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Look up catchphrase in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A catchphrase (or catch-phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through a variety of mass media (such as literature and publishing, motion pictures, television and radio), as well as word of mouth. Some become the de facto "trademark" or "signature" of the person or character with whom they originated, and can be instrumental in the typecasting (beneficially or otherwise) of a particular actor.

According to Richard Harris, a psychology professor at Kansas State University who studied why people like to cite films in social situations, using film quotes in everyday conversation is similar to telling a joke and a way to form solidarity with others. "People are doing it to feel good about themselves, to make others laugh, to make themselves laugh", he said. He found that all of the participants in his study had used film quotes in conversation at one point or another. "They overwhelmingly cited comedies, followed distantly by dramas and action adventure flicks." Horror films, musicals and children's films were hardly ever cited.^[1]

See also[link]

• List of catchphrases
• List of political catchphrases
• Catchphrase (UK game show)
• Cliché
• Meme
• Set phrase
• Slogan
• Snowclone

References[link]

• Turner, Chris (2004). Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation. Toronto: Random House Canada. ISBN 0-679-31318-4. 

Further reading[link]

• Partridge, Eric (1894–1979) ed. Beale. A Dictionary of Catch Phrases, American and British, from the sixteenth century to the present day (enlarged trade paperback edition) Lanham, Maryland: Scarborough House, 1992. ISBN 0-8128-8536-8. E-book ISBN 0-203-37995-0
• Rees, Nigel (2001), Oops, Pardon, Mrs Arden! An Embarrassment of Domestic Catchphrases, London: Robson Books, ISBN 1-86105-440-8, http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=mM_kFQdh83oC&printsec=frontcover&dq=pardon+mrs+arden#v=onepage&q&f=false 

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Robert "Roy" Walker (born 31 July 1940) is a television personality and comedian from Northern Ireland, who worked for many years as both a television presenter and comedy actor. He is best known as the original host of the game show Catchphrase between 1986 and 1999, and one of the stars of The Comedians. Catchphase is currently (April 2012)a popular repeated series on cable television.

Early life[link]

Born in Belfast, as a teenager Walker performed in the Francis Longford Choir, then worked as a riveter in the Harland and Wolff shipyard. He was the Northern Ireland champion hammer thrower for two years, and represented his country internationally.^[1] He spent a short time as a comedy partner of James Young^{[citation needed]} before spending seven years in the British Army.^{[2][dead link]}

Walker, who first went to work at the age of twelve, "to bring a few extra pennies into the house", ran a fruit shop whilst working in the evenings as the compère at the Talk of the Town club during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. One day he was confronted by two men who stuck a Browning pistol in his face and demanded to know: "Are you married to a Fenian?" Walker later recalled, "Protestants and Catholics drank together in the Talk of the Town – integration happened in front of my eyes every night. As a Protestant myself, I had lots of Catholic friends – the Army had been full of them. Bob Hope said you should never admit to anything and that day I didn't. But then I was told: 'We're giving everyone 24 hours – that's you and them Fenian lovers across the street.' I got one of the cards I'd used for the apple prices and on the back I wrote: 'The owner of this shop served Queen and country for six years'. I stuck it in the window, closed up and walked down the Woodstock Road for the last time."^[3]

The shop was then firebombed and Walker fled with his family to England where he toured as a professional comedian, in working men's clubs and cabaret.^[1][3]

""I'd been 'Mr Belfast' but in Sunderland I had to wait by the phone at nine o'clock hoping that some other poor comic had been paid off after his first act. That seven quid got me my digs."

—Walker talking about his move to England^[3]

Career[link]

Walker came to fame in 1977 when he won the ITV talent show New Faces, receiving the highest mark ever given to a comedian.^[1] He was also a regular on the 1970s ITV stand-up comedy show The Comedians.^[4] He appeared on the BBC show Seaside Special on 15 July 1978.^[5] Also in 1978 he appeared in two episodes of Blackpool Bonanza.^[6] In 1984 he appeared in an episode of the comedy series The Main Attraction.^[6]

Walker is most famous for the game show Catchphrase, which he co-hosted with his computer character friend that he created, Mr Chips, from 1986 to 1999. Walker coined his own catchphrases for the show: "Say what you see", and "It's good, but it's not right".^[3] On 12 June 1994, he appeared on Surprise, Surprise.^[7] Other television appearances in the 1990s included You Bet!, Gagtat, Light Lunch, Wipeout (celebrity special) and TV Nightmares.^[6]

