Waen Shepherd

Waen Shepherd ( b. England 1971 ) is a British actor and comedian.

Waen is a versatile character comedian, of Yorkshire' England, inhabitant of London. Following his days as a stand-up poet and fringe actor ("Supple-limbed… expressive … effortless" What's On), Waen started out performing bizarre experimental monologues at the early Cluub Zarathustra, touring with spoof techno band and Edinburgh sell-out "The Pod" ("The future of techno comedy" Guardian; "The musical comedy event of the festival" NME), hosting the underground cabaret "Gritty Fingers" and smashing up Cornish pasties in the guise of ranting Northern madman "William Whicker".

He graduated from Oxford University in 1993, with a degree in Philosophy and Psychology.

Waen went on to co-write and narrate award-winning animation "The Wolfman" (screened on C4 and subsequently transformed into a "Third Place" ad for Sony's PS2), before writing, directing and starring in his own animation Origen's Wake for Channel 4's Comedy Lab series.

Since then, Waen concentrated on building an arsenal of comedy characters on stage, partly through his work as one half of Shepherd & Farnaby ("Brilliant" Comedy Lounge; "Pleasingly surreal, theatre of the absurd as scripted by Vic and Bob" Evening Standard) in their shows "Animal Pie" and Peterford Golf Club ("Waen Shepherd's Peterford Golf Club Chairman, tin-tray head-beating "Stuart Ogilvie", is a comedy legend in the making" Fringe Report), and partly through his solo work on the comedy circuit, notably at clubs such as "The Big Gig", Comedy at the "Cochrane", "Hello Wembley", The D4 Special and Ealing Live!

In 2003 Waen created a deluded monster in the form of Gary Le Strange, melding his love of composing ("Bombastic… difficult to ignore" Sound on Sound) with his natural ability to create truly original comedy characters.

He went on to win the Perrier Award "Best Newcomer" ( 2003 ) for that debut performance.

He has achieved cult status, with many worldwide fans owning his albums and attending "Club Le Strange" at "the Albany" in London, an evening hosted by Gary Le Strange and boasting the cream of British leftfield comedy talent.

Waen enjoys portraying exaggerated or absurd characters, and he can be seen in two series of BBC2's Sci-Fi comedy, Hyperdrive, as Captain Helix.

He can be heard on BBC Radio 2 on Saturday's Out to Lunch programme.

He recently performed his live show and new album for the 2006 Edinburgh Festival - intriguingly titled "Beef Scarecrow".

He has been filming some of his pop videos for ITV2's new comedy show entitled "Comedy Cuts" directed by Stewart Lee which are due for first transmission in January 2007.

Waen has been cited as one of the Top 50 British comedians by The Times and he is included as one of the Top 50 Cult Comedian Icons in the Rough Guide series of books.

Waen can currently be seen in a short film by Tim Plester entitled "World of Wrestling" in which he plays 'Exotic' Adrian Street a wrestler with the flamboyance of a drag queen chic . The film has now been released and will be available on 2Entertain DVD in late 2007 alongside it's companion shorts "Blakes Junction 7" (2004) and "Ant Muzak" (2002).

Albums

*Polaroid Suitcase
*Face Academy
*Beef Scarecrow

TV credits

*"Hyperdrive" Series Two (BBC2 ) - 2007 Captain Helix
*"Comedy Cuts" (ITV2 ) - 2007 Gary Le Strange
*"World Stands Up" (BBC America - 2006
*"Hyperdrive" Series One - BBC2 - 2006 Captain Helix
*"Gary Le Strange" (BBC)
*"Comedy Lab: Origen's Wake" (Channel 4 ) actor, writer, composer, director
*PS2 "Third Place" advert, actor/writer
*"The Wolfman" (C4) actor/writer
*"Comedy Nation" (BBC2) actor/writer
*"The Net" (BBC2)
*"London Shouting" (BBC2)

Film credits

*"World of Wrestling" (Ben Gregor 2007)
*"The Incredibly Strange People Show" (Powercage Films, 2001)

Radio credits

*"Out to Lunch" (BBC Radio 2)
*"The Day The Music Died" (BBC Radio 2)
*"4 At The Store" (BBC Radio 4)
*"The Pod Christmas Special" (BBC Radio 1)
*"Exam Slam" (BBC Radio 1)
*"The End of the Road Show" (BBC Radio 4)

External links

* [http://www.garylestrange.co.uk Gary Le Strange website]
* [http://www.theunderbelly.co.uk/ Underbelly website]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/hyperdrive Official BBC Hyperdrive website]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1508314/ Internet movie database]