- published: 23 Mar 2015
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Ash Atalla (born 18 June 1972) is an Egyptian-born British television producer responsible for producing several British TV series such as The IT Crowd (in which he has cameoed), The Office and Man Stroke Woman. He has also made cameo appearances in productions such as Ricky Gervais' Politics.
Atalla made his first appearance on TV in 1999 when he co-presented a Channel 4 series on disability, Freak Out. In 2007, Atalla set up Roughcut TV, an independent production company. Atalla and Roughcut produced Trinity for ITV2 in 2008. Roughcut TV has since produced multiple shows for all the UK's major broadcasters, including Trollied (Sky 1), Cuckoo (BBC Three), World's Craziest Fools - Starring Mr. T (BBC Three), Anna & Katy (Channel 4), People Just Do Nothing (BBC Three), Mad Mad World (ITV 1) and Top Coppers (BBC Three). Roughcut also released its first iOS app in January 2013 - The Official Mr. T app.
Atalla developed polio as a baby, and uses a wheelchair. He was born into a middle-class family in Cairo. He emigrated to London due to his father's job.
Monty Python (sometimes known as The Pythons) were a British surreal comedy group who created the sketch comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus, that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four seasons. The Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and impact, spawning touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books, and a stage musical. The group's influence on comedy has been compared to The Beatles' influence on music.
Broadcast by the BBC between 1969 and 1974, Flying Circus was conceived, written, and performed by its members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Loosely structured as a sketch show, but with an innovative stream-of-consciousness approach (aided by Gilliam's animation), it pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content. A self-contained comedy team responsible for both writing and performing their work, the Pythons had creative control which allowed them to experiment with form and content, discarding rules of television comedy. Their influence on British comedy has been apparent for years, while in North America, it has coloured the work of cult performers from the early editions of Saturday Night Live through to more recent absurdist trends in television comedy. "Pythonesque" has entered the English lexicon as a result.
Ricky Dene Gervais (/dʒərˈveɪz/; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, director, producer, writer and former pop singer and manager.
Gervais worked initially in the music industry, attempting a career as a pop star in the 1980s as the singer of the new wave act Seona Dancing and working as the manager of the then-unknown band Suede before turning to comedy. Gervais appeared on The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4 between 1998 and 2000. In 2000, he was given a Channel 4 talk show, Meet Ricky Gervais, and then achieved greater mainstream fame a year later with his BBC television series The Office. It was followed by Extras in 2005. He co-wrote and co-directed both series with Stephen Merchant. In addition to writing and directing the shows, he played the lead roles of David Brent in The Office and Andy Millman in Extras. He will reprise his role as Brent in the upcoming comedy film Life on the Road.
He has also starred in the Hollywood films Ghost Town, and Muppets Most Wanted, and wrote, directed and starred in The Invention of Lying and the upcoming Special Correspondents. He has performed on four stand-up comedy tours and written the Flanimals book series. Gervais also starred with Merchant and Karl Pilkington in the podcast The Ricky Gervais Show, which has spawned various spin-offs starring Pilkington and produced by Gervais and Merchant. He hosted the Golden Globe Awards in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2016.