Simon William Day (born 7 June 1962) is an English

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

and actor known for his roles in the sketch show ''

The Fast Show ''The Fast Show'', also known as ''Brilliant'' in the United States, is a BBC comedy sketch show that ran on BBC Two, BBC 2 from 1994 to 1997, with specials in 2000 and 2014. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Si ...

'' and the sitcom ''

Grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

''.

Career

Day was born in Blackheath, London, and rose to fame as a stand-up comic, winning the '' Time Out'' new act of the year in 1991 with his music hall character Tommy Cockles. He then appeared on the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

show ''Paramount City'' as a weekly guest. He continued working live all over England before joining up with

Vic Reeves James Roderick Moir (born 24 January 1959), commonly known by his stage name Vic Reeves, is an English comedian and artist. He has a double act with Bob Mortimer as Reeves & Mortimer. He is known for his surreal sense of humour. In 2003, Ree ...

and

Bob Mortimer Robert Renwick Mortimer (born 23 May 1959) is an English comedian, author, television presenter, writer and actor. He is one half of the comedy double act Reeves and Mortimer with Jim Moir, Vic Reeves, and appears in the ''Mortimer & Whitehouse ...

for two tours and two series of '' Big Night Out''. He continued to work with Vic Reeves throughout the 1990s. In 1993, he was a cast regular in '' Saturday Zoo'',

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's Saturday night extravaganza, in which he appeared as groundbreaking white rapper Ice Pick. His other TV credits include '' Heartbeat'', ''

Jonathan Creek ''Jonathan Creek'' is a long-running British mystery fiction, mystery crime drama series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. It stars Alan Davies as the title character, who works as a creative consultant to a stage magician whi ...

'', '' Sensitive Skin'', ''

Love Soup ''Love Soup'' is a British television comedy drama produced by the BBC and first screened on BBC One in the autumn of 2005. It stars Tamsin Greig as Alice Chenery (a role written especially for her) and Michael Landes as Gil Raymond (series 1 on ...

'', '' Driving School'', and '' Skins''. His film credits include ''

Shakespeare in Love ''Shakespeare in Love'' is a 1998 period romantic comedy film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, and produced by Harvey Weinstein. It stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, B ...

'', as a ferryman on the Thames. In 2006, he collaborated with

Ambient house Ambient house is a downtempo subgenre of house music that first emerged in the late 1980s, combining elements of acid house and ambient music. The genre developed in chill-out rooms and specialist clubs as part of the UK's dance music scene. It ...

band The Transit Kings on their song "The Last Lighthouse Keeper" which appears on their debut album '' Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God''. In 2008, Day embarked on his first solo UK stand-up tour, titled 'What a Fool Believes', which saw him play 36 dates during the period 30 October – 15 December, including

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. In 2009, Day collaborated again with Rhys Thomas and wrote and starred in a web series of six videos as the character Brian Pern for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. In 2010, Day appeared in the long-running BBC TV series '' Hustle'', playing Luke Baincross, a wannabe playboy with a huge country mansion. In May 2010, Day played a hospital porter in BBC TV series ''

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a Spin-off (media), spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' ...

'' on his last day at work following his resignation having won the National Lottery. He had an altercation with a patient's relative and received a bang on the head, and he became increasingly lairy during the episode, at one point making a pass at Connie Beauchamp; some people assumed he was drunk, but it transpired that he had developed a

Subdural hematoma A subdural hematoma (SDH) is a type of bleeding in which a collection of blood—usually but not always associated with a traumatic brain injury—gathers between the inner layer of the dura mater and the arachnoid mater of the meninges surrou ...

as a result of the knock on the head. Day has appeared as a pundit on the long-running

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

Sports Pundit Quiz '' Fighting Talk'' on a number of occasions, and is most notable for swearing during a live broadcast during a show in 2009. This was later edited out on the podcast version of the show. Day appeared in an online-only version of ''The Fast Show'' sponsored by Lager brand Fosters on 10 November 2011 along with original cast save for Mark Williams. In 2012, he published his autobiography, ''Comedy and Error: They Really Were Marvellous Times''. Day has presented his own series, ''The Simon Day Show'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

in May to June 2012. From 2014 to 2017, he co-wrote and starred in the spoof-documentary series '' Brian Pern'', a

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

comedy which parodied the life and career of former

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

singer

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

. In 2015 Day appeared as Charlie Beckett in the BBC TV series '' Death in Paradise'' episode 4.2. In 2019 he appeared as Sid Onslow, a pub landlord, in '' Pennyworth''. Day starred as Big Gary King, father of Tom Davis' titular character in the

sitcom '' King Gary,'' appearing in the 2018 pilot episode and the full series broadcast in 2020. Day reprised his ''Fast Show'' character 'Dave Angel, Eco Warrior' in 2023 in energy usage advertising.

Personal life

Day was addicted to

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

drugs A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...

and

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

, and spent some time in

borstal A borstal is a type of youth detention centre. Such a detention centre is more commonly known as a borstal school in India, where they remain in use today. Until the late 20th century, borstals were present in the United Kingdom, several mem ...

for theft during his teenage years. He continued to take illegal drugs including

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

and

crack cocaine Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be Smoking, smoked. Crack offers a short, intense Euphoria (emotion), high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Sub ...

into the 1990s at the height of his ''Fast Show'' fame. After failing to pass his driving test for charity during the 2003 Comic Relief Programme, Day later went on to gain an automatic driving licence. He is married to Ruth, a former waitress, with whom he has two children, Lloyd and Evie.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Japanese site with pictures of characters he plays
{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Simon 1962 births Alumni of the University of East Anglia BBC Radio 4 presenters English stand-up comedians English sketch comedians Comedians from the Royal Borough of Greenwich English autobiographers Living people Actors from the Royal Borough of Greenwich Male actors from London English male comedians People from Blackheath, London