page_title: Richard Ayoade
section_title: 2011–present: Mainstream cinema, satirical writing, and television presenting
hierarchical_section_title: Richard Ayoade / Career / 2011–present: Mainstream cinema, satirical writing, and television presenting
caption_attribution_description: English: Cinema Cafe at Sundance 2014
context_page_description: Richard Ellef Ayoade is a British comedian, actor, filmmaker, writer, author, and television presenter best known for his role as the socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd, for which he won the 2014 BAFTA for Best Male Comedy Performance. He has often worked alongside Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt, Matt Berry, Matthew Holness, and Rich Fulcher.
  Born in Hammersmith, Ayoade served as the president of Footlights at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. He and Matthew Holness debuted their respective characters Dean Learner and Garth Marenghi at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2000, bringing the characters to television with Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and Man to Man with Dean Learner. Ayoade appeared in the comedy shows The Mighty Boosh and Nathan Barley, before gaining exposure and recognition for his role in The IT Crowd. After directing music videos for Arctic Monkeys, Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Kasabian, Ayoade wrote and directed the comedy-drama film Submarine in 2010, an adaptation of the 2008 novel by Joe Dunthorne.
context_section_description: In 2011, Ayoade directed the Community episode "Critical Film Studies" in the comedy show's second season. The episode pays homage to the 1981 film My Dinner with Andre and was named the "most brilliant half-hour of TV to arrive in this century" by Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield. Ayoade then directed a performance of comedian Tommy Tiernan's world stand-up tour, Crooked Man, which was released in November 2011. Ayoade provided his voice to the main cast of Channel 4's ill-received animated sitcom Full English, which aired for just five episodes in 2012 before being cancelled. Ayoade starred opposite Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and Jonah Hill in the science fiction comedy The Watch as a neighbourhood watch group that uncovers alien forces threatening the world. The film was not well received by critics, although Ayoade's performance was praised. Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club felt the film's "brightest spots" came courtesy of Ayoade, while Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune felt Ayoade was "the reason it's not entirely lame". Also in 2012, Ayoade began voicing Todd Lagoona, an anthropomorphic hammerhead shark who was a recurring character in Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy.
  From 2013 to 2014, Ayoade voiced Templeton, the class nerd, in the CBBC animated series Strange Hill High. Ayoade replaced Stephen Fry as presenter in the second series of Channel 4's Gadget Man in September 2013 and also presented a third and fourth season. The series featured Ayoade presenting a variety of innovative products and gadgets. He was also the host of the spin-off series Travel Man, which saw Ayoade spend 48 hours in a different location each episode with a celebrity guest. Ayoade was a team captain on the Channel 4 panel show Was It Something I Said?, which began airing October 2013 and co-starred David Mitchell as host and Micky Flanagan as fellow team captain. Also in 2013, Ayoade read Roald Dahl's children book The Twits for Penguin Audio's audiobook collection and Virgin Media launched an advertising campaign starring the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt featuring the voice of Ayoade. He again lent his voice to an advertising campaign when he provided the voice-over for Apple's iPhone 6 UK campaign with Chris O'Dowd in 2014.
  Ayoade's second feature film, the black comedy thriller The Double, was based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1846 novella The Double and written by Ayoade and Avi Korine. It stars Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska. The story concerns a timid man who becomes frustrated by the appearance of his charming doppelgänger, both of whom are played by Eisenberg. The Double was released in April 2014 to generally positive reviews. The film drew comparisons to Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985), both in its visuals and narrative. In the stop-motion animated fantasy film The Boxtrolls (2014), Ayoade voiced Mr. Pickles, a henchman to the film's antagonist Snatcher (voiced by Ben Kingsley).
  Ayoade's first book Ayoade on Ayoade: A Cinematic Odyssey was published by Faber and Faber in October 2014. The book parodies Faber's Directors on Directors series, in which critically celebrated filmmakers discuss their work, and sees Ayoade conduct several fictional interviews with himself in which he discusses his work and enthusiasm for the world of cinema. Ayoade voiced a villainous snowman in several episodes the 2015 reboot of the animated series Danger Mouse. In 2016, he directed a short music video for the Radiohead song "Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief" in June 2016, as part of a series of video vignettes to promote their album A Moon Shaped Pool.
  Ayoade took over as host of the Channel 4 game show The Crystal Maze in 2017, following the success of a celebrity charity special revival hosted by Stephen Merchant. His style of presenting has been described as being "a more cerebral and intense version" of his IT Crowd character, Maurice Moss. Ayoade made a cameo appearance in the comedy sequel Paddington 2  as a forensic investigator in 2017 and was amongst the voice cast for Vampire Weekend Ezra Koenig's animated
caption: Ayoade at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival
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