Walker appeared as himself in the first episode of Phoenix Nights on 14 January 2001. In 2002, he took part in the comedy game show "It's Only TV... But I Like It" and also appeared on Harry Hill's TV Burp.^[6]

In 2004, he appeared in the third series of the reality television series I'm Famous and Frightened! on Living. In 2005, Walker appeared as Monsignor in the romantic drama film The Jealous God, which was released on 9 September. On 4 March 2006, he was the Northern Ireland Regional Presenter in the UK's Eurovision Song Contest selection show Making Your Mind Up. On 12 August 2006, he appeared in an episode entitled The Comics of the documentary The Story of Light Entertainment. And on 14 October, he appeared on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.^[6] He appeared on The Paul O'Grady Show in 2006 with Frank Carson as mystery guests, they were in disguise in the audience.^{[citation needed]}

On 19 February 2007, he was a guest on the Irish chat show, The Podge and Rodge Show on RTÉ. And on 30 November, he was a guest on the day time chat show Loose Women.

In 2008, Walker was a guest on The Alan Titchmarsh Show. He presented a six-part comedy series for BBC Radio Ulster, The Way We Tell 'Em, as well as appearing on Ready Steady Cook on 5 June 2008. On 10 June, Walker appeared on Big Brother's Big Mouth as a secret special guest. Walker is a noted after dinner speaker and in June 2008 spoke and presented awards at the AIS^{[clarification needed]} Presidents Launch at the Dorchester Hotel in London. In 2008, he performed at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival in his own one hour show entitled Goodbye Mr Chips debuting on 31 July, his 68th birthday.^[3] He was also team captain on the first series of the BBC Radio 4 panel game Act Your Age.

Walker has appeared (in pre-recorded audiobite form) on The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1, in features called "Car Park Catchphrase" and "Beep Beep Busters", a spoof of the game show Catchphrase.

Walker starred in the Churchill Insurance adverts, alongside model Megan Hall, seen at an Indian restaurant with the Churchill Dog in 2009. On 26 May 2009, he appeared on the Britain's Got Talent show Britain's Got More Talent. Also in 2009, he appeared in a celebrity edition of the reality cookery show Come Dine With Me, which aired on 1 November - in which he came first. The other contestants were Most Haunted presenter Yvette Fielding, Natasha Hamilton of pop group Atomic Kitten, and former Coronation Street actor Bruce Jones.

It was announced in April 2012 that Walker is set to host the Big Comedy Gala in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Also during April 2012, Walker became the face of SafeNet at a security exhibition.

Personal life[link]

Walker currently lives in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. He has three children with his now deceased wife Jean, who died of cancer in 1989.^[3] He was admitted to Clifton Hospital in early October 2011 following a suspected mini-stroke. Walker was discharged in good health the following day.

Cultural references[link]

A track on Belle & Sebastian's 2003 album Dear Catastrophe Waitress is named after Walker.^[8]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Roy Walker at the Internet Movie Database

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (January 2011)

Simon Amstell
Simon Amstell at One Big Laugh, Bloomsbury Theatre, 2006.
Born	Simon Marc Amstell (1979-11-29) 29 November 1979 (age 32)[1] Gants Hill, London, England
Occupation	Stand-up comedian Television presenter Script writer, actor
Years active	1993–present
Website
simonamstell.co.uk

Simon Marc Amstell (born 29 November 1979 in Gants Hill, London) is a BAFTA-nominated,^[2] award-winning English comedian, television presenter, screenwriter and actor, best known for his roles as former co-host of Popworld, former host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and co-writer and star of the sitcom Grandma's House.

Early life[link]

Amstell was born in east London in 1979 and was raised in Gants Hill, London, in a Jewish family. He was educated at Beal High School, a state comprehensive school in Ilford, London. When he appeared on Family Catchphrase, his aunt Kim mentioned that he was the eldest of four siblings.

Life and career[link]

Amstell's first television appearance was in 1993 when he appeared as a contestant on the Channel 4 game show GamesMaster.^[3][4][5] He also appeared on Good Morning with Anne and Nick performing an impression of Dame Edna Everage,^[6]. In 1994, he appeared in an episode of Family Catchphrase, describing himself as a budding magician and showing one of his tricks to the show's presenter Andrew O'Connor, himself a magician.^[7][8][9] Amstell and his family won a television and a video recorder.

