery 3 (cropped).jpg
| imagesize         = 
| caption           = Munnery performing at [[The Stand Comedy Club|The Stand, Edinburgh]], in 2022 
| pseudonym         = 
| birth_name        =
| birth_date        = {{birth year and age|1967}}
| birth_place       = [[Middlesex]], England
| medium            = Stand up, television, radio
| nationality       = English
| active            = 
| genre             = [[Alternative comedy]], satire, [[surreal comedy]]
| subject           = Politics
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| spouse            = 
| domestic_partner   = 
| notable_work      = 
| signature         = 
}}

'''Simon Munnery''' is an English comedian.

== Early life ==
Born in Middlesex, Munnery grew up in [[Bedmond]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Surrealism in a bucket|url=http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/593294.0/|work=Harrow Times|date=3 May 2005}}</ref> and was educated at [[Watford Grammar School for Boys]], where he earned four [[A Levels]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081218215900/http://www.watfordboys.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=108&Itemid=86 WGSB Famous Old Boys]</ref> He read [[natural science]]s at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] but soon lost interest in science and joined the [[Footlights]]. In 1987, he became vice-president with [[Peter Bradshaw]] as president.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/18/1079199350692.html?from=storyrhs|title=Munnery's the word – Arts – www.theage.com.au|date=19 March 2004 }}</ref> After graduating with "a very high [[Third-class degree|third]]", he did various menial jobs before making his big break into comedy.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nerdy, cool and in a league of his own|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4718059/Nerdy-cool-and-in-a-league-of-his-own.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519063826/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4718059/Nerdy-cool-and-in-a-league-of-his-own.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 May 2014|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=31 July 1999}}</ref> He has described praise of his work as implying his work occupies a place between "unfunny comedy" and "shit art".<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6ypk7| title = Simon Munnery - Venn diagrams - video Dailymotion}}</ref>

Munnery had a short-lived career as a video game programmer. His most famous title was a version of ''[[Asteroids (video game)|Asteroids]]'' for the [[Commodore International]] [[VIC-20]] (a game that [[Jeff Minter]] once described as a "pile of wank").<ref>{{cite book | title=Halcyon Days |author=James Hague |url=http://dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/MINTER.HTM |date=March 1997 |access-date=19 February 2014}}</ref> He also authored several games for the [[ZX81]] (''Road Race'', ''[[Breakout (video game)|Breakout]]'' and ''[[Space Invaders]]'') and the [[ZX Spectrum]]. The VIC-20 games he wrote were ''Asteroids'', ''[[Bug-Byte|Cosmiads]]'' and ''[[Scramble (video game)|Scramble]]''.

== Career ==

=== Stand-up comedy ===
While at university, Munnery took part in a stand-up double-act called ''God and Jesus'' with [[Stephen Cheeke]]. He also worked (along with [[Steve Coogan]], [[Patrick Marber]], [[Richard Herring]] and [[Stewart Lee]]) at the [[Edinburgh Festival]] in a piece called ''The Dum Show''.

Munnery was brought to the attention of a comedy community as the compere of a post-alternative comedy [[cabaret]] called ''[[Cluub Zarathustra]]'' performed originally in London and later at the Edinburgh Festival.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://splitsider.com/2012/09/cluub-zarathustra-british-comedys-weirdest-secret/|title=Cluub Zarathustra: British Comedy's Weirdest Secret|work=Splitsider |date=4 September 2012}}</ref> ''Cluub Zarathustra'' featured [[Stewart Lee]], [[Kevin Eldon]], [[Sally Phillips]], [[Johnny Vegas]], [[Julian Barratt]], [[Richard Herring]], [[Roger Mann]], [[Jason Freeman]] and the music of [[Richard Thomas (musician)|Richard Thomas]] and [[Loré Lixenberg]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/features/cluub_zarathustra_best_kept_secret/|title=Cluub Zarathustra: British Comedy's best-kept secret|last=British Comedy Guide|website=[[British Comedy Guide]] |date=31 May 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.londonnewsonline.co.uk/17474/preview-simon-munnery-celebrates-30-years-stand-soho-theatre/|title=Simon Munnery Celebrates 30 Years in Comedy|last=London News|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215214007/https://www.londonnewsonline.co.uk/17474/preview-simon-munnery-celebrates-30-years-stand-soho-theatre/|archive-date=15 February 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> A television pilot was made of Cluub Zarathustra for [[Channel 4]] in 1996, but was never broadcast. It became the subject of a book by [[Robert Wringham]] in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gofasterstripe.com/cgi-bin/website.cgi?page=videofull&id=13960|title=Go Faster Stripe}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.list.co.uk/article/42892-robert-wringham-you-are-nothing/|title=Robert Wringham – You Are Nothing|work=The List |date=25 June 2012}}</ref>

