Tuesday 03 January 2012
Simon Amstell: The Irritant Presenter Makes A Welcome Stand-Up Return To The Brighton Stage
It's been claimed that one-time Never Mind The Buzzcocks presenter, Simon Amstell, started his TV career at Nickoledeon where he was fired for making pop stars uncomfortable, and that he then began presenting the Channel 4 show, Popworld - where he gained a huge following for his groundbreaking work in making pop stars uncomfortable!
The comedian's seemingly off-the-cuff quips have produced such cringe-worthy gems as: "When I was a kid I used to love Bobby Davro. I also liked self-harm and bedwetting, but, you know...you've gotta have hobbies."
Amstell came to the small screen early in life, when at the age of just thirteen he appeared as a contestant on Channel 4's GamesMaster. Within a year he was to pop up on primetime morning TV performing an impression of Dame Edna Everage.
But it was for his prickly and unpredictable interview technique that Amstell became noted: "I distrust people who are comfortable in interviews, because I think: "Why are you so happy talking about yourself?"
He'd honed his talents on the comedy circuit when he was in his early teens and later when he became the youngest finalist of the BBC New Comedy Awards.
His first professional television appearance was in the late nineties as a presenter on the UK children's channel Nickelodeon: "I got it into my head that there was no need to be doing stand-up anymore because I was talking to a puppet and introducing the Rugrats."
His presenting role, alongside co-host Miquita Oliver, on Channel 4's Popworld, had him appeal to teens the country over with his left field style of comedy.
He hosted mock interviews, like the one he undertook with singer Lemar called Lemar From Afar in which Amstell shouted questions into a megaphone from one end of the world's largest car park while Lemar stood at the other end.
Amstell explains: "It's the comedy of guilt and awkwardness, it's coming from a place of trying to do the right thing, but sometimes you're doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, or the wrong thing for the right reasons. I like that political correctness exists though, otherwise we'd all still be racists".
Amstell first came to primetime TV when he appeared as a guest presenter of Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
Three years later he'd taken the presenter's chair for his own and hoped "the universal, exceptionless rule that when a new host takes over an old show it is a horrible, embarrassing disaster."
Another three years passed before Amstell announced he was quitting the BBC 2 quiz show as he wanted to return to live tours and stand-up performances.
He now has an all new stand-up tour and will be touring the UK during the spring of next of next year.
Simon Amstell at Brighton Dome on Saturday 2nd June. For tickets prices and details visit www.brightondome.org
by: Mike Cobley
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