Amstell started performing on the comedy circuit when he was in his early teens and later became the youngest finalist to appear in the BBC New Comedy Awards. His first professional television appearance was in 1998 as a presenter on the UK children's channel Nickelodeon. He claims he was sacked for being "sarcastic and mean to children"^[10] although the potted biography on his website also, in jest, claims:

"He started his TV career at Nickoledeon where he was fired for making pop stars uncomfortable. He then began presenting the Channel 4 show, Popworld – where he gained a huge following for his groundbreaking work in making pop stars uncomfortable."^[11]

His sexual orientation (openly gay) and Jewish-influenced upbringing occasionally figure in his work.^[12][13][14]

[edit] Popworld

From 2000 to 2006, Amstell presented Popworld on Channel 4 with Miquita Oliver. He voiced the characters "Timothy the Popworld melon" and "Richard the Popworld horse" and developed a highly ironic, surreal and left-field style which gained the show a cult following but angered many of its guests. One example was a mock interview with singer Lemar called "Lemar From Afar" in which Amstell shouted questions into a megaphone from one end of the world's largest car park while Lemar stood at the other end. Another was a "Si-chiatrist" interview with Luke Pritchard and Hugh Harris of The Kooks in which Amstell played the role of psychiatrist and Pritchard and Harris his patients. During his time presenting Popworld, Amstell was at the centre of several controversies, including making Britney Spears cry after asking her if she thought she'd "gone a bit nuts".^[15]

[edit] Never Mind the Buzzcocks

Amstell first appeared on the comedy pop quiz show Never Mind the Buzzcocks as a guest during Mark Lamarr's tenure as host, in 2003 and 2005. Following Lamarr's departure, he was one of the series' guest hosts before being appointed as permanent host beginning in October 2006. He said at the time that he hoped to beat "the universal, exceptionless rule that when a new host takes over an old show it is a horrible, embarrassing disaster".^[16]

In June 2007, Amstell and long-term collaborator Dan Swimer wrote Imagine... A Mildly Amusing Panel Show, a spoof version of Alan Yentob's arts programme Imagine. Yentob and Amstell play themselves in a mock interview between what a number of commentators described as "overtly sexual"^{[citation needed]} clips taken from Amstell's Never Mind the Buzzcocks episodes. It was followed in February 2008 by Never Mind the Buzzcocks: A Moving Tribute, which jokingly implied that Amstell had either died or retired from the show.

On 25 April 2009, Amstell announced via his internet mailing list that he would not be hosting another series of Never Mind the Buzzcocks because of his desire to instead concentrate on his live tours and stand-up performances.^[17]

Amstell won several awards for his work on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. In March 2007, he won the 2006 Royal Television Society Award for Best Entertainment Performance.^[18] In December 2007, he won two British Comedy Awards for Best Comedy Entertainment Personality and Best Comedy Entertainment Series for Never Mind the Buzzcocks. In addition, Never Mind the Buzzcocks won the Best Entertainment Programme^[19] award at the Broadcast Awards 2008. Amstell's era was the reason why Never Mind the Buzzcocks was chosen as the 36th-best TV show of the decade by The Times.^[20]

Writing and acting[link]

Amstell co-wrote an episode of Channel 4 teen drama Skins in 2007, entitled "Maxxie and Anwar".

In 2009, BBC2 commissioned a six-part series entitled Grandma's House from Tiger Aspect Productions, written by and starring Amstell, co-written by Dan Swimer. The show was commissioned after the airing of a pilot earlier the same year. Filming started in February 2010^[21] and broadcasting began in August 2010.

In 2011, Amstell appeared in the independent film Black Pond.^[22]

In April 2012, the second series of Grandma's House began airing.

Stand-up[link]

Amstell also performs as a stand-up comedian. He has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009. He has also appeared at the Carling Festivals in the Cabaret and Comedy Tent for the last two years. In 2008, Amstell completed his first UK tour. He appeared at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal in July 2009. His entire run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2009 at the Bongo Club sold out. He took part in his second national tour in the autumn of 2009.^[23]

Amstell performed Do Nothing in 2009 at the Royal Court Theatre, raising money for their young writers programme.

In May 2010, Amstell recorded Do Nothing in Dublin's Vicar Street venue for a November DVD release. In December 2011 and April 2012, it was shown on BBC3 and the BBC iPlayer.^[24]

In April 2012, Amstell will be performing at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. From May to June 2012, he will be touring the UK. Amstell is calling the tour Numb.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Simon Amstell

• Official website
• Simon Amstell at the Internet Movie Database
• Simon Amstell at KBJ Management
• Simon Amstell on Chortle