Andy Ford (comedian)

Andy Ford
Born 1958
Bristol, England
Medium Stand-up, television, actor, singer
Nationality British
Years active 1970 – present
Genres Social satire
Observational comedy
one-liners
Website www.andyfordcomedian.com

Andy Ford (born 1958, Bristol, England) is an award-winning English comedian, actor, writer and singer. He is rated among the top Ten best comics in Britain by the 'Stage Newspaper'[1] and won the best stand up show last year at the Lost Review Comedy Awards.[2] He has regularly appeared in pantomime since the mid 1980s; making him one of the longest serving pantomime performers in Britain. He was entered into the panto archive Hall of fame in 2017.[3]

Career

Music and pantomime

Ford began his career at the age of 12. He started out his career singing and joined his first band at the age of 14 as the Cliff Brown Trio. He was the lead singer for many years until he went solo, recording the single "Pillow Talk" in the mid 1980s. He released his second album Love And Stuff along with "Only Wanna Make Things Right" before turning his hand to stage work. He moved into the pantomime scene where he has always played the 'Simple Simon' roles such as Buttons. Ford regularly appears as lead characters in pantomimes[4][5] and has held the title of 'Panto Man' for over a decade. In 2015, Ford starred alongside Britain's Got Talent winners Ashley and Pudsey in a performance of Dick Whittington. This performance was Ford's first to be recorded for DVD. In mid- 2018 Andy released a new single entitled 'Dad Dancing'.

Television, radio and film

Ford performed a comedy routine in 1997 on ITV's Big Talent Show, and his performance on the show landed him a slot on the Royal Variety Show that year. In 1999 Ford joined Channel 5's Havakazoo as Patrick the baker, working on the series for over four years. Ford appeared in slots on ITV's Today with Des and Mel, and later took to the streets with sketches for his online show Andy Ford on the Streets. This saw the comic talking to the public and finding out who their favourite comedians were. He would also ask people to tell a joke, and if they made him laugh they would win a small gift. One of the segments included Ford tricking the public by making up facts, for example, "Did you know this road was made by the Romans?"

A few years back Ford starred in a short film entitled Loss. The film focused on mental health issues with Ford playing the lead role. He also starred in the radio series The Incredible Inspector Biggins.

Live comedy

Ford's style of comedy has always been smut-free and innocent, and he has a camp, manic style. Ford is known for writing poetry, which he also includes in his performances, along with one liners and puns.

A show from his 2004 Live and Lovely tour was released on DVD that year. Ford started touring for his show West End Crazy in 2006, also released on DVD. In late 2010, Ford performed a stand-up show called "This is my Day Job" to mark 40 years in his professional career; also released on DVD. In early 2014, Ford toured with "Daft as a Brush", released on DVD as "Live from the Heart of West Country". His 2016 tour was titled "Live and Un-hinged". Fords latest tour is entitled 'LIVE and gert-lush'. Released on DVD July 2017.

Ford runs comedy workshops, and in 2016 launched an online programme entitled "Confidence Thought Comedy", a platform to help people become more confident in speech making, using techniques from comedy.

Ollie the Otter

Ollie the Otter is a character created by Ford in the 1980s originally as a kids club character mascot for holiday camps. Ford went on to produce radio shows and CDs around that time featuring songs and stories from the character. He recently revived the character.

Personal life

Ford was born in Bristol. He attended Whipton Barton infants school in Exeter and became Head Choir Boy at St Boniface Church, Whipton.

Awards

In 2017 Andy won best stand up show at the 'Lost Review Comedy Awards'. Also in 2017, he was entered into the 'panto archive's' hall of fame.

Stand-up DVDs

Title Release Date
Live and Lovely 2004 (Live stand-up)
Live 2 – West end crazy 2006 (Live stand-up)
This is my day job 2010 (Live stand-up)
Comic collection 2012 (A collection of Andy's comical creations and un-seen stand up)
Live from the heart of the west country 2014 (Live stand-up)
Panto man 2013 (A collection of Andy's best panto roles)
Stand-up for yourself 2014 (A DVD on the art of stand-up)
Dick Wittington: LIVE 2015 (Live panto starring Andy and others)
Live and Gert-Lush 2017 (LIVE stand up)
50 Years And Counting 2018 (A look back at the life of Andy Ford)
The Best Of Andy Ford 2018 (A collection of Andy's best bits)

CDs

Title Release Date
Pillow Talk (Original album)
Love And Stuff (2nd Music CD)
The Inredible Inspector Biggins: The Bicycle Murder (Radio Play CD)
Only wanna make things right Music (3rd Music CD)
Ollie the Otter Songs 2 CDs (Music CDs, volume One and Two)
Ollie the Otter Stories 2 CDs (Radio play CDs, volumes One and Two )

References

  1. ↑ http://www.andyford.biz/
  2. ↑ https://www.andyfordcomedian.com/
  3. ↑ https://www.andyfordcomedian.com/
  4. ↑ Charlotte Richardson. "WIN tickets to the Hippodrome panto - Theatre". North Somerset Times. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
  5. ↑ "He's behind you! Andy Ford returns to Bristol Hippodrome for his 7th consecutive panto". Bristol Post. 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
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