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Lee Evans
Lee Evans in 2004
Born	February 25, 1964 (1964-02-25) (age 43) Bristol, England
Years active	1993–present
Genres	Physical comedy
Spouse	Heather Evans
Notable works and roles	Same World, Different Planet (1996) Mouse Hunt (1997) The Fifth Element (1997) There's Something About Mary(1998) Lee Evans - So What Now? (2001) The Medallion (2003)

Lee Evans (born 25 February 1964) is an English stand-up comedian and actor.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Career 2.1 Stand-up comedy 2.1.1 Live shows 2.2 Acting 3 External links

Lee Evans was born in Avonmouth, Bristol, England. His secondary school was The Billericay School, in Billericay, Essex. After a spell as a boxer, and two years at art school in Essex, Evans decided to follow in his father's footsteps in the entertainment business. In his teens, he moved to Rhyl, Wales, and played drums in a punk band that he has described as "crap". Early in his stand-up career, he was offered an opportunity to perform in a talent show in the United States. He was the only Englishman on the bill and won the contest. The first four years were spent touring working-men's clubs; the next five, on the alternative circuit. Like a lot of now established comics', his break came at the Edinburgh Festival, in 1988.

In 1981, at age 17, he married Heather Evans, with whom he has a daughter, Mollie, born in 1994, and a dog, Brian. They live near Billericay.

Evans rose to fame during the 1990s in his home country, becoming noted for his loud, hot, sweaty, energetic on-stage performances, mastery of humourous voices, and very physical, observational alternative comedy. He is regarded as having a Norman Wisdom–style of slapstick comedy acting, and in many respects has taken on Wisdom's role for a later generation.^{[citation needed]} In his earlier work, he often used a dysfunctional character called Malcolm to illustrate how he viewed unusual characters in the world.

One of the trademarks of Evans's performances is his sweatiness: he is usually drenched in his own sweat. During most of his headlining performances, he often must take an intermission, during which he changes into a completely different suit; he once said that this was because he was "as nervous as a nun awaiting her pregnancy test results". He has also said that his suits are regularly thrown away after just one performance, mainly because of the sweat, with dry-cleaners refusing to handle them.^{[citation needed]}

A second trademark is The Lee Evans Trio, which consists of him on a bare stage, in a spotlight, miming to a recording of instrumental sound; the spotlight goes out, only to reappear in another location, to which Evans has moved during the blackout, and where he is now miming playing a different instrument. He mimes in three locations, with an imaginary drum kit, bass cello, and piano.

A third trademark is his apparent "stage fright". At the beginning of his act he'll often pretend to get the microphone cord tangled up or thrown over his shoulder, or even that it doesn't work (he'll begin to talk but nothing is heard, until the end of a gag or question is suddenly audible). He may spend the first few minutes rambling as if he can't remember what he came on stage for. Often he will tilt the microphone stand and pretend to machine gun the audience, again as a nervous reaction and supposed "time filler".

Evans is also known for performing music skits at the end of every gig, usually his world-famous mime to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". His live act is also notable for its persistent use of variations of the word fuck.

In November 2005, Evans broke the Guinness World Record for a solo act performing to the biggest comedy audience, playing to 10,108 at the Manchester Evening News Arena.

Evans will tour Britain with a brand new stand-up act, "Big", in Autumn 2008, with a DVD of the tour released in November 2008. Tickets for this tour went on sale on 26 October 2007.

Evans has released these live shows on DVD:

• Live at Her Majesty's Theatre (1994)
  • Released on VHS 10 October 1994 and on DVD 6 June 2005
• Live from the West End (1995)
  • Released on VHS 30 October 1995 and on DVD 6 June 2005
• Different Planet Tour: Live at the Lyric Theatre In London (1996)
  • Released on VHS 1 October 1999 and on DVD 6 June 2005
• The Ultimate Experience (1997) (a compilation of the highlights from his previous three tours)
  • Released on VHS 17 November 1997 and on DVD 6 June 2005'
• Don't Try This at Home: Live at the Edinburgh Playhouse In Scotland (1998)
  • Released on VHS 16 November 1998 and on DVD 6 December 1999
• Wired and Wonderful: Live at Wembley Arena In England (2002)
  • Released on VHS and DVD 25 November 2002
• XL Tour 2005: Live At the Cardiff International Arena In Wales (2005)
  • Released on DVD 28 November 2005 and UMD for PSP 19 December 2005

Evans has made a number of film appearances, most notably in Funny Bones, Mousehunt, There's Something About Mary, The Fifth Element, The Ladies Man, The Martins and The Medallion. Evans also provided the voice for Train in the 2005 film The Magic Roundabout.

From 1993-1994 Evans appeared in the Channel 4 late-night show Viva Cabaret!, both as a host and as a guest performer. In 1996, Evans starred in the one-off show The World of Lee Evans. In 2001, he wrote a sitcom called So What Now?.

In 2004 he starred as a paranoid murder suspect in his first non-comic role in the film Freeze Frame. Although warned they may never grow back, he shaved his eyebrows (as well as his hair). (They did.) Lee also recently played the main character in ITV's The Adventures of Mr Polly.

• Lee Evans at Off The Kerb Productions
• Lee Evans at the British Film Institute
• Lee Evans at the Internet Movie Database
• Lee Evans Big Tour 2008 info site

Persondata
NAME	Evans, Lee
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	English stand-up comedian and actor
DATE OF BIRTH	February 24, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH	Avonmouth, Bristol, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH