Michael Legge (born 12 August 1968) is a London-based Northern-Irish stand-up

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 television host.

Career

He has written 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 ...

, ITV,

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 ...

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

and other media, and has appeared in numerous venues throughout the UK as well as in Australia, United States, Canada,

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, Germany and

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

. Legge began performing in 1991 along with writer Stella Duffy and fellow comedian John Gordillo in the London version of the improvised comedy stage show ''

Theatresports Theatresports is a form of improvisational theatre, which uses the format of a competition for dramatic effect. Opposing teams can perform scenes based on audience suggestions, with ratings by the audience or by a panel of judges. Developed by di ...

''. He became Artistic Director of London

in 1995 and performed in their popular weekly show, ''Scriptease'', at the

Tristan Bates Theatre Sir Alan Arthur Bates (17 February 1934 – 27 December 2003) was an English actor who came to prominence in the Cinema of the United Kingdom#The 1960s, 1960s, when he appeared in films ranging from ''Whistle Down the Wind (film), Whistle Down ...

. He has performed in several Edinburgh Festival shows including ''The Conversation'' (2004) with John Voce, ''

The Vagina Monologues ''The Vagina Monologues'' is an episodic play written in 1996 by Eve Ensler which developed and premiered at HERE Arts Center, Off-Off-Broadway in New York and was followed by an Off-Broadway run at the Westside Theatre. The play explores ...

'' (2005), ''The Clock Hour'' (2008) and ''King of Everything'' (2009) with Johnny Candon. Legge co-founded and performed in the cult comedy sketch show ''The Real Daniel O'Donnell Show'' (2007–2008) at The Albany, London. The monthly show featured Legge along with Paul Litchfield and Jeremy Limb of sketch group The Trap and Margaret Cabourn-Smith and Zoe Gardner of The Congress of Oddities, with contributions from Dan Mersh. It also regularly featured stand-up comedian guests and live bands. ''The Real Daniel O'Donnell Show'' spawned the 2008 Edinburgh Festival show ''The Clock Hour''. Legge was nominated for a

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

award for his writing on the

website of the show ''

The Osbournes ''The Osbournes'' is an American reality television series featuring the domestic life of heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne and his family—his wife Sharon, their daughter Kelly, and their son Jack. The series premiered on MTV on March 5, 200 ...

''. His blog won the 2009 Chortle award for Best Off-Stage Contribution. Legge also co-hosted a podcast called '' Precious Little Podcast'' with James Hingley. The podcast regularly featured Legge shouting at everything. Although not officially declared dead, the podcast has been on hiatus since April 2011 and the content removed from the website. Through the podcast, Legge occasionally filled in for

Richard Herring Richard Keith Herring (born 12 July 1967) is an English stand-up comedian and writer whose early work includes the comedy double act Lee and Herring (alongside Stewart Lee). He is described by ''The British Theatre Guide'' as "one of the leadin ...

on his

BBC 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...

radio show with Andrew Collins. After Martin White left, Legge co-hosted ''The

Dave Gorman David James Gorman (born 2 March 1971) is an English comedian, presenter, and writer. Gorman began his career writing for comedy series such as '' The Mrs Merton Show'' (1993–1998) and ''The Fast Show'' (1994–1997), and later garnered a ...

Show'' on

Absolute Radio Absolute Radio is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts nationally across the UK via digital audio broadcasting. The station focuses on alternative ...

alongside Gorman and

Danielle Ward Danielle Claire Ward is a British stand-up comedian and writer. Early life and education Danielle Claire Ward was born and raised in Nottingham. She graduated from university in 2004. Career Early career Ward worked as an economic researche ...

. Legge's first solo show was ''Curse

Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellio ...

'', which debuted at the Edinburgh Festival in 2011. In 2012 Legge produced ''What A Shame'', which he recorded for a future album release in March 2013. Legge has also recorded ''Pointless Anger, Righteous Ire'', an improvised show alongside

Robin Ince Robin Ince (born 20 February 1969) is an English comedian, actor and writer. He is known for presenting the BBC radio show '' The Infinite Monkey Cage'' with physicist Brian Cox, creating Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, co-creatin ...

. He is a team captain on Danielle Ward's comedy podcast '' Do the Right Thing'', alongside Margaret Cabourn-Smith. For

Comic Relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

in March 2013, Legge wrote a blog continuously for 25 hours, raising more than £2,500 for the charity. In 2014, Legge appeared in the second series of ''

The Alternative Comedy Experience ''The Alternative Comedy Experience'' is a stand-up comedy show that premiered on 5 February 2013 on the Comedy Central channel in the UK. It features live comedy shows, filmed in July 2012 at The Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh, and behind-the-sc ...

''. Legge started the podcast ''Vitriola Music'' in 2015 with fellow comedian

. Legge has also performed warm-up for television shows such as ''

8 Out of 10 Cats ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' (stylised as ''8 out of 10 CATS'') is a British comedy panel show that aired from 3 June 2005 to 17 January 2021. It was first broadcast on Channel 4 from 2005 to 2015, then More4 from 2016 to 2017, and finally E4 from ...

'', '' Would I Lie to You?'' and many others. Before becoming a professional

, Legge featured in several TV commercials.

Personal life

Legge is a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

. In 2015, he pulled out of a performance at Vegfest because a representative from

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

would also be at the same event.

References

External links

Legge's blog

List of credits on ComedyCV

Chortle page, including upcoming gigs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Legge, Michael Male comedians from Northern Ireland Living people 1968 births People from Newtownards Comedy writers from Northern Ireland Humorists from Northern Ireland Stand-up comedians from Northern Ireland Television writers from Northern Ireland British male television writers 20th-century comedians from Northern Ireland 21st-century comedians from Northern Ireland