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Comedy may be divided into multiple genres based on the source of humour, the method of delivery, and the context in which it is delivered.

These classifications overlap, and most comedians can fit into multiple genres. For example, deadpan comics often fall into observational comedy, or into black comedy or blue comedy to contrast the morbidity or offensiveness of the joke with a lack of emotion.

Tommy Tiernan (born 16 June 1969) is an Irish comedian, actor and writer. He and Hector Ó hEochagáin presented The Tommy and Hector Show on i102-104FM. Tiernan also featured in Father Ted as a depressed priest.

Early life[link]

Tiernan was born in Carndonagh, County Donegal.^[1] His father is a native of County Kerry while his mother is from County Limerick. He moved, with his family, from County Cork as a child. After spells living in Zambia and London, he attended the same school as Irish television presenter Hector Ó hEochagáin and Dylan Moran, in St. Patrick's Classical School, Navan, Co Meath, a former Roman Catholic junior seminary.^[2][3] He later attended a boarding school, Garbally College, in Ballinasloe, County Galway.^{[citation needed]}

Appearances[link]

Tiernan has appeared several times on The Late Late Show. In the United States he has appeared several times on the Late Show with David Letterman.^[4] Recently^[when?] he appeared on the Michael McIntyre Comedy Roadshow, Lee Mack Show, DAVE's One NIght Stand and joined comedic legends Eddie Izzard and Ross Noble at Laughs in the Park.

Former World Record Holder[link]

In 2009, Tiernan set the Guinness World Record for the longest stand-up comedy show by an individual achieving 36 hours and 15 minutes at Nuns Island in Galway (12 April 2009).^[5] Later in 2009 that record was broken by Australian Comedian Lindsay Webb. However, the new record now stands at 40 hours, and was set on 23 September 2010 by the American Comedian Bob Marley.

TV career[link]

In "Going to America", the final episode of the clerical sitcom Father Ted, Tiernan plays a young priest whose suicide attempt is foiled by Ted at "It's Great Being a Priest '98". He is later cured of depression by the "Theme From Shaft", but subsequently relapses after overhearing the Radiohead song "Exit Music (For a Film)".

In the 1999 Channel4 sitcom, Small Potatoes, Tiernan took the lead role of Ed Blewitt, an underachiever who works in an east London video rental shop. It ran for 13 episodes over 2 seasons, ending in 2001.^[6]

Radio career[link]

In 2008, Tommy and Hector Ó hEochagáin formed as a radio duo on The Tommy and Hector Show on i102-104FM after hinting at a desire to be on the radio, months before on The Late Late Show. Speaking about his role, Tommy said, “I’ve always wanted to have loads of craic on the radio. What better way to have a mountain of devilment than to do a show with my best friend.”^[7] Following the success of their show on iRadio Northwest, the show moved to the nationwide slot of Saturday 10am-12pm on 2FM.

Comedic style[link]

When he started out he had an ambition to be like Lenny Bruce.^[8] He doesn't regard himself as being, like Lenny Bruce, a comedian with a message.^[8] Tommy Tiernan admits that his sense of humour is controversial, but claims that it is based on instinct and denies there is any malice or meanness in it.^[8]

In 2007 some families of people with Down Syndrome complained about a routine about people with Down Syndrome in his act.^[9] It had caused some surprise to some of the families as Tiernan has run a marathon in support of Down Syndrome Ireland.^[9] The Chief Executive of Down Syndrome Ireland, John Lindsay, National Secretary, Ingrid Murphy, National Executive member Caroline Courtney and President of Down Syndrome Ireland Mary O'Reilly attended the Tommy Tiernan show Bovinity at Vicar Street and released the following statement: "We all agreed that the section of the show devoted to Down Syndrome was not offensive in any way to individuals with Down Syndrome, one of whom was in attendance, or to their parents/siblings/friends, many of whom were in the audience. If the sketch is viewed in its totality and pieces not taken out of context it can only be interpreted as hilarious."

