Mick Miller (born 25 February 1950 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England) is an English

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical acts. These performances are typically composed of rehear ...

who has had a long career on the live comedy circuit and has a trademark haircut of a bald head with long hair down the sides.

Early days

Miller was born as Michael Lawton on 25 February 1950 in Liverpool. Miller's first ambition was to be a footballer. He played as a goalkeeper, and as a boy he signed for

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

when Sir

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English Association football, footballer who played as an Forward (association football)#Outside forward, outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the Br ...

was the club's general

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and had a trial for the England youth team. However, at he was too small. He was given a free transfer to Sandbach Ramblers and later played for

Winsford United Winsford United Football Club are a football club based in Winsford, Cheshire, England. The club was founded in 1883, they're nicknamed ''The Blues'' and their home ground is ''Barton Stadium''. Their all-time top scorer is Perry Plowman with 25 ...

ahead of

Neville Southall Neville Southall (born 16 September 1958) is a Welsh Manager (association football), football manager and former international association football, footballer. He has been described as one of the best Goalkeeper (association football), goalk ...

. He worked as a crane driver during his time as a semi-professional footballer. When he left

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, he began performing at

Pontins Pontins is a British company operating holiday parks in the UK, founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. It was acquired by Britannia Hotels in 2011. Pontins specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays featuring entertainment at reso ...

, where he became interested in stand-up comedy. After being chief comedian at various Pontins venues, he moved to the

North of England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire. Officially, it is a gr ...

and began a career in the clubs.

Stand-up career

Having won his heat on the talent show ''

New Faces ''New Faces'' is a British television talent show that aired in the 1970s and 1980s. It has been hosted by Leslie Crowther, Derek Hobson and Marti Caine. It was produced for the ITV network by ATV, and later by Central. Original series: ...

'', Miller was then signed to support

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

on tour. Since then, he has been a regular at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

working men's club Working men's clubs are British private social clubs first created in the 19th century in industrial areas, particularly the North of England, Midlands, Scotland, Northern Ireland and South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education ...

s, cruises and after-dinner speeches. His shows have been released on DVD, and he has made many TV appearances.

Television appearances

Miller was a regular on the 1970s stand-up show '' The Comedians'', co-presented ''The Funny Side'', regularly appeared on ''Today With Des and Mel'' and has been a guest on ''

Blankety Blank ''Blankety Blank'' is a British comedy game show which first aired in 1979. The show is based on the American game show ''Match Game'', with contestants trying to match answers given by celebrity panellists to fill-in-the-blank questions. The ...

'', '' They Think It's All Over'' and ''Des O'Connor Tonight''. He acted in

Alan Bleasdale Alan George Bleasdale (born 23 March 1946) is an English screenwriter, best known for social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people. A former teacher, he has written for radio, stage and screen, and has also written novels ...

's 1978

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

''Scully's New Year''. In it, he played the part of a wannabe stand-up comedian. In 1993, Miller guested for Chester City in the Granada football ''Go for Goal'' quiz show alongside

Arthur Albiston Arthur Richard Albiston (born 14 July 1957) is a Scottish former footballer. Albiston played for Manchester United for most of his career, making almost 500 appearances for the club. He also made 14 international appearances for Scotland and was ...

and Joe Hinnigan. Chester City reached the final before losing to

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

. In 2005, he took part in the reality TV show ''Kings Of Comedy'' alongside

Stan Boardman Stanley Boardman (born 7 December 1937) is an English comedian. Early life and career Boardman was evacuated with his family to Wrexham during the Second World War, and after the family returned to their Merseyside home mistakenly thinking the ...

Janey Godley Jane Godley Currie (20 January 1961 – 2 November 2024), known professionally as Janey Godley, was a Scottish stand-up comedian, actress, writer and political activist. She began her stand-up career in 1994, and won various awards for her come ...

Andrew Maxwell Andrew Maxwell (born 3 December 1974) is an Irish comedian and narrator, known for narrating the MTV reality series '' Ex on the Beach''. Career In 1992, Maxwell tried stand-up comedy for the first time at the Comedy Cellar at The Internation ...

Boothby Graffoe Boothby Graffoe is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 223. It is situated approximately south from the city and county town of Lincoln, ...

and

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield''Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work; see is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to matur ...

. In 2008 and 2009, he made several appearances on the BBC3 sitcom ''

Ideal Ideal may refer to: Philosophy * Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals * Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato Mathematics * Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considered ...

'', as the father of

Johnny Vegas Michael Joseph Pennington (born 5 September 1970), better known as Johnny Vegas, is an English actor, comedian, director and writer. He is known for his thick Lancashire accent, husky voice, angry comedic rants, and use of surreal humour. Ve ...

's Moz. In 2011, he appeared on the ITV show ''Comedy Rocks'' with

Jason Manford Jason John Manford (born 26 May 1981) is an English comedian, presenter, actor and singer. Manford was a team captain on the Channel 4 panel show ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' from 2007 until 2010 and has presented numerous television shows for the BBC an ...

and, in December, he appeared on the

Royal Variety Performance The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal ...

. In 2015, he appeared in the first series of ''

Peter Kay's Car Share ''Peter Kay's Car Share'' is a British sitcom set around supermarket assistant manager John Redmond (Peter Kay) and promotions rep Kayleigh Kitson ( Sian Gibson), and their participation in a company car-sharing scheme. The first series was f ...

'' playing the character Tony in Episode 6, which was shown on BBC 1. As of April 2018, Miller was appearing in ITV's ''Last Laugh in Vegas''.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Mick 1950 births Living people English male comedians English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Port Vale F.C. players Winsford United F.C. players English television personalities Comedians from Liverpool