Munnery's [[Edinburgh Fringe]] shows include ''Trilogy'', ''Buckethead'' and ''Simon Munnery's Annual General Meeting''.

[[File:Simon Munnery.jpg|thumb|Munnery at [[Chapter Arts Centre]] in 2007]]
His reoccurring 2004-09 Edinburgh Fringe show, ''AGM'', included the opportunity for the audience to raise questions to discuss as group (such as "is there a God?"). The experience would often continue after the main show, when he takes the audience on tours around town, taking in art galleries, drinks and visits to other shows.

In 2010, Munnery hosted a [[Bright Club]] event at the [[Bloomsbury Theatre]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Laugh and learn at Bright Club |author=Carole Jahme |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2010/nov/04/laugh-learn-science-bright-club |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=4 November 2010 |access-date=9 December 2010}}</ref>

In 2018, Munnery performed at Bluedot Festival at [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXUQ00YsArY Jodrell Bank, Cheshire.]

=== Television ===

''Futurtv'' ("Not 'Future TV', oh no. It can't be 'Future TV' – it's right now!") was a BBC production for [[UK Play]] from 1999. There were 13 15-minute episodes. As well as Simon Munnery, it included ''[[Kombat Opera Presents]]'' (Loré Lixenberg and [[Richard Thomas (musician)|Richard Thomas]]) and a selection of pop videos.

Munnery wrote and hosted the 1999 TV comedy game show, ''Either/Or''.

''[[Attention Scum!]]'' was a television series produced for the [[BBC]] and directed by [[Stewart Lee]], which aired from February 2001. It starred Munnery as 'The League Against Tedium', a character who drove around the United Kingdom in an adapted [[transit van]], preaching to the masses with the help of an opera singer ([[Loré Lixenberg]]), a sedated vampire ([[Richard Thomas (musician)|Richard Thomas]]), and a monkey (Munnery's wife Janet).

Munnery also appeared in sketches in the first series of ''[[Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle]]'' in 2009, and in Lee's ''[[The Alternative Comedy Experience]]'' for [[Comedy Central]].

=== Radio ===
During the 1990s he made several series for [[BBC Radio 1]], one based around his ''League Against Tedium'' character. Others were vehicles for his Alan Parker character, including ''[[Alan Parker (radio show)|Alan Parker]]'', ''[[Alan Parker's 29 Minutes of Truth]]'', and ''[[Alan Parker, Road Warrior]]'' for which he won the Sony Radio Award.

Munnery has returned to radio in the early 2000s, hosting ''Simon Munnery's Experimental Half Hour'' ("experimental in that it lasts an hour") and ''Simon Munnery Weakly Chats'' on [[Resonance FM]]. He also wrote and performed two four-part [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]] series called "Where Did It All Go Wrong?", which were broadcast in the summer of 2003 and the spring of 2005.

In 1999, together with [[John Hegley]], he made a comedy series for BBC Radio 4 called ''[[The Adventures of John and Tony]]''.

Munnery featured as a "genius" on [[Dave Gorman]]'s ''Genius'' show on Radio 4.