An appearance on The Late Late Show in 2008 led to complaints about his jokes involving a methadone user, eastern European immigrant accents, buying a motorbike from an injured biker, and a film idea about gay Traveller spacemen seeking a cure for gayness, eight of which were upheld by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission. Previous routines which went largely without remark included a comic reference to disproportionate American reaction to 9/11 and a long comic repetition on the indifferent Israeli attitude to foreign criticism of Israeli occupations of surrounding land .^[10][11][12]

Controversy over Holocaust remarks[link]

In September 2009 Tommy responded to a question concerning antisemitism at a pre performance public question and answer session at the Electric Picnic by making remarks about the Holocaust and comments about Jews and the death of Christ while he was interviewed by Olaf Tyaransen,^[13] stating "These Jews, these fucking Jew cunts come up to me. Fucking Christ-killing bastards. Fucking six million? I would have got 10 or 12 million out of that. No fucking problem! Fuck them.".^[14] He was responding to an audience member who asked if he had ever been accused of antisemitism.^[15]

The response of the audience was criticised by Alan Shatter as "disappointing" and also said "I would regard it as particularly sad that people found that sort of outburst in any way amusing".^[15]

Tommy Tiernan released a statement that said he had not meant to cause offence and that his words had been taken out of context.^[16] He said that the comments were part of an attempt to explain his belief that comedians have a duty to be irresponsible and reckless, to allow "whatever lunacy is within you to come out" and that they should never be taken out of context.^[16] He added that the statements that had caused controversy had been preceded by a statement not to take the rant seriously.^[16]

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin also criticised the remarks, describing them as "offensive to the Jewish community", "offensive to all who feel revulsion concerning the Holocaust, one of the most horrific events in human history” and “I can only decry the comments as insensitive and hurtful to the suffering of the victims and to a memory which is sacred”.^[17]

Holocaust Education Trust Ireland condemned Tiernans' statements as "appalling".^[17] Ruairi Quinn, chairman of the Trust, said that "as someone in the public eye, he has to take responsibility for his racist comments. We are equally concerned about the report of the audience’s reaction, which appears to have endorsed, sustained and enjoyed his comments. We would hope that the Irish public will choose to stay away from such racist ‘entertainment’ in future”.^[17] The Trust also said it "utterly condemns Mr Tiernan’s anti-Semitic outburst and calls upon him to repudiate completely and apologise unreservedly for the comments about the Holocaust and the Jews he is reported to have made" and "This incident highlights the necessity and relevance of the role of Holocaust education in order to educate and inform people in Ireland about the Holocaust, intolerance and anti-Semitism.”^[17]

Louis Lentin said Tiernan should be denied a visa for his shows in the U.S. in October.^[18] Lentin said Tiernan's comments at the Electric Picnic festival in County Laois were "disgraceful", and “extraordinarily racist." "He doesn’t realise what he has said. He doesn’t realise the seriousness of it. You can’t make a joke about the Holocaust and just because you say it is a joke does not make it funny or acceptable".^[18]

Rabbi Robert Alper who is also a comedian said that Tommy Tiernans' statement on the subject was an attempt to weasel out of the situation.^[19] Rabbi Alper also said about Tiernans claim that comedians have a duty to be irresponsible: "To me that’s really stupid. I don’t think that comedians should be reckless or irresponsible. Comedians should be concerned about the feelings of other human beings. It’s hurtful. Comedians (in America) don’t do anti-semitic things. I’ve rarely heard of it. There are plenty of tasteless comedians out there but none of them pick on a group of people."^[19] He also did not consider Tiernans' statement to be an apology, suggesting that Tiernan should say "I'm sorry".^[19] The Editor of Hot Press magazine, Niall Stokes later said that "To interpret it as anti-Semitism, is wrongheaded in the extreme. The way I see it, he is satirising anti-Semitism, while making a more general point that we should all be able to laugh at ourselves."

Olaf Tyaransen wrote that neither he nor Tommy Tiernan had anticipated the subsequent response to unreserved comments made by the comedian during an afternoon interview hosted by Hot Press magazine at the Electric Picnic — an end-of-season arts & music festival.^[13] Tyaransen said the last question asked from the floor (by an audience member readily identifiable by a green 'Palestina' t-shirt) about a dogged charge of anti-Semitism led to the comments at issue, and part of Tiernan's response recounted criticism of his routine by a Jewish couple after a show in New York.^[13] Olaf Tyaransen claimed Tiernan's subsequent ideas — focusing on a "two-at-a-time" efficiency concerning the systematic murder of millions of Jews — had been taken out of context, though he personally held the comedian's monologue as 'very funny' and said as much on Marian Finucane's RTÉ Radio 1 show of 26 September 2009.

