Lee Evans (comedian)

Lee John Martin Evans[1] (born 25 February 1964)[2][3] is an English[4] stand-up comedian, actor, musician and writer from Avonmouth, England. He is a director of Little Mo Films, which he had co-directed with the late Addison Cresswell, who was also his agent prior to Cresswell's death in December 2013.[5]
Evans became one of Britain's most popular stand-up comedians, with his "Roadrunner" tour grossing £12.9 million. [6] He is also an established actor, having appeared in the Hollywood films The Fifth Element (1997), Mouse Hunt (1997), There's Something About Mary (1998), The Ladies Man (2000) and The Medallion (2003). He lent his voice to "Zippo the Troodon" in the Emmy-nominated miniseries Dinotopia (2002) and made a notable departure from comedy with a leading role in the Irish film Freeze Frame (2004). He had made his cinema debut with the Jerry Lewis comedy Funny Bones (1995), earning the Paris Film Festival Award for Best Actor.
In 2008, Evans' Big tour DVD Big – Live at the O2 became the highest-selling Christmas DVD in the United Kingdom, only to be surpassed by his own Monsters Tour DVD in 2014. In November 2014 Evans officially announced his retirement. In 2018 Evans came out of retirement to star in a run of Harold Pinter's one act play Monologue.
== Early life ==
Evans was born in Avonmouth, Bristol, to an Irish mother, Shirley Hunt, and a Welsh father, Dave Evans. He has an older brother, Wayne (born 1962).[7] His father was a nightclub performer.[8][9] His family left Bristol in 1975, moving to Essex,[10] where he attended Billericay School and reportedly was the victim of bullies.[7] After a spell as a boxer and two years at Thurrock Art College, also in Essex, Evans followed his father into entertainment. During his teenage years, he moved to Scarborough, North Yorkshire, and he was a drummer in a punk rock band called The Forgotten Five.[11]
== Career ==
=== Stand-up comedy ===
Evans rose to fame during the 1990s with loud, hot, sweaty, energetic stage performances and physical observational comedy. His slapstick humour has led to comparisons with Sir Norman Wisdom, though Evans does not regard Wisdom as an influence.[12] In his earlier work, he used a dysfunctional character called Malcolm to illustrate unusual characters. In 1993, he won the Perrier Comedy Award for his work at the Edinburgh Festival.[13]
Evans' sweat drenches him on stage. During most of his headlining performances, he often takes an intermission, during which he has a quick shower and changes into a different suit. He has also said that his suits are regularly thrown away after three performances, mainly because of the sweat, with dry-cleaners refusing to handle them.[14] In November 2005, Evans broke the world record for a solo act performing to the biggest comedy audience, performing to 10,108 people at the Manchester Arena.[15]
Evans toured the UK in autumn 2008 with his stand-up act entitled "Big". During his "Big" tour he performed in front of over 500,000 people on 59 dates.[16] This was scheduled to involve the first ever performance by a comedian at the O2 Arena in London until Chris Rock announced dates that would take place at the venue prior to Evans. The DVD was filmed at the O2 Arena, and was released on 24 November 2008. It became the best selling comedy DVD in the UK for Christmas 2008, selling over 1,000,000 copies.[17][18] Evans appeared on the Channel 4's Comedy Gala for Great Ormond Street Hospital on 30 March 2010. He was the last act on stage and he received a comedy award and auctioned it to the audience for charity.
Evans toured the UK again in 2011 with a new stand-up act entitled "Roadrunner", with 50 dates starting with Bournemouth in August, running until November in Cardiff. He appeared at the Wyvern Theatre, Swindon on 10 June to test his new material (reading from notes) for the "Roadrunner" tour. He then sold out Bristol's Colston Hall for 3 nights to perfect his routine in July. The tour visited most of the UK's major cities, plus two nights in Dublin, and included four nights in Wembley Arena and four in the O2 Arena, meaning around 100,000 seats in London alone. Tickets went on sale Friday 15 October 2010 at 9 am.[19]
Evans sold £7,000,000 worth of tickets the first day they went on sale. Due to popular demand, there were a further 17 dates added to the tour in Bournemouth International Centre, Brighton Centre, Capital FM Arena, Wembley Arena, National Indoor Arena, The O2 London, Echo Arena, Motorpoint Arena, Odyssey Arena and The O2 Dublin. This brought the tour up to 67 dates in 14 cities which is 8 more than the record breaking tour of 2008.[20] In 2011, he was honoured by the British Comedy Awards with the Channel 4 award for special contribution to comedy.