== Books ==
* ''Sit-Down Comedy'' (contributor to anthology, ed [[Malcolm Hardee]] & John Fleming) Ebury Press/Random House, 2003.  {{ISBN|0-09-188924-3}}; {{ISBN|978-0-09-188924-1}}
* ''How To Live'', [[P.O.W]], 2005.  {{ISBN|0-9551946-2-8}}; {{ISBN|978-0-9551946-2-7}} Republished by [[Go Faster Stripe]], 2018
* ''Wall & Piece'', (contributor), by Banksy, Century, 2006.  {{ISBN|1-84413-787-2}}; {{ISBN|978-1-84413-787-9}}
* ''You Are Nothing'', (interviewee), by [[Robert Wringham]], Go Faster Stripe, 2012. {{ISBN|978-0-9560901-2-6}}

== Other works ==

Munnery has several CDs available: ''Alan Parker – Blast From The Past'' (featuring [[Stewart Lee]] on guitar and [[Al Murray]] on drums), ''Simon Munnery's Experimental Half Hour'' (2 CDs from the Resonance FM radio show of the same name), ''AGM'' recorded live at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2003, and ''BucketHead: Phenomenon Anon And On'' and ''Mr Bartlett & Mr Willis'' (2011) written and co-performed by [[Kevin Eldon]].

In 2007, Simon appeared as Alan Parker on a music track by [[The Orb]] called "Grey Clouds", a take off of their earlier track ''[[Little Fluffy Clouds]]''. It features on the [[Annie Nightingale]] album ''Y4K'' on [[Distinct'ive Records]].

Two DVDs of his work were released in 2007 – the first ''IAMTV'', covering his Perrier Award nominated show from the 1999 Edinburgh Fringe, was closely followed by ''Hello'' produced by [[Go Faster Stripe]], a more recent stand-up performance.

In the 1990s, he regularly contributed a column to ''[[NME]]'' as "Alan Parker: Urban Warrior".

In 2009, Munnery starred in an award-winning animated rotoscope short, titled ''Yellow Belly End'', co-written and directed by Philip Bacon, a student of the National Film and Television School. In the nine-minute film, Munnery appears in a bird costume and contemplates a cliff. He is credited as "Bird".

In 2017, Munnery was interviewed by fellow comedian [[Stuart Goldsmith]] for his podcast the ''Comedian's Comedian''. They discussed the inspiration for some of Munnery's ground breaking characters amongst other topics.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Comedian's Comedian – 213 – Simon Munnery |author=Stuart Goldsmith |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjDL1MHJXQs  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/PjDL1MHJXQs |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|website=[[YouTube]] |date=4 November 2017 |access-date=27 March 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In 2020, artist [[Andy Holden (artist)|Andy Holden]] curated a retrospective of the artwork of Munnery, titled 'What Am I?' It was first shown at Ex-Baldessarre, Bedford, and then toured to Stroud Valley Art Space.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-07-16|title=Farty paintings and getting sozzled on gin: a seriously silly history of art and comedy colliding|url=http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jul/16/farty-paintings-sozzled-on-gin-vic-reeves-dada-art-and-comedy-silly-history|access-date=2020-08-22|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==

{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://www.simonmunnery.com/ Simon Munnery] – official site
*[http://www.newstatesman.com/writers/simon_munnery New Statesman] – Munnery's writing for ''The New Statesman'', 2006–2008.
*[http://www.comedycv.co.uk/simonmunnery Simon Munnery's Comedy CV]
*[http://www.resonancefm.com/ Resonance FM]
*[http://www.picturesonwalls.com/Books.asp?Author=Simon%20Munnery How to Live] – Munnery's book at ''First Against the Wall''.
*[http://www.cernpodcast.com/?p=14 CERN Podcast] – Simon Munnery and [[Kevin Eldon]] visit CERN

{{S-start}}
{{Succession box|title=[[Footlights Vice-President]]|before=Ben Liston|after=[[Tanya Seghatchian]], Nick Wood|years=1987–1988}}
{{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munnery, Simon}}
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:English male comedians]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People educated at Watford Grammar School for Boys]]
[[Category:1967 births]]
[[Category:20th-century English comedians]]
[[Category:21st-century English comedians]]
[[Category:English stand-up comedians]]
[[Category:People from Three Rivers District]]
[[Category:Comedians from Hertfordshire]]