Armando Iannucci
Encyclopedia
Armando Giovanni Iannucci (icon; born 28 November 1963) is a Scottish comedian
, satirist, writer, director
, performer and radio producer
. Born in Glasgow, he studied at Oxford University and left graduate work on a PhD about John Milton
to pursue a career in comedy.
Rising quickly through BBC Scotland
and BBC Radio 4
, his early work with Chris Morris on the radio series On the Hour
was transferred to television as The Day Today
. A character from this series, Alan Partridge, went on to feature in a number of Iannucci's television and radio programmes including Knowing Me, Knowing You and I'm Alan Partridge
. In the meantime, Iannucci also fronted the satirical Armistice review shows and in 2001 created his most personal work, The Armando Iannucci Shows
for Channel 4.
Moving back to the BBC in 2005, Iannucci created the political sitcom The Thick of It
as well as the spoof documentary Time Trumpet
in 2006. Winning funding from the UK Film Council, he directed a critically acclaimed feature film In the Loop
featuring characters from The Thick of It in 2009. As a result of these works, he has been being described by The Daily Telegraph
as "the hardman of political satire". Other works during this period include a operetta libretto, Skin Deep and his radio series Charm Offensive. He is currently working on a U.S. political satire for HBO called Veep.
, Italy, and his mother is from Glasgow
, Scotland, where Iannucci was born. His father, who came to Scotland in 1950, ran a pizza factory. Armando has two brothers and a sister. Iannucci was educated at St Peter's Primary School, St. Aloysius' College, Glasgow
and University College, Oxford
, where he read English literature
gaining an MA in 1986. In his teens he thought seriously about becoming a Roman Catholic priest. He abandoned graduate work on 17th-century religious language with particular reference to Milton
's Paradise Lost
, to pursue his career in comedy.
in the early 1990s such as No' The Archie McPherson Show, he moved to BBC Radio in London, making radio shows including Armando Iannucci for BBC Radio 1, which featured a number of comedians he was to collaborate with for many years, including David Schneider
, Peter Baynham
, Steve Coogan
and Rebecca Front
.
Iannucci first received widespread fame as the producer for On the Hour
on Radio 4, which soon transferred to television as The Day Today
. He received critical acclaim for both his own talents as a writer and a producer, and for first bringing together such comics as Chris Morris
, Richard Herring
, Stewart Lee
, Peter Baynham
and Steve Coogan
. The members of this group went on to work on separate projects and create a new comedy "wave" pre-New Labour: Morris went on to create Brass Eye
, Blue Jam
and the Chris Morris Music Show; Stewart Lee and Richard Herring created Fist of Fun
and This Morning with Richard Not Judy
.
Baynham was closely involved with both Morris's and Lee & Herring's work — simultaneously at one point. Lee would go on to co-write the controversial Jerry Springer — The Opera, but perhaps the most famous "alumnus" of this group is Steve Coogan
's character Alan Partridge
, who first appeared in On the Hour, and has featured in multiple spin-off series.
Between 1995 and 1999, Iannucci produced and hosted The Saturday Night Armistice
.
. This was an eight-part series for Channel 4 broadcast in 2001, written with Andy Riley
and Kevin Cecil
. The series consisted of Iannucci pondering pseudo-philosophical and jocular ideas and fantasies inbetween surreal sketches. Iannucci has been quoted as saying it is the comedy series he is most proud of making. He told The Metro
in April 2007 "The Armando Iannucci Show on Channel 4 came out around 9/11, so it was overlooked for good reasons. People had other things on their minds. But that was the closest to me expressing my comic outlook on life."
After championing Yes Minister
on the BBC
's Britain's Best Sitcom
, Iannucci devised, directed and was chief writer of The Thick of It
, a political satire-cum-farce for BBC Four
. It starred Chris Langham
as an incompetent cabinet minister being manipulated by a cynical Press Officer, played by Peter Capaldi
and based on Tony Blair
's former Press Secretary Alastair Campbell
. The series was broadcast in two-parts in 2005 before an expanded cast starred in two specials and a "third" series.
