Paul Putner (born 18 March 1966) is an English actor and comedian.

Life and career

Putner was born in March 1966 in

East Grinstead East Grinstead () is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bord ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

. He studied at

LAMDA 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 ...

where he won the

Kenneth More Kenneth Gilbert More (20 September 1914 – 12 July 1982) was an English actor. Initially achieving fame in the comedy ''Genevieve (film), Genevieve'' (1953), he appeared in many roles as a carefree, happy-go-lucky gent. Films from this period ...

prize for comedy acting. His first significant TV role saw Putner as numerous characters in '' The Glam Metal Detectives'' shown on BBC2. His real break in comedy came after he set up the club ''The Regency Rooms'' with fellow performers Steve Furst and Oliver Darly. The club developed a cult following and was attended by many comics.

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 ...

saw Paul performing there and cast him in his play ''Punk's Not Dead'' at the Edinburgh Fringe. This role led to many others including TV roles in Lee and Herring's shows. He has appeared in numerous British TV and radio shows, including '' This Morning with Richard Not Judy'' (1998), '' Sir Bernard's Stately Homes'' (1999), ''

Spaced ''Spaced'' is a British television sitcom created, written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright, about the comedic, and sometimes surreal and action-packed, misadventures of Daisy Steiner and Tim Bi ...

'' (1999), '' Rock Profile'' (2000), '' The Day the Music Died'' (2004–2007), '' Look Around You'' (2004) and '' Little Britain'' (2003–2005). He appeared in a minor role as a zombie in the comedy movie '' Shaun of the Dead'' in 2004, and could also be heard on the zombies' 'commentary' track on the DVD release. More recently he has appeared in the

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 ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

comedy '' Nebulous'' (2005), '' Peacefully in their Sleeps'' on Radio 4 in 2007, ''

The Peter Serafinowicz Show ''The Peter Serafinowicz Show'' is a British sketch comedy show written by and starring Peter Serafinowicz. Its debut was on 4 October 2007 at 21:30 on BBC Two as part of the newly launched "Thursdays Are Funny" brand on the channel and Thursd ...

'' in 2007 and '' Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle'' in 2009 and 2014. He has also contributed material to programmes including ''The Impressionable

Jon Culshaw Jonathan Peter Culshaw (born 2 June 1968) is an English actor, comedian and Impressionist (entertainment), impressionist. He is best known for his work on the radio comedy ''Dead Ringers (comedy), Dead Ringers'' since 2000. Culshaw has voiced ...

'', '' Little Britain'', ''

'' and is a co-creator of the website "TV Dregs". In 2005, Putner took the starring role (as a

mime A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a the ...

) in the 7th district section of the film ''

Paris, je t'aime ''Paris, je t'aime'' (; ) is a 2006 anthology film starring an ensemble cast of actors of various nationalities. The two-hour film consists of eighteen short films set in different '' arrondissements'' (districts). The 22 directors include Guri ...

'' written and directed by

Sylvain Chomet Sylvain Chomet (; born 10 November 1963) is a French comic writer, animator and film director. Early career Born in Maisons-Laffitte, Seine-et-Oise (now Yvelines), near Paris, he studied art at high school until he graduated in 1982. Chomet m ...

. The film opened the "

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

" section of the

2006 Cannes Film Festival The 59th Cannes Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 May 2006. Chinese filmmaker Wong Kar-wai served as jury president for the main competition, the first Chinese to preside over the jury. English filmmaker Ken Loach won the Palme d'Or for th ...

. From late 2005 until early 2007 Putner toured in the '' Little Britain Live'' show, and later appeared in

Matt Lucas Matthew Richard Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English actor, comedian, writer and television host. He is best known for his work with David Walliams on the BBC sketch comedy series ''Little Britain (TV series), Little Britain'' (2003–2006) ...

and

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams (), is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little ...

' TV follow-up, '' Come Fly with Me''. In 2010 and 2011, Putner played the ill-fated Gerald "Jelly" Kelly in the ''

Only Fools and Horses ''Only Fools and Horses'' (titled onscreen as ''Only Fools and Horses....'') is a British television sitcom that was created and written by John Sullivan (writer), John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Ki ...

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

trilogy, '' Rock & Chips'', written by John Sullivan. In 2013, he appeared in Kevin Eldon's sketch show, ''

It's Kevin ''It's Kevin'' is a British television sketch comedy show, created by and starring the actor and comedian Kevin Eldon. It was screened on BBC Two between March and April 2013. Reception Following the first episode, Serena Davies writing for Th ...

'' and an episode of the second series of '' Wizards vs Aliens'' as a troll called Mervyn. Since then, Paul Putner has also appeared in many other TV/radio productions including: " Kevin Eldon Will See You Now", Cabin Pressure, " Up the Women", " Pompidou", " The Borgias", "

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. It first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV (TV network), ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United St ...

", " Urban Myths", " The Nightmare Worlds of H. G. Wells", "

Call the Midwife ''Call the Midwife'' is a British period drama television series about a group of nurse midwives working in the East End of London in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The principal cast of the show has included Jessica Raine, Miranda Hart, ...

", and " Miss Scarlet and The Duke".

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Putner, Paul 1966 births Living people 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art English male comedians English male radio actors English male television actors Male actors from West Sussex People from East Grinstead Comedians from West Sussex