James Daniel Smallman is a stand-up comedian, radio presenter,

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

promoter, blogger and

voice-over artist Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

. Smallman attended school in

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England. It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in the administrative county of Leicestershire, after Leicester and Lough ...

, and went on to

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was ta ...

, graduating with a first-class Honours degree in

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

Career

Smallman first entered into comedy at the age of 27, whilst working at the head office of

Next plc Next plc (styled as NEXT) is a British multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, which has its headquarters in Enderby, England. It has around 700 stores, of which circa 500 are in the United Kingdom, and circa 200 across Eu ...

. He attended a 12-week comedy workshop to help him with his nerves whilst giving presentations, which led to his decision to engage in comedy on a professional level. In 2006, Smallman was a finalist in the Laughing Horse New Act of the Year competition. He was also a finalist in the Leicester Mercury/Equity New Comedian of the Year 2007. In 2009, his first hour-long show, ''The Boy Next Door Gone Wrong'', was nominated for the Best Debut Show at the

Leicester Comedy Festival The Leicester Comedy Festival is an annual comedy festival held in a number of venues across Leicester, England early in the year. History The festival started in 1994 with 40 events in 23 venues over 7 days throughout Leicestershire, attracti ...

. In 2010 he picked up two awards at the

Hollywood Fringe Festival The Hollywood Fringe Festival is an annual fringe theatre festival in Hollywood, California. Most indoor venues for the festival are in and around Hollywood Theatre Row, a stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. Founder Ben Hill s ...

: Best International Show and Best Comedy performance, both for ''The Boy Next Door Gone Wrong''. He also became the Saturday morning presenter at

BBC Radio Leicester BBC Radio Leicester is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at St Nicholas Place in Leicester. According to RAJAR, the stat ...

. In 2011, Jim took his second full-length show 'Tattooligan' to the

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

. As a publicity stunt he had the show title tattooed across his stomach, and for the year was a columnist for Skin Deep magazine. In 2012 he made his first appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live's

Fighting Talk ''Fighting Talk'' is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live during the English football season. The show is broadcast on Saturday mornings for an hour between 1100 and 1200 and is based on a similar format to the ESPN show ''Around ...

, before taking his third full-length show 'Let's Be Friends' to the

. In both 2011 and 2012 Smallman performed at

The Gilded Balloon Gilded Balloon is a producer and promoter of live entertainment events, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and best known as one of the Big Four venue operators at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August. The company has its origins in a venue kno ...

. 'Tattooligan' was filmed as a DVD / digital download in September 2011 in Leicester. From 2013 to 2015, Smallman voiced the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney General ...

series

Car SOS ''Car SOS'' is a British automotive entertainment television series that airs on National Geographic Channel as well as being repeated on Channel 4 and More4. The series began in 2013 and is presented by Tim Shaw and Fuzz Townshend. Tim and Fu ...

. 2013 saw further appearances on Fighting Talk, plus a weekly news review slot called 'All the Small Things" on

XFM Radio X is a British National commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. Radio X launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station, a licensed London-wide station in 1997 and nationally in 2015 ...

, while Smallman also supported

Mick Foley Michael Francis Foley (born June 7, 1965) is an American actor, author, retired professional wrestler, and color commentator. He is currently signed to WWE under the company's Legends program, acting as a company ambassador. Foley worked for ...

on his stand-up comedy tour. His 2015 show "My Girls", about Smallman's wife and daughter, was nominated for best new show at the Dave Leicester Comedy Festival and will have a full run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Smallman also runs a football blog called The Football Neutral.

Wrestling

Smallman is heavily involved in professional wrestling, and is the co-founder and former ring announcer of

PROGRESS Wrestling Progress Wrestling (stylized as PROGRESS) is a British professional wrestling promotion that was established in 2011 by comedian Jim Smallman, events and comedy promoter Jon Briley, and later, actor Glen Robinson (professionally known as Glen J ...

. He previously hosted a weekly wrestling magazine show called 'The Slam' which aired on Sports Tonight Live and now hosts 'Tuesday Night Jaw', a weekly podcast focused on the world of wrestling, with a main focus on WWE NXT UK and his own company, PROGRESS. In 2013, he supported both

and

William Regal Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is known for his over 20 years spent in WWE, as both a performer and an on-screen authority, and for his t ...

on their stand-up tours of the UK. On 2 August 2019 Smallman revealed that Chapter 100 would be the last show he produces for PROGRESS, citing his increasing production role with NXT UK.

Personal life

Smallman has been

straight edge Straight edge (sometimes abbreviated sXe or signified by XXX or X) is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs, in reaction to the excesses of punk subculture. For some, t ...

since 1998 and a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

since the start of 2018. He was a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat ( red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetaria ...

prior to becoming vegan. He lives in North

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

with his wife, has a daughter from a previous relationship (born 2003) and a son (born 2016). Smallman is heavily tattooed, with several of his designs representing publicity stunts, including a portrait of Northern Irish comedian Martin Mor on his upper right arm as the result of a lost bet. He also has designs representing his love of video games and

trainers Sneakers (also called trainers, athletic shoes, tennis shoes, gym shoes, kicks, sport shoes, flats, running shoes, or runners) are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but which are now also widely used fo ...

as well as portraits of

and

Ron Burgundy The ''Anchorman'' series is a media franchise initially consisting of three American comedy films – '' Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy'', '' Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie'' (both 2004), and '' Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues'' ( ...

Television appearances

* ''

Midlands Today ''Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the West Midlands. It was launched in 1964 and is presented by Mary Rhodes, Nick Owen, Elizabeth Glinka, Rebecca Wood and Shefali Oza. Overview ''Midlands Today'' is pro ...

'' – BBC One Midlands, 2009 * ''

The Big Questions ''The Big Questions'' is an interfaith dialogue and ethics television programme usually presented by Nicky Campbell. It is broadcast live on BBC One on Sunday mornings, replacing '' The Heaven and Earth Show'' as the BBC's religious discussion ...

'' –

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

, 2010 * ''Talking Balls – Sports Tonight'', 2011–12 * ''The Slam – Sports Tonight'', 2012 * ''

'' –

, 2013–15 (narrator) * ''Console Yourself'' -

Ginx TV Ginx TV, officially GINX Esports TV (stylised as GiПX ESPORTSTV), is a United Kingdom-based media group specialised in esports. Founded in 2007, it develops and operates media businesses dedicated to gaming and esports for its international ...

, 2014 * ''

Trans World Sport ''Trans World Sport'' (TWS), originally stylised ''Transworld Sport'' (still used in some television listings and electronic programme guides) is a sports-orientated television programme produced by IMG Media in London, England. It is shown wo ...

'' -

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, 2014 * ''BBC News'' -

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, 2015

Radio

– 2009–11, presenter * ''Live at the Boat Show'',

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British Digital radio in the United Kingdom, digital radio broadcasting, radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a ...

– 2011, host * ''

'', BBC Radio 5 Live – 2012–present, guest * ''The

Jo Good Jo Good is a British broadcaster. Career A radio 'anorak' since her early teens, Jo joined the radio industry straight out of school, aged 17. At this point she moved from Alnwick, Northumberland to Manchester. Working first as a travel reporte ...

Show'',

– 2013–2014, contributor * ''The Unequal Past'',

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

- 2015, presenter

References

External links

Official Website

Jim Smallman on Twitter

Jim Smallman Facebook Fanpage

Jim Smallman on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smallman, Jim English stand-up comedians Living people 1978 births People from Leicester Professional wrestling executives Professional wrestling announcers Professional wrestling promoters Progress Wrestling