Personal life[link]

Tommy married Yvonne, his partner and manager, on 9 August 2009 in County Monaghan. Guests included Ardal O'Hanlon, Gay Byrne and Dylan Moran. He has four children from a previous relationship with Jayme Street with whom he shared a home in Galway. The two met when they joined a Christian community based on the Aran Islands, but broke up in October 2002.^[20] Tiernan is a supporter of Liverpool F.C..^[21]

Awards[link]

In 1996 Tiernan won the Channel 4 "So You Think You're Funny" award. Two years later he was awarded the Perrier Comedy Award at the 1998 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won the Best Stand-Up Award at the British Comedy Awards. In 2003 he won the Nokia Best of the Fest Award and the Orange People Choice Award at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival. In 2006 Tommy won Ireland's Funniest Living Person Award at the People of the Year Awards.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Controversial anti semitic comments
• Tommy Tiernan at the Internet Movie Database

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Pete Firman (born 26 April 1980) is an English magician and television presenter.

He has appeared in magic shows on Channel 4, Five, and Sky1. He was also the presenter of two game shows on CBBC: Stake Out and Wait for It..!, and one of the regular magicians on series 2 of the BBC One show The Magicians.

Early life[link]

Born in Middlesbrough, Firman began his interest in magic as a child. When he was eight, his mother bought him a magic book.^[1] He was educated at Acklam Grange Secondary School, where he twice won the school talent show. He then studied at Middlesbrough College then at the School of Arts & New Media unit of the University of Hull Scarborough Campus in Scarborough where he gained a Bachelor of Arts in theatre.

Firman performed his magic in pubs and as he later explained: "anywhere I could get paid for doing tricks, basically. I figured I wanted somewhere a bit more regular to work, and I saw the comedy circuit as something I could explore. Because I'd always tried to make the magic I was doing funny and lighthearted, and I never took myself too seriously."^[2]

Career[link]

Firman's first big break came in 2002 when he responded to an advert from Objective Productions, who were searching for new magicians for a new television show, Monkey Magic. Together with writer Paul Outhwaite and musician Andy Elvin, the three friends formed a short lived comedy team, "Threefellas" and made a short film of Pete doing tricks in the local area. He sent in a tape of himself in his underpants performing magic in Outhwaite's back garden and was chosen almost instantly. "Threefellas" made a few more short films before disbanding.

In April 2003 the cast of Monkey Magic had their first meeting and Firman met fellow magician Ali Cook with whom he later shared a flat for two and a half years. During this time they wrote routines for The Greatest Magic Tricks in the Universe... Ever, the second series of Monkey Magic and The Secret World of Magic.

The first seven-part series of Monkey Magic was broadcast on Five in 2003 as well as a Christmas special. The show featured a team of four magicians each with their own unique style and personality. It was short listed for a British Comedy Award and nominated for a Rose d'Or. A second series of Monkey Magic aired in 2004, which saw his first Mr Ball routine.

Firman co-hosted The Greatest Magic Tricks in the Universe... Ever series on Five which saw a countdown of the most amazing tricks of all time from Horace Goldin's sawing a woman in half illusion to David Copperfield's Vanishing the Statue of Liberty illusion.

In The Secret World of Magic, which aired on Sky1 in 2005, Firman travelled the world with Ali Cook, interviewing the world's greatest magicians, including Mac King, Juan Tamariz and Max Maven, whilst also performing their own brand of sleight of hand on the streets of Paris, Madrid, New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Buenos Aires. He also did a Mr Ball routine in The Secret World of Magic which was developed by him and Ali Cook.

Dirty Tricks was a six part series in 2005 on Channel 4, hosted by Firman along with Barry and Stuart. It was described as "like magic meets Natural Born Killers" by critic Sam Wollaston of The Guardian.^[3] The show had regular spots from Ali Cook and Jonathan Goodwin as well as guest appearances from international variety acts and celebrities including Penn & Teller, Stephen Fry, Mylene Klass and Kevin James. The show was nominated for a Rose d'Or.

Firman was a special guest on Don't Miss a Trick, a one-off family show version of The Real Hustle, which first aired on 25 August 2008 on BBC One.

In 2008, Firman hosted the children's television show, Stake Out on CBBC and in 2009, Wait For It..!, also on CBBC.

Theatre[link]

In 2007 Firman performed his debut solo show, Hokum at the Underbelly as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 2008 he performed his second solo show, Flim-Flam at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe,^[1] and also toured the UK with the show.

In July 2008 he performed his act at Club Soda in Montreal, Canada, as part of the Just for Laughs comedy festival.^[2] He performed his third solo show, The Pete Firman Magic Show at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Firman performs his Mr Ball routine in his live shows. "I perform that routine in my live shows, it's always well received. The fact I move my lips when he talks is of course deliberate. I see it as a post-modern evaluation of ventriloquism in popular culture."