In November 2014, Evans announced on The Jonathan Ross Show that he was retiring from stand-up comedy to spend more time with his wife Heather and daughter Mollie who was studying at university in Florida.[21][22]
=== Acting ===
Evans has made a number of film appearances, such as in Funny Bones, MouseHunt, There's Something About Mary (where he played an American posing as British), The Fifth Element, The Ladies Man, The Martins, The Medallion and Undertaking Betty. Evans provided the voice for Zippo in the 2002 TV miniseries Dinotopia and Train in the 2005 film The Magic Roundabout. From 1993–94, Evans appeared in the Channel 4 late-night show Viva Cabaret!, both as a host and as a guest performer. In 1995, he starred in Channel 4 series, The World of Lee Evans.
In 2004, he starred as a paranoid murder suspect in his first non-comic role in the film Freeze Frame. Although warned they may never grow back, he shaved his eyebrows (as well as his hair). In 2004, Evans appeared in Samuel Becket's Endgame, and from 2004 to 2005, he played Leo Bloom in the London production of The Producers along with Nathan Lane, with whom he also starred in MouseHunt. In 2007 he appeared in the 50th anniversary production of The Dumb Waiter. May 2007 saw him star in a television adaption of the book The History of Mr. Polly.
Evans appeared as Malcolm Taylor, a Welsh scientist, in the 2009 Doctor WhoEaster special "Planet of the Dead".[23]
Between September 2013 and January 2014, Evans starred in the play Barking in Essex at London's Wyndham's Theatre.[24]
In October 2017 Lee Evans came out of retirement to perform scenes from Shakespeare’s plays in a one-off fundraiser along with Jack Whitehall in the play "Whither Would You Go?" at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London.
=== Music ===
Evans is also a singer and musician, as shown on his arena tours. He can play the guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, piano, turntables, mandolin, ukulele, and drums.
=== Writing ===
In 2001, he co-wrote and starred in the sitcom So What Now? for the BBC. 8 episodes were written in total.
He also has his own production company that produces his stand up DVDs called Little Mo Films, named after his daughter whom he often refers to as Little Mo.
== Tours ==
=== Tour data ===
Year	Title 	Shows
1996	Different Planet Tour 	116
1998	Don't Try This At Home	100
2002	Wired and Wonderful 	121
2005	XL 	29*
2008	Big 	59*
2011	Roadrunner 	67*
2014	Monsters 	65*
* Not including "Work in progress" shows.
=== Box office score data ===
Venue 	City 	Tickets sold / available	Gross revenue
Roadrunner 	Roadrunner	Roadrunner 	Roadrunner
The O2 Arena 	London 	88,037 / 93,432 (94%) 	£4,119,760[25]
Manchester Arena	Manchester	53,391 / 54,558 (98%) 	£2,567,080[26]
The O2 	Dublin 	17,733 / 17,733 (100%) 	£861,649[27]
TOTAL 	TOTAL 	159,161 / 165,723 (96%) 	£7,548,489
=== VHS/DVD releases ===
Year	Title 	Venue
1994	Live at Her Majesty's Theatre 	Her Majesty's Theatre, London
1995	Live From The West End 	Lyric Theatre, London
1996	Live – Different Planet Tour 	Lyric Theatre, London
1998	Live in Scotland 	Playhouse Theatre, Edinburgh
2002	Wired And Wonderful – Live at Wembley	Wembley Arena, London
2005	XL Tour – Live 	International Arena, Cardiff
2008	Big – Live at the O2 	The O2 Arena, London
2011	Roadrunner – Live at the O2 	The O2 Arena, London
2014	Monsters – Live 	Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham
== Filmography ==
=== Television ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1995	The World of Lee Evans 	Lee 	Writer
1997	Brooms 	Can man 	
1998	Clair de Lune 	Pete 	
2001	So What Now? 	Lee 	Writer
2002	Dinotopia 	Zippo (a Troodon) 	Voice
2007	The History of Mr Polly	Alfred Polly 	
2007	The Dinner Party 	Leo 	
2009	Doctor Who 	Dr. Malcolm Taylor	Episode: "Planet of the Dead"
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1995	Funny Bones 	Jack Parker 	
1997	The Fifth Element 	Fog 	
1997	MouseHunt 	Lars Smuntz 	
1998	There's Something About Mary 	Tucker/Norm Phipps 	
2000	The Ladies Man 	Barney 	
2001	The Martins 	Robert Martin 	
2002	Plots with a View (a.k.a. Undertaking Betty)	Delbert Butterfield	
2003	Stealing Bess 	Toady 	
2003	The Medallion 	Arthur Watson 	
2004	Freeze Frame 	Sean Veil 	
2005	The Magic Roundabout 	Train 	Voice
== Accolades and awards ==
In 2010, Evans received an Honorary Doctorate of the Arts at the University of East London's graduation ceremony.
Awarding Body/Event 	Awarded
British Comedy Award 	
* 2011 Outstanding Contribution to Comedy
Paris Film Festival 	
* 1995 Best Actor for Funny Bones
Edinburgh Comedy Award	
* 1993 Perrier Award
Time Out Comedy Awards	
* 1992 for Achievement in Comedy