Lee Evans (comedian)

Infobox Comedian
name = Lee Evans

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imagesize = 200px
caption = Lee Evans in 2004
birth_name =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1964|2|25|df=y
birth_place = Bristol, England
death_date =
death_place =
medium = Comedian, Actor
nationality = British
active = 1988–present
genre = Physical comedy, stand-up comedy,
Observational comedy
subject = Everyday life
influences =
influenced =
spouse = Heather Evans
(1984—)
children = Mollie Evans
domesticpartner =
notable_work = "Same World, Different Planet" (1996)
"Mouse Hunt" (1997)
"The Fifth Element" (1997)
"There's Something About Mary" (1998)
"Lee Evans - So What Now?" (2001)
"The Medallion" (2003)
"The History of Mr Polly" (2007)



Official Website = http://www.offthekerb.co.uk/
Tour Website = http://www.leeevansbigtour.co.uk/

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Lee Evans (born 25 February, 1964 [cite web |title=Lee Evans I |url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0262968/ |publisher=Internet Movie Database |accessdate=2008-02-27 ] ) is an award winning British stand-up comedian and actor.

Biography

Lee Evans was born in Avonmouth, Bristol, England. His secondary school was The Billericay School in Billericay, Essex. After a spell as a boxer and two years at art school in Essex, Evans decided to follow in his father's footsteps in the entertainment business. In his teens he moved to Rhyl, Wales,fact|date=April 2008 and played drums in a punk rock band called The Forgotten Five. [cite web | url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19960127/ai_n9641248 | title=Oooh, er, cripes | last=White | first=Jim | date=1996-01-27 | accessdate=2008-04-28 | publisher=The Independent ]

In 1984, he married Heather Evans [cite web |title=Lee Evans 2005 Interview |url=http://www.channelonline.tv/entertainment/comedy/features/lee%20evans.lpf] with whom he has a daughter Mollie, born in 1993. They currently live in Billericay, Essex [cite web |title=Lee Evans (I) - Biography |url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0262968/bio |publisher=Internet Movie Database |accessdate=2008-02-27 ] .Lee Evans is also a singer and musician as is shown on the Lee Evans XL Live Tour 2005. He can play Mandolin, Guitar, Bass, Keyboard, Piano and Drums.

Career

tand-up comedy

Lee Evans rose to fame during the 1990s, becoming noted for his loud, hot, sweaty, energetic on-stage performances, humorous voices and very physical observational comedy. He is regarded as having a Norman Wisdom/Michael Crawford–style of slapstick comedy acting, and in many respects has taken on Wisdom's role for a later generation.Fact|date=May 2007 In his earlier work, he often used a dysfunctional character called "Malcolm" to illustrate how he viewed unusual characters in the world. In 1993, Evans won the Perrier Comedy Award for his work at the Edinburgh Festival [cite web |title=if.comedy - Past winners |url=http://www.if.com/eddies/past-winners.html |publisher=if.comedy |accessdate=2008-02-27 ] .

One of the trademarks of Evans's performances is his sweatiness: he is usually drenched in his own sweat. During most of his headlining performances, he often must take an intermission, during which he changes into a completely different suit; he once said that this was because he was "as nervous as a nun awaiting her pregnancy test results". He has also said that his suits are regularly thrown away after just one performance, mainly because of the sweat, with dry-cleaners refusing to handle them [cite video |title=Lee Evans Interview |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QiTXF0uMcI |date=2007-10-31 |publisher=Daily Mirror |accessdate=2008-02-27 ] . An opening video shown in his Big 2008 Tour parodies his sweatiness by showing Lee panicking in his dressing room before walking on-stage, resulting in his dressing room being flooded.

A second trademark is The Lee Evans Trio, which consists of him on a bare stage, in a spotlight, miming to a recording of instrumental sound; the spotlight goes out, only to reappear in another location, to which Evans has moved during the blackout, and where he is now miming playing a different instrument. He mimes in three locations, with an imaginary drum kit, double bass and piano [cite video |title=Lee Evans Trio |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPNxTCp9mEQ |date=2006-03-05 |accessdate=2008-02-27 ] .

A third trademark is his apparent "stage fright". At the beginning of his act he'll often pretend to get the microphone cord tangled up or thrown over his shoulder, or even that it doesn't work (he'll begin to talk but nothing is heard, until the end of a gag or question is suddenly audible). He may spend the first few minutes rambling as if he can't remember what he came on stage for. Often he will tilt the microphone stand and pretend to machine gun the audience, again as a nervous reaction and supposed "time filler".

Evans is also known for performing music skits at the end of every gig, usually his world-famous mime to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" [cite video |title=Lee Evans - Bohemian Rhapsody |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kjozaE1Da8 |date=2006-09-16 |accessdate=2008-02-27 ] is performed as an encore.

In November 2005, Evans broke the Guinness World Record for a solo act performing to the biggest comedy audience, playing to 10,108 at the Manchester Evening News Arena [cite news |title=Comic Evans breaks crowd record |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4454572.stm |date=2005-11-20 |publisher=BBC News |accessdate=2008-02-27 ] , beating the previous record of 8,700 set by Eddie Izzard.

Evans will tour Britain with a brand new stand-up act, "Big", in Autumn 2008, with a DVD of the tour released in November. 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.

It has also been said that he likes performing in smaller venues.fact|date=August 2008Evans is currently on his Big Tour around the UK, and has played many sold out shows on this tour, such as in Birmingham, where he played 5 sold out shows in a row.

Acting

Evans has made a number of film appearances, most notably in "Funny Bones", "MouseHunt", "There's Something About Mary", "The Fifth Element", "The Ladies Man", "The Martins" and "The Medallion". Evans also provided the voice for Train in the 2005 film "The Magic Roundabout".

From 1993-1994 Evans appeared in the Channel 4 late-night show "Viva Cabaret!", both as a host and as a guest performer. In 1996, Evans starred in the one-off show "The World of Lee Evans". In 2001, he wrote a sitcom called "So What Now?" which was clearly inspired by Michael Crawford's 1970s TV show Some Mothers Do Ave' Em'.

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).

From 2004 - 2005 he played Leo Bloom in the London production of "The Producers" along with Nathan Lane, with whom he also starred in "MouseHunt", in which they played brothers.

In May 2007 he also starred in "The History of Mr Polly".

References

External links

* [http://www.offthekerb.co.uk/artists/a_artists_home1b46.html?artist=lee_evans Lee Evans] at Off The Kerb Productions (Official website)
* [http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/487053 Lee Evans] at the British Film Institute
* [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/drama/story/0,,1995774,00.html 'Pinter? You've got to have fun with it']
*imdb name|id=0262968|name=Lee Evans

Persondata
NAME=Evans, Lee
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=English stand-up comedian and actor
DATE OF BIRTH=February 24, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH=Avonmouth, Bristol, England
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=