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Dylan Moran (born 3 November 1971) is a BAFTA and Perrier Award-winning Irish comedian, actor and writer. He is most famous for his stand up comedy, the television sitcom Black Books which he co-wrote and starred in, and his work with Simon Pegg in Shaun of the Dead and Run Fatboy Run. Moran is a regular performer at national and international comedy festivals including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Just for Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Kilkenny Comedy Festival.
n was born in Navan, County Meath, Ireland.
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Quotations
But it's hard being a man. I had to dress myself this morning... and there are other pressures.
:~ On Just For Laughs in 1997 discussing the problems with being a man.
Don't clap, I'm not a fucking jazz band.
Encyclopedia
Dylan Moran (born 3 November 1971) is a BAFTA and Perrier Award-winning Irish comedian, actor and writer. He is most famous for his stand up comedy, the television sitcom Black Books which he co-wrote and starred in, and his work with Simon Pegg in Shaun of the Dead and Run Fatboy Run. Moran is a regular performer at national and international comedy festivals including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Just for Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Kilkenny Comedy Festival.
Biography
Early life
Moran was born in Navan, County Meath, Ireland. He attended St. Patrick's Classical School (with fellow comic Tommy Tiernan) and left at age 16 with his leaving certificate. Moran apparently spent four jobless years "drinking and writing bad poetry". He worked as a florist for a week but hated it.
Career
Moran fell into comedy at age 20 after watching Ardal O'Hanlon and other comedians perform at Dublin's Comedy Cellar, a small fifty-seater comedy club with no microphone in the upstairs of The International Bar on South Wicklow Street. He began his stand up here in 1992 and, although nervous, got a good reception. Between 1995 and 1996 Moran wrote a weekly column for The Irish Times.
Moran's talent was acknowledged in 1993 when he won the So You Think You're Funny award at the Edinburgh Festival. He went on to become the youngest person to win the Perrier Comedy Award in 1996 at the Edinburgh Festival at age 24. Gurgling For Money was Moran's first major one man stand up UK tour in 1997. He went on to perform at many other festivals including the Hay Festival, Montreal comedy festival, Vancouver Comedy Festival and the Edinburgh Festival.
In 1998 Moran won his first major television role playing Ian Lyons in the BBC 2 sitcom How Do You Want Me?, with Charlotte Coleman. He went on to appear in a small role in the 1999 movie Notting Hill as Rufus the thief.
In 2000, Black Books was first aired on Channel 4. The sitcom about a miserable, unsociable, drunken book shop owner, Bernard Black, was the original idea of Moran and brought into existence with the aid of co-writer and fellow Irishman Graham Linehan. The second series was televised in 2002, and the third, which aired in 2004, was greeted with great enthusiasm by critics and fans alike. In the same year, Moran appeared in his first major film role, playing David in the comedy Shaun of the Dead, a snide adversary vying for the affections of Shaun's girlfriend.
2004 saw Moran taking to the road again with his new shows Monster I and Monster II, including performances in New York and Milan, as well as a zig-zag tour around Britain and Ireland, culminating in a week-long run at London's Palace Theatre, before two shows at Dublin's Vicar Street, and finally an appearance at the Hay Festival. The tour was described by The Times as a "masterclass of comic charisma: swinging from topic to topic in a manner seemingly spontaneous but actually tightly organised".
A live DVD of the Monster II tour, filmed on 28 May at Dublin's Vicar Street, was released that year, as Moran's first live stand-up DVD. After a successful run in New York in 2004 as part of the British Comedy Invasion (including performances by top British comedians such as Eddie Izzard, fellow Black Books star Bill Bailey and Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan) Moran returned to New York for a month-long run at the Village Theatre. He then performed a two-week London West End run at the Wyndham's Theatre, 1-13 November 2004.
His third major tour, Like, Totally, opened at the Buxton Opera House on 3 May 2005. and as with his previous tours, the stand-up routine was accompanied by projected cartoons drawn by Moran. A DVD of the tour was released in December 2005.
During his April and May 2006 tour of Australia the promoting company underestimated his appeal. His planned tour of Sydney encompassed four shows in mid-sized venues but when they rapidly sold out the promoter was forced to add more and more performances, booked into any available theatre. This culminated with nearly ten extra performances, triumphantly ending with five sell out nights at the 2000 seat State Theatre. It also pushed his voice to the limit, leaving him somewhat hoarse by the final performance.
Moran appeared as the character of Gordon in the comedy film Run, Fat Boy, Run, released in September 2007 which cast Moran as the best friend to Dennis (Shaun of the Dead co-star Simon Pegg), having played an adversary to Pegg's character in Shaun of the Dead.
In June 2008, Dylan Moran appeared with Ardal O’Hanlon & Tommy Tiernan at the Liverpool Arena in 'The Three Fellas', a one-off comedy event, part of the city's 'European Capital of Culture 2008' celebrations.
In October and November 2008, Moran embarked on a new UK tour entitled 'What It Is', starting at the Grand Opera House in York, and ending in Oxford's New Theatre. Other notable venues include Colston Hall at Bristol, Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall, the Bournemouth International Centre, the Waterfront Hall Auditorium in Belfast and the Corran Halls in Oban.
Awards and commendations
At the Edinburgh Festival Fringe he has won the 'So You Think You're Funny? Award' in 1993, and the Perrier Award in 1996, but later dismissed the latter as "a load of media rubbish," stating Bill Bailey deserved it more.
A popular poll commissioned by Channel 4 ranked him the 17th Greatest Comedy Stand-up.
Moran was declared "the greatest comedian, living or dead" by major French newspaper, Le Monde in July 2007.
He has also twice won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Situation Comedy, both for Black Books.
Personal life
Dylan married his wife Elaine on 6 September 1997 in London. They have two children, Simon and Siobhan, who frequently feature in his stand-up shows. The family currently resides in Edinburgh.
Appearances
External links
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