Comedy Dave

Comedy Dave
Birth name	David Lloyd Vitty
Born	24 April 1974 (1974-04-24) (age 37)  Hong Kong
Show	The Chris Moyles Show
Station(s)	BBC Radio 1
Time slot	6:30am - 10am
Style	Disc Jockey
Country	United Kingdom
Spouse(s)	Emma Pontefract (2003 - 2006) Jayne Sharp (2008 - 2011)
Children	Nicole Catherine Vitty
Website	Chris Moyles Chappers & Dave C&D MySpace folkface

David Lloyd Vitty (born 24 April 1974 in Hong Kong)^[1] is a long-term contributor on The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 under the nickname 'Comedy Dave'. He was originally a broadcast assistant on the show, but is now the show's head writer and 'Director of Comedy'.

Background

Vitty studied Radio Production at college, but never had any ambitions to be on-air. He began working as a copywriter^[2] and then moved onto becoming a "tech op" for Radio 1 on 5 December 1996. In 1997, he then met Chris Moyles - they got on well with each other and Moyles invited Vitty to work with him on his early morning show. When Moyles transferred to drive time in 1998, Vitty went with him and became "Comedy Dave" after comedian Lee Hurst asked Vitty on the show who he was, he said "Super Dave" to which Lee sarcastically responded "Comedy Dave more like".^[3]

Vitty supports Everton Football Club and spent much of his youth in Warrington, Cheshire, although he was educated at St Kevins.^[4] He married long term girlfriend Emma Pontefract at the Tudor Barn close to Burnham Beeches on 23 August 2003. Live on air on 6 September 2006, he announced that they had divorced. On 24 April 2007, Vitty announced on air that Jayne Sharp, his new television presenter partner, was six months pregnant with his child. Sharp went into labour on 2 August 2007, as announced by Jo Whiley on her mid-morning show. His daughter, Nicole Catherine Vitty, was born, weighing 7 lb 15 oz, on 2 August 2007. Vitty and Sharp then married on 23 August 2008. On 22 April 2011, Vitty and Sharp announced they were to split.^[5]

The Chris Moyles Show

Vitty's regular daily contribution to the The Chris Moyles Show is the "Tedious Link" (which launched September 2002 - a parody of Jo Whiley's now-defunct "Tenuous Link"), a collection of loosely connected information, where one fact leads into another by way of juxtaposition, which then eventually leads into the title of a song (or the musicians responsible for it), often a "classic" or memorable tune, which is usually played at precisely 9 a.m., preceded by the Radio 4-friendly Greenwich time pips. Once the song has been played he is questioned by listeners and the rest of the crew about the validity of the information given out during the "Tedious Link" (the theme tune from Treasure Hunt is usually played in the background). The theme music from the TV comedy show Bottom was used as the "bed" (underlying music) for the feature but for January 2009 Chris Moyles unveiled a new purpose-written jingle and music.

Around 9:05 a.m., Vitty sang "Let's get ready to ramble", signifying the start of the feature "Half-Time in the Show", holding onto the last syllable for a good ten to twenty seconds, in the style of Michael Buffer. This feature was dropped on the show's return for the new year in January 2009.

Marathon Broadcast for Comic Relief

Moyles announced in February 2011 that both himself and Vitty would, in aid of Comic Relief, attempt to present Radio 1's Longest Show Ever with Chris Moyles and Comedy Dave for Comic Relief, a record previously held by Simon Mayo^{[citation needed]}. The show began at 6.30am on Wednesday 16 March and at 7.31pm on Thursday 17th Moyles and Vitty reached the 37 hour mark which gained them the record for the Longest Radio Show in BBC Radio 1 history.^[6] They continued to broadcast and at 8.30am Friday 18th broke the Guinness World Records' record for the 'Longest Marathon Radio DJ (Team) Show'. By the end of the show at 10.30am, they had set a new record of 52 hours and raised £2.4 million for Comic Relief 2011 via online and SMS donations.^[7]

Subsequently, the total raised has increased to £2,821,831 and with an audience of 2.84 million, it was the most popular live BBC Red Button radio feature ever.^[8] 3.8 Million people watched on the Radio 1 Website.

Bands

Comedy Dave is part of the comedy folk band Folk Face with Dominic Byrne also from The Chris Moyles Show.

Dancing on Ice

Vitty appeared on the 6th series of Dancing on Ice (series 6) with British adagio ice skater Frankie Poultney. He was knocked out in the skate-off on Sunday 13 February 2011.

Other achievements

Vitty has co-presented cover shows on Radio 1 entitled Chappers and Dave, with the ex- The Scott Mills Show sidekick Mark Chapman. On 30 December 2006, on the "Celebrity Couples Edition" of The Weakest Link, Chapman and Vitty won, beating the Chuckle Brothers in the final round. They both tour student unions across the UK regularly on their 'Chappers and Dave World Tour', and have raised money for both Comic Relief and Sport Relief by visiting football stadiums across the UK.

Vitty once accidentally took Simon Mayo's Radio 1 morning show off air for fifteen minutes.^[9]

On 28 February 2007, Vitty appeared in an edition of Ready Steady Cook, beating radio colleague, and fellow band member of Folk Face, Dominic Byrne. He previously presented a programme called Shed Sports 1 on Nuts TV and co-presented on UK Play's The Chris Moyles Show.

Vitty appeared on BBC game show, Hole in the Wall in an episode aired on 26 September 2009. He failed to get through any of the holes^[10]

On 29 December 2009, Vitty appeared on Celebrity Mastermind, raising money for Cancer Research UK. He finished third overall on 17 points after the general knowledge round, having recovered from scoring 6 points on the first round answering questions about British motorways.

In 2010, David provided the narration for Channel 4 series Coach Trip.^[11]. He also features in the weekly Moan In section of Richard Bacon's programme on BBC Radio 5 Live.

References

1. ^ Chris Moyles Team - Dave
2. ^ Interview with 'Comedy' Dave
3. ^ "The Gospel According to Chris Moyles: The Story of a Man and His Mouth"
4. ^ The Chris Moyles Show, 17/06/2011
5. ^ Comedy Dave to divorce
6. ^ "Chris Moyles and Comedy Dave attempt world record radio broadcast"; SWNS; 16th March 2011, (Retrieved 16th March 2011)
7. ^ "Chris Moyles breaks radio show record for Comic Relief" (Retrieved 13:13 Friday, 18 March 2011)
8. ^ "Moyles record grabs 2.8m on Red Button,". digitalspy.co.uk. March 23, 2011. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/news/a310609/moyles-record-grabs-28m-on-red-button.html. Laughlin Andrew,
9. ^ "The Gospel According to Chris Moyles: The Story of a Man and His Mouth"
10. ^ Hole in the Wall
11. ^ "Comedy Dave to narrate new 'Coach Trip'". Digital Spy. 23 August 2010. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s136/coach-trip/news/a266317/comedy-dave-to-narrate-new-coach-trip.html. Retrieved 30 April 2011. 

External links

• Comedy Dave at the Internet Movie Database
• Profile on ChrisMoyles.Net
• Dave Vitty | Dancing on Ice 2011 itv.com

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Name	Vitty, Dave
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Date of birth	24 April 1974
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