[edit] Tricks to Freak Out Your Friends

In 2006, Firman wrote his first book, Tricks to Freak Out Your Friends, in which he reveals secrets such as "how to crack your nose", "how to take a bite out of a glass" and "how to stick a barbecue skewer through your tongue". It also included simple card tricks and how to swallow knives. It has a foreword from Derren Brown.

Filmography[link]

• Monkey Magic (2003–2004)
• The Greatest Magic Tricks in the Universe... Ever (2003)
• The Secret World of Magic (2005)
• Dirty Tricks (2005)
• Greatest Ever Comedy Movies (2006)
• Greatest Ever Disaster Movies (2007)
• Stake Out (2008)
• Wait For It..! (2009)
• The Magicians (2012-)

Bibliography[link]

• Tricks to Freak Out Your Friends (2006)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Official Pete Firman on MySpace
• Pete Firman at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Mr. Ball on MySpace
• Comedy CV

Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler at the Berlin Film Festival 2011
Born	Gerard James Butler (1969-11-13) 13 November 1969 (age 42) Paisley, Scotland
Occupation	Actor/singer
Years active	1997–present

Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in the American miniseries Attila (2001). He garnered critical acclaim for his work as the lead in Joel Schumacher's 2004 film adaptation of the musical The Phantom of the Opera. In 2007, Butler gained recognition through his portrayal of King Leonidas in the film 300. Since then, he has appeared in projects including P.S. I Love You (2007), Nim's Island (2008), RocknRolla (2008), The Ugly Truth (2009), Gamer (2009), Law Abiding Citizen (2009), The Bounty Hunter (2010), and as a voice actor in How to Train Your Dragon (2010).

Early life[link]

Butler was born in Paisley, which is in Renfrewshire, Scotland,^[1] the youngest of three children of Margaret and Edward Butler, a bookmaker.^[2][3][4] Of Irish descent,^[5] he was brought up in a strict Roman Catholic family.^[6] Butler spent the first few years of his life in Montreal, Quebec,^[7] before the family returned to live in Scotland.^[8]

His mother Margret Butler returned from Quebec when her marriage broke down, when Gerard was aged 18 months.^[9] He attended High School in Paisley, achieved respectable grades - good enough to win a place at Glasgow University to study law - and rose to position of Head Boy at St Mirin's High School. He also attended Scottish Youth Theater whilst a teen. He did not see his father again until he was 16 years old, when Edward Butler called to meet him at a Glasgow restaurant. After this meeting, Butler cried for hours, and recalled of it later:

"That emotion showed me how much pain can sit in this body of yours; pain and sorrow that you don’t know you have until it is unleashed."^[9]

Butler came close to his father after this reunion, and accepted his offer to study law at Glasgow University. During his time as a student, he became the convener of the Law Society^[10] and sang in a rock band called Speed.^[11][12] He would ultimateley graduate with a 2-2 LLB degree in 1991.

Whilst a 22 year old student, his father was diagnosed with cancer, and died. This caused Butler's lifestyle to spiral out of control. He would say of this period in his life:

"I had gone from a 16-year-old who couldn’t wait to grasp life to a 22-year-old who didn’t care if he died in his sleep."^[13]

Upon graduation, he won a position as a trainee lawyer at an Edinburgh law firm. However, his lifestyle remained unrestrained and he frequently missed work due to his partying antics. One week before he qualified as a lawyer, he was fired.

Now, aged 25, and an unqualified lawyer, Butler moved to London to pursue his dream of becoming famous. He admitted,

"When I started out, I'm not sure I was actually in it for the right reasons. I wanted very much to be famous."^[9]

Unable to win any acting roles immediately, he was forced to accept blue collar jobs, which included being a waiter, a telemarketer and a demonstrator of how toys work at fairs. Whilst in London, he met an old friend from his teenage days in the Scottish Youth Theater, who was now a London casting agent, and was for a time her boyfriend and her assistant. She took him to an audition for Steven Berkoff's play of Coriolanus.^[10] The director said of Butler's audition:

"When he read, he had such vigour and enthusiasm – so much that it made the other actors seem limp – that I decided to cast him in the ensemble."^[13]

Now aged 27, Butler had his first professional acting job. Less than a year later, he won a part in a theater adaptation of Trainspotting, which he performed at the Edinburgh Festival. By age 30, Butler decided to move to Los Angeles to make it in the big league; where he won parts in Dracula 2000, Tomb Raider 2, Dear Frankie, and Phantom of the Opera. The director Vadim Jean said:

"I have never seen anybody work so hard to make their career happen."^[13]

Despite the early yearnings for fame, Butler would tell London's Daily Telegraph in a 2009 interview, when aged 39:

"I did expect to succeed and I did have faith that I would. In reality, though, it has turned out to be something very different to what I wanted. It’s the work and not the adulation that has proved to be the most fulfilling."^[13]

Career[link]

In London, Butler held a series of odd jobs until being cast by actor and director Steven Berkoff (who later appeared alongside him in Attila (2001)) in a stage production of Coriolanus. He was cast as Ewan McGregor's character Renton in the stage adaptation of Trainspotting, the same play that had inspired him to become an actor. His film debut was as Billy Connolly's character's younger brother in Mrs. Brown (1997).

His film career continued with small roles, first in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and then Russell Mulcahy's Tale of the Mummy (1998). In 2000, Butler was cast in two breakthrough roles, the first being Attila the Hun in USA film Attila (2001/I) (TV). The film's producers wanted a known actor to play the part but kept coming back to Butler's screen tests and decided he was their man. He was cast as Dracula in Dracula 2000 (2000).

He then appeared in Reign of Fire (2002) as Creedy and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) as Terry Sheridan, alongside Angelina Jolie. In the role of Andre Marek in the big-screen adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel Timeline (2003), Butler played an archaeologist who was sent back in time with a team of students to rescue a colleague.

In 2003, director Joel Schumacher was deciding on the principal casting for the film The Phantom of the Opera, a film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical of the same name, and thought of Butler, whom he had seen earlier in the film Dracula 2000, to play the title character. Butler, who had had no musical experience other than singing in a rock band while he was studying to be a lawyer, was surprised at the interest, but immediately began taking singing lessons with a vocal coach.^[14] He then did an acting audition with Schumacher, and a singing audition with Lloyd Webber, both of whom were impressed by his performance.^[15] Despite the film receiving mixed reviews, Butler was praised for his performance.

Other projects that followed include Dear Frankie (2005), The Game of Their Lives (2005) and Beowulf & Grendel (2005).

In 2007, he starred as Spartan King Leonidas in the Warner Bros. production 300, which is often described as his breakthrough role.^[16] Butler, who said he "wanted to look really strong" in the film, trained with a high-intensity workout for four months prior to the film's shooting.^[17]

Gerard Butler on the set of the film, The Bounty Hunter, 2010

In 2007, he also appeared in Butterfly on a Wheel co-starring Pierce Brosnan and Maria Bello, which aired on network TV under the title Shattered, and in the romantic comedy P.S. I Love You with Hilary Swank. In 2008, he appeared in Nim's Island and RocknRolla. In 2009, he starred in the Mark Neveldine/Brian Taylor film Gamer, The Ugly Truth and Law Abiding Citizen, which he also co-produced. In 2010 he starred in the action/comedy The Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Aniston, and did a voice-over in the 2010 animated film How to Train Your Dragon as Stoick the Vast.

On 15 and 16 October 2010, thanks to the popularity of his role as Spartan King Leonidas and the use of his lines during athletic events at Michigan State University, he was a guest at their Midnight Madness and homecoming football game, respectively.

On 18 December 2011, while filming Of Men and Mavericks, Butler was hospitalised after he was pulled under big waves. A safety patrolman spotted Butler and quickly rushed to his aid. He was taken to Stanford University Medical Center where he was observed and then later released.^[18]

Personal life[link]

Butler has been open in interviews about struggling with alcoholism. In February 2012, Butler's publicist announced that Butler had completed a course of treatment for substance abuse of pain killers, at a rehab-centre.^[19] This was after Butler was concerned he was too reliant on prescribed pain relief medication which escalated when he was involved in a surfing incident before Christmas 2011.^[19][20][21]

A fan of the Glasgow football club Celtic F.C. and played a charity match with them in 2011, Butler regularly attended Celtic Park as a supporter, but has found that moving to Hollywood can be a problem when trying to keep up with the results due to the time difference between Los Angeles and Glasgow.^[22]

Despite his sometimes turbulent personal life and the often violent characters he plays, Butler is well known to be a kind and very nice person in real life. He is known to be very friendly with fans and co-workers, and socializes with everyone on set.

Filmography[link]

Butler at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gerard Butler

• Gerard Butler at the Internet Movie Database