Based on a format he had used in Clinton: His Struggle with Dirt
in 1996 and 2004: The Stupid Version
, in mid-2006, his spoof documentary series Time Trumpet
was shown on BBC 2. The series looked back on past events through highly edited clips and "celebrity" interviews, looking back on the present and near-future from the year 2031. One episode, featuring fictional terrorist attacks on London and the assassination of Tony Blair, was postponed and edited in August 2006 amid the terrorism scares in British airports at that time. Jane Thynne, writing in The Independent
, accused the BBC of lacking backbone.
series. A little-known radio series called Scraps With Iannucci followed late in 1998, in which Iannucci used his tape-fiddling skills to present a review of the year.
He has appeared on Radio 3 talking about classical music, one of his passions and collaborated with composer David Sawer
on Skin Deep, an operetta
, which was premiered by Opera North
on 16 January 2009. He has also presented three programmes for BBC Radio 3
, including Mobiles Off!, a 20-minute segment on classical concert-going etiquette.
He directed the latest series of Post Office
adverts, featuring the actors John Henshaw
, Rory Jennings
and Di Botcher
alongside guest stars such as Joan Collins
, Bill Oddie
and Westlife
.
, in the style of The Thick of It
, was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival
. It was the first cinema film to be directed by Iannucci, after his contribution to Tube Tales
in 1999. The film has been applauded by critics, both in Britain and the US, and was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar in 2009.
The film secured the eighth highest placing in the UK box office in its opening week – despite its relatively insignificant screening numbers. According to the British Film Institute screenonline
, Iannucci had previously failed to secure funding for a historical comedy film in 2003.
Iannucci used his BBC press pass to enter the US State Department headquarters whilst researching the film, saying how he just turned up and claimed to be "here for the 12.30". Iannucci spent an hour inside taking photographs which were used for the film's set designs.
. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer
as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. He was also subject of a 2006 edition of The South Bank Show
.
In January 2006 he took the post of News International
Visiting Professor of Broadcast Media at the University of Oxford
, where he has delivered a series of four lectures under the title "British Comedy — Dead Or Alive?".
In June 2011, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters
by the University of Glasgow
to recognise his contribution to film and television.
In the 2010 general election he supported the Liberal Democrats
, stating: "I'll be voting Lib Dem this election because they represent the best chance in a lifetime to make lasting and fair change to how the UK is governed." Since the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition of 2010
was established, however, he has expressed doubts over his continued support for the party, saying he is 'wavering' on many issues and has admitted to 'queasiness' over the Coalition's economic measures. He has expressed an interest in targeting the Liberal Democrats in the next series of The Thick Of It, just as the first three targeted what he perceived as the failings within the Labour governments of Tony Blair
and Gordon Brown
.
Iannucci describes Woody Allen
as his "all-time comedy hero".
Print
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, satirist, writer, director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
, performer and radio producer
Radio producer
A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. There are two main types of producer. An audio or creative producer and a content producer. Audio producers create sounds and audio specifically, content producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature...
. Born in Glasgow, he studied at Oxford University and left graduate work on a PhD about John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
to pursue a career in comedy.
Rising quickly through BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London headquarters, and is run by the BBC Trust, who...
and BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, his early work with Chris Morris on the radio series On the Hour
On the Hour
On the Hour was a British radio programme that parodied current affairs broadcasting, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992.Written by Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Steven Wells, Andrew Glover, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and David Quantick, it starred Morris as the overzealous and...
was transferred to television as The Day Today
The Day Today
The Day Today is a surreal British parody of television current affairs programmes, broadcast in 1994, and created by the comedians Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris. It is an adaptation of the radio programme On the Hour, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992...
