Jeremy Hardy

Infobox Person
name = Jeremy Hardy


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caption = Hardy during a recording of "You'll Have Had Your Tea" for BBC Radio 4 in 2006.
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birth_date = birth date and age|1961|07|17
birth_place = Farnborough, Hampshire
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nationality = British
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occupation = Comedian
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Jeremy Hardy (born 17 July 1961) is an English alternative comedian. Born in Farnborough, near Aldershot in Hampshire, he attended Farnham College but now lives in Streatham. He is known for his socialist politics.

Career

Hardy attended Farnham College and studied Modern History and Politics at the University of Southampton. He started his stand-up career in the early 1980s, and won the Perrier Comedy Award in 1988 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He is best known for his radio work, particularly on "The News Quiz" and his long running series of monologues "Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation". His experiences in Palestine during the Israeli army incursions of 2002 became the subject of a feature documentary "Jeremy Hardy vs the Israeli Army" (2003), directed by Leila Sansour.

He made his television debut in the late 1980s in various comedy shows including "Blackadder Goes Forth" (1989), has presented a television documentary about the political background to the English Civil War and, surprisingly, presented an edition of "Top of the Pops" in 1996.

To "BBC Radio 4" audiences, Hardy is also renowned for his incredibly off-key singing, as showcased in "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue", and for his often left-wing oriented witty interpretations of current events in "The News Quiz". His politics do not always go down well with the sometimes conservative Radio 4 audience - in an appearance on "Just A Minute" in 2000 he earned boos from the audience and a reprimand from fellow panellist, the former Liberal MP, Sir Clement Freud, when he responded to the subject 'Parasites' by talking about the Royal Family. He has not appeared on the show since then.

He used to write a regular column for "The Guardian" but was fired, obstensibly for not including enough jokes, but allegedly also because he used it to express his support for the Socialist Alliance. [cite web|author=Hardy, Jeremy|title=Frankly, I've got nothing to joke about|publisher=The Guardian|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,468272,00.html|date=2001-04-04|accessdate=2007-09-13] In addition he is a regular performer at the Edinburgh Fringe and Brighton comedy festivals with stand up despite admitting to Jack Dee that "I should not be able to do it... I can't walk around and talk at the same time... people who see me live think I'm afraid of the mic." ["Chain Reaction", Radio 4, 14 February 2007]

His outspoken support for the release of Danny McNamee, who was convicted in 1987 of involvement in the Irish Republican Army's Hyde Park bombing of 1982, led to accusations (which were later retracted) that Hardy was an IRA supporter. Fact|date=February 2007 Hardy made clear that he supported McNamee (whose conviction was overturned in 1998) as the victim of a miscarriage of justice.Fact|date=February 2007 Hardy also supported Irish nationalist Róisín McAliskey, the then-pregnant daughter of Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, when the former was accused of involvement in an IRA mortar attack in Germany, and put up part of the bail money to free her. [cite web|author=|title=Jeremy Hardy:Caustic comic|publisher=BBC News Online|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/1913049.stm|date=2002-04-05|accessdate=2007-09-13]

He was married to American-born actress and comedienne Kit Hollerbach, who featured alongside him in the radio sitcoms "Unnatural Acts" [http://epguides.com/UnnaturalActs/] and "At Home with the Hardys" [http://www.angelfire.com/pq/radiohaha/HARDYS.html] . Their daughter was adopted in 1990. They are now divorced and Hardy now lives with the film-maker Katie Barlow.

In an edition of "Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation" on BBC Radio 4 "How to be Afraid", broadcast on 9 September 2004, Hardy suggested that members of the BNP, and anyone voting for them, should be "shot in the back of the head", sparking complaints and causing Burnley council to cancel a show scheduled on their premises due to fears that it could be disruptive in a town that has a recent history of racial tension. [cite web|author=|title=Comic banned for "shoot BNP" joke|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/3974731.stm|publisher=BBC News Online|date=2004-11-02|accessdate=2007-09-13]

He was a close friend of comedian Linda Smith, and publicly eulogised her in many media when she died of ovarian cancer on 27 February 2006. [cite web|author=Hardy, Jeremy|title="Her mind was extraordinary"|publisher=BBC News Online|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4760038.stm|date=2006-02-28|accessdate=2007-09-13] Hardy wrote her obituary in The Guardian. [cite web|author=Hardy, Jeremy|title=Obituary: Linda Smith|publisher=The Guardian|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1720290,00.html|date=2006-03-01|accessdate=2007-09-13]

Television

*"Now, Something Else" (1986–1987) - Jeremy the Trainee
*"Helping Henry" (1988) - The voice of Henry
*"Blackadder Goes Forth" ("Corporal Punishment") - Corporal Perkins (1989)
*"Jack and Jeremy's Real Lives" (1996) (with Jack Dee)
*"If I Ruled the World" (1998)
*"QI" (2003)
*"Grumpy Old Men" (2004)
*"Mock the Week" (2006)
*"Countdown" (2007) (Dictionary Corner)
*"The Voice" (2008)
*"I'm sorry I haven't a clue" (2008)

Radio

*"The News Quiz"
*"I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue"
*"Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation"
*"Unnatural Acts [http://www.angelfire.com/pq/radiohaha/HARDYS.html] "
*"At Home with the Hardys "
*"You'll Have Had Your Tea"
*"Chain Reaction"
*"Comic to Comic"
*"The Unbelievable Truth"

Film

*"How To Be"
*"Hotel"

External links

*imdb name|id=0362668
* [http://www.radiolistings.co.uk/candc/hardy_jeremy.html RadioListings - Jeremy Hardy Radio Programmes]
* [http://www.eyebrowmagazine.com/visual_treats/ebtv/jeremy_hardy_interview Jeremy Hardy interview with eyebrow magazine]

References