Chris Addison

Chris Addison

Chris Addison is a stand-up comedian, writer and actor from Manchester and has been performing stand-up comedy since 1995.

In that year, he won the City Life Comedian of the Year Award, a stand-up competition in the North West of England. He is known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he later adapted for BBC Radio 4. In addition to stand-up, in television he plays Ollie in the BBC Two television satire The Thick of It and Toby in its spin-off film In the Loop, and he co-created and starred in the BBC Two sitcom Lab Rats. Chris Addison's first solo show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was in 1998, for which he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Perrier Awards. He continued to bring shows to the Fringe for several years, garnering two Perrier Award nominations — for his 2004 show Civilisation and 2005's Atomicity.

Writing & Radio Work

From 2003 to 2005 Addison wrote a fortnightly finance column for The Guardian entitled "Funny Money". First airing in 2004, Chris Addison co-wrote and co-starred in the political satire The Department, along with John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman. This ran for fourteen episodes over three series on BBC Radio 4, ending in 2006. In 2006, Chris Addison recorded Chris Addison's Civilisation, again for Radio 4, based on his Edinburgh Fringe show of 2004. Addison hosted a series of the Radio 4 comedy series 4 Stands Up, which showcases up-coming and established comedy talent. As host, Addison performs a short opening set and introduces the acts, in the style of a compère at a comedy club. On radio, he previously hosted the weekly comedy news satire show 7 Day Sunday on BBC Radio 5 Live from 2009 to 2011. Addison has written two books, both published by Hodder and Stoughton: Cautionary Tales for Grown Ups in 2006, followed by It Wasn't Me: Why Everybody is to Blame and You're Not in 2008.

Television Work

Addison made appearances as a guest panellist on Mock the Week eleven times during 2010 and 2011, before becoming a full time panellist in September 2011. As well as appearing on Have I Got News For You and Would I Lie To You five times each, and 8 Out of 10 Cats twice. On 9 April 2011 he was part of the Comedy Takeover on TV channel Dave where he presented and selected the shows. In 2011 he took part in three shows of the 16-date Uncaged Monkeys tour along with Professor Brian Cox, Robin Ince, Ben Goldacre, Simon Singh and Dara Ó Briain . In the summer of 2011 Addison also began filming a new E4 chat show called "Show and Tell". His face is still a familiar addition to the television scene and his hilarious and entertaining presentations are in demand at company seminars nationwide.