. A character from this series, Alan Partridge, went on to feature in a number of Iannucci's television and radio programmes including Knowing Me, Knowing You and I'm Alan Partridge
I'm Alan Partridge
I'm Alan Partridge is a BBC situation comedy starring Steve Coogan, of which two series of six episodes each were produced — the first in 1997 and the second in 2002...
. In the meantime, Iannucci also fronted the satirical Armistice review shows and in 2001 created his most personal work, The Armando Iannucci Shows
The Armando Iannucci Shows
The Armando Iannucci Shows is a series of eight programmes directed by Armando Iannucci and written by Iannucci with Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil. It was shown on UK's Channel 4 from September to October 2001...
for Channel 4.
Moving back to the BBC in 2005, Iannucci created the political sitcom The Thick of It
The Thick of It
The Thick of It is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of modern British government. It was first broadcast on BBC Four in 2005, and has so far completed fourteen half-hour episodes and two special hour-long episodes to coincide with Christmas and Gordon Brown's...
as well as the spoof documentary Time Trumpet
Time Trumpet
Time Trumpet is a six-episode satirical television comedy series which aired on BBC Two in 2006. The series was written by Armando Iannucci, Roger Drew and Will Smith in a similar manner to Iannucci's earlier one-off programmes 2004: The Stupid Version and Clinton: His Struggle with...
in 2006. Winning funding from the UK Film Council, he directed a critically acclaimed feature film In the Loop
In the Loop (film)
In the Loop is a 2009 British satirical black comedy film directed by Armando Iannucci. It is based on the BBC Television series The Thick of It satirising Anglo-American politics in the 21st century and the Invasion of Iraq...
featuring characters from The Thick of It in 2009. As a result of these works, he has been being described by The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
as "the hardman of political satire". Other works during this period include a operetta libretto, Skin Deep and his radio series Charm Offensive. He is currently working on a U.S. political satire for HBO called Veep.
Early life
Iannucci's father, also called Armando, is from NaplesNaples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, Italy, and his mother is from Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Scotland, where Iannucci was born. His father, who came to Scotland in 1950, ran a pizza factory. Armando has two brothers and a sister. Iannucci was educated at St Peter's Primary School, St. Aloysius' College, Glasgow
St. Aloysius' College, Glasgow
St. Aloysius' College is a selective fee-paying independent Jesuit school in Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded in 1859, and named after the famous Jesuit, Aloysius Gonzaga. Its strong Jesuit ethos emphasises practice of the Roman Catholic faith both in the church and in the community, with many...
and University College, Oxford
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
, where he read English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
gaining an MA in 1986. In his teens he thought seriously about becoming a Roman Catholic priest. He abandoned graduate work on 17th-century religious language with particular reference to Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
's Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
, to pursue his career in comedy.
1990s
After making several programmes at BBC ScotlandBBC Scotland
BBC Scotland is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London headquarters, and is run by the BBC Trust, who...
in the early 1990s such as No' The Archie McPherson Show, he moved to BBC Radio in London, making radio shows including Armando Iannucci for BBC Radio 1, which featured a number of comedians he was to collaborate with for many years, including David Schneider
David Schneider (actor)
David Schneider is an English actor and comedian.Schneider studied modern languages at the University of Oxford, and studied for a DPhil in Yiddish Drama. During his time at university, Schneider performed a predominantly physical comedy act that contrasted with the trend towards stand-up comedy...
, Peter Baynham
Peter Baynham
Peter Baynham is a screenwriter and a British comedian, writer, and performer. He often collaborates with Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris and has worked with Stewart Lee and Richard Herring. He is first heard on Morris' early radio DJ slots, often going out to places...
, Steve Coogan
Steve Coogan
Stephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...
and Rebecca Front
Rebecca Front
Rebecca Front is a BAFTA Award–winning English comedian and actress best known for her performances in The Thick of It in the late 2000s, and series of critically acclaimed satirical comