The Nimmo Twins are a
sketch comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...
duo from
Norfolk
Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
,
UK comprising Owen Evans and Karl Minns. First working together in 1996 in
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
, they came to national attention after their show ''Posh Spice Nude'' was a sell-out success at the 1997
Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...
, and
they became regulars on
Radio 4's ''Loose Ends'' programme with
Ned Sherrin
Edward George Sherrin (18 February 1931 – 1 October 2007) was an English broadcaster, author and stage director. He qualified as a barrister and then worked in independent television before joining the BBC. He appeared in a variety of r ...
. The duo returned to Edinburgh in 1998 and 1999, and have performed internationally.
Career
Owen Evans was raised in Cromer and attended the
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. In ...
(LAMDA) where he studied with the Moscow Arts Theatre school. As an actor, he has appeared in innumerable plays and theatre productions. He has also appeared in television adverts for
Daewoo
Daewoo ( ; ; ; ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "''dae''" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerate) and aut ...
Cars,
NatWest
National Westminster Bank, trading as NatWest, is a major Retail banking, retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the Corporate merger, merger of National Provincial Bank and We ...
,
Ikea
IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services.
IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...
, and Flora.
As a stand-up comedian, Karl Minns won the
Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...
Open Mic Award in 2001 and played the Montreal and Melbourne Comedy Festivals before returning to Edinburgh in 2002 in ''Comedy Clone'' with
Nina Conti and Patrick Monaghan. The Nimmo Twins then became the face of
Adnams Beer in Norfolk in TV radio and billboard adverts for two years.
The Twins got their start with the Crude Apache Theatre Company. After their 1997 Edinburgh Festival show they made appearances on
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 ...
's ''
Stand Up Show''.
Minns has written plays, comedies, and musicals for both stage and radio. As a television writer he has written for
Karen Taylor,
Laura Solon, and
Phil Nichol. He wrote the TV sitcom pilot ''Moonmonkeys'' starring
Karl Theobald and
Dan Antopoloski. He also wrote a weekly column for the
Norwich Evening News
The ''Norwich Evening News'' is a daily local newspaper published in Norwich, Norfolk, England. It covers the city and the surrounding suburbs, and is published by Archant. It is the best-selling newspaper in Norwich. As of 28 February 2011 the ...
from 2002 to 2007. He was awarded the EDF Regional Columnist of The Year in January 2007. He was also nominated for the
Press Gazette
''Press Gazette'', formerly known as ''UK Press Gazette'' (UKPG), is a British trade magazine dedicated to journalism and the press. First published in 1965, it had a circulation of about 2,500 before becoming online-only in 2013. Published wit ...
Media Awards Regional Columnist of the year in the same year.
The Nimmo Twins briefly expanded to a trio in 1999 with the introduction of
Andrew McGibbon, who performed with them during the spring and summer of that year.
The first Radio 4 comedy series ''The Nimmo Twins in...'' was broadcast in 2000 on
BBC 7. Episodes included: ''A Stiff Upper Lip'' - a tale of a
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...
gentleman without a beard; and ''Lord of the Onion Rings'' - the tale of a
Tolkien-obsessed man who works in a
petrol
Gasoline (North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formul ...
station. Their second series, ''The Rapid Eye Movement'', about the troupe of actors performing a man's nightly dreams, starred
Martin Freeman
Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won two Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
Freeman's most ...
,
Chris Langham
Christopher Langham (born 14 April 1949) is an English writer, actor, and comedian. He is known for playing the cabinet minister Hugh Abbot in the BBC sitcom ''The Thick of It'', and as presenter Roy Mallard in '' People Like Us'', first on ...
and
Kevin Eldon. The show ran for three series until 2005. The second series was nominated for the Douglas Adams Award for Radio Comedy in 2003.
Minns wrote the show ''Mouth to Mouth'', for BBC3, a series of six interlinking monologues, whose stories intersected until the whole overall story was told. The Stage described it as an "intricately-plotted love hexagon... superb and understated".
As a writer and performer, Minns has also contributed to two series of ''
Russell Howard's Good News
''Russell Howard's Good News'' is a British comedy and topical news television show which was broadcast on BBC Three between 2009 and 2014, and on BBC Two between 2014 and 2015. Hosted by comedian Russell Howard, it offered his commentary on th ...
'' on BBC3, credited as Programme Associate alongside Dan Atkinson and Steve Williams. The first series aired in winter 2009, the second series ran from March to May 2010. The programme is now in its seventh series with Minns now credited as writer. Minns is also credited as a writer on
Spitting Image (2020).
Karl has been writing comedy professionally for nearly twenty years, also providing material for Loose Ends, Charlie Brooker, Unspun with Matt Forde, Al Murray the Pub Landlord and Have I Got News For You, amongst others.
Live shows
In their native Norfolk, Evans and Minns are best known for their yearly sketch show, ''
Normal for Norfolk'', which in ten years grew from a pub show to a performance at the Norwich Playhouse, playing to over 4500 people over Christmas 2005.
In the early hours of 14 December 2007, Karl Minns was attacked while walking home after a performance at the city's Playhouse. He was badly injured, suffering a broken arm and fractured skull. The duo were forced to cancel the remainder of their shows for the year.
Normal for Norfolk Show titles:
* Normal for Norfolk - (1996)
* Normal for Norfolk 2 - (1997) - "The Coypu Strikes Back"
* Normal for Norfolk 3 - (1998) - "The Return of the Jed"
* Normal for Norfolk 4 - (1999) - "The Fakenham Menace"
* Normal for Norfolk 5 - (2000)
* Normal for Norfolk 6 - (2001) - "A Tough Caister Crack"
* Normal for Norfolk 7 - (2002) - "A Stewart White Christmas"
* Normal for Norfolk 8 - (2003) - "Nickers Off Ready When I Come Home"
* Normal for Norfolk 9 - (2004) -
* Normal for Norfolk 10 - (2005) - "Topless Mardling"
* Normal for Norfolk 11 - (2007) - "Bat Out Of Hellesdon"
* Normal for Norfolk 12 - (2014) - "Fritton's Got Talent"
* Normal for Norfolk 13 - (2016) - "The Country Members"
* Normal for Norfolk xx - (2022) - "Holt? Who Goes There?" (25th Anniversary Show)
* Normal for Norfolk xx - (2023) - "Holt? We Went There!" (Retrospective with new material tryouts for 2024)
* Normal for Norfolk xx - (2024) - "If You Tolerate Diss, Then Your Children Will Be Next"
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nimmo Twins, The
People from Norwich
English male comedians
BBC Radio comedy programmes
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)