Simon Amstell

Simon Marc Amstell (born 29 November 1979, Gants Hill, northeast London) is a BAFTA nominated, award-winning English comedian, television presenter, screenwriter and actor, best known for his roles as former co-host of Popworld, as the host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and now as the co-writer and star of the award-winning situation comedy Grandma's House.

Amstell was born in east London in 1979 and was raised in Gants Hill, London in a Jewish family. His first television appearance was in 1993 when he appeared as a contestant on the Channel 4 game show GamesMaster. He also appeared on Good Morning with Anne and Nick doing an impression of Dame Edna Everage, and in a 1994 episode of Family Catchphrase. In the latter, he described himself as a budding magician and showed one of his tricks to the presenter, Andrew O'Connor, who was himself a magician. Amstell and his family won a television and a video recorder.

Amstell started performing on the comedy circuit when he was in his early teens and later became the youngest finalist of the BBC New Comedy Awards. His first professional television appearance was in 1998 as a presenter on the UK children's channel Nickelodeon. He claims he was sacked for being "sarcastic and mean to children" although the potted biography on his website also, jokingly, claims:

"He started his TV career at Nickoledeon where he was fired for making pop stars uncomfortable. 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 culture in which he was raised (Judaism) and his sexuality (he is openly gay) figure occasionally in his work.

From 2000 to 2006 he presented Popworld on Channel 4 with Miquita Oliver. He voiced the characters "Timothy the Popworld melon" and "Richard the Popworld horse". On Popworld he developed a highly ironic, surreal and left field style which gained the show a cult following, but angered many of its guests. One such example was a mock interview 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. Another was a "Si-chiatrist" interview with Luke Pritchard and Hugh Harris of The Kooks in which Amstell played the role of psychiatrist and Pritchard and Harris his patients. This section was dropped when Pritchard revealed after the interview that he had recently been diagnosed with mental health problems, and thought Simon was a real psychiatrist. During his time at Popworld, Amstell was at the centre of several controversies, including making Britney Spears cry after asking her if she thought she'd "gone a bit nuts".

Amstell first appeared on the comedy pop quiz show Never Mind the Buzzcocks as a guest during Mark Lamarr's tenure as host, in 2003 and 2005. Following Lamarr's departure, he was one of the series's guest hosts, before being appointed as permanent host beginning in October 2006. He said at the time that he hoped to beat "the universal, exceptionless rule that when a new host takes over an old show it is a horrible, embarrassing disaster".

In June 2007, Amstell and long-term collaborator Dan Swimer wrote Imagine... A Mildly Amusing Panel Show, a spoof version of Alan Yentob's arts programme Imagine. Yentob and Amstell play themselves in a mock interview between what a number of noted commentators described as 'overtly sexual' clips of Amstell's episodes of Never Mind the Buzzcocks. It was followed in February 2008 by Never Mind the Buzzcocks: A Moving Tribute, which jokingly implied that Amstell had either died or retired from the show.

On 25 April 2009, Amstell announced via his internet mailing list that he would not be hosting another series of Never Mind the Buzzcocks because of his desire to instead concentrate on his live tours and stand-up performances.

Amstell won several awards for his work on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. In March 2007, he won the 2006 Royal Television Society Award for Best Entertainment Performance. In December 2007, he won two British Comedy Awards for Best Comedy Entertainment Personality and Best Comedy Entertainment Series for Never Mind the Buzzcocks. In addition, Never Mind the Buzzcocks won the Best Entertainment Programme award at the Broadcast Awards 2008. Amstell's era was the reason why Never Mind the Buzzcocks was chosen as the 36th best TV show of the decade by The Times.

Amstell co-wrote an episode of Channel 4 teen drama Skins in 2007, entitled "Maxxie and Anwar".

In 2009 BBC2 commissioned a six-part series entitled Grandma's House from Tiger Aspect Productions, written by and starring Amstell, co-written by Dan Swimer. The show was commissioned after the airing of a pilot earlier the same year. Filming started in February 2010 and broadcast began in August 2010.

Amstell also performs as a stand up comedian. He has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe every August 2005–2007 and 2009. He has also appeared at the Carling Festivals in the Cabaret and Comedy tent for the last two years. In 2008, Amstell completed his first UK tour. He appeared at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal in July 2009. His entire run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2009 at the Bongo Club sold out. He took part in his second national tour in the autumn of 2009.

Amstell performed a stand up at Heysham High School in Morecambe, Lancashire on Tuesday 29 September 2009. He commented that this was a 'warm-up' prior to the gig he had at Morecambe Library later in the day.

Amstell performed 'Do Nothing' in 2009 at the Royal Court Theatre, raising money for their young writers programme.

In May 2010, Amstell recorded 'Do Nothing' in Dublin's Vicar Street venue for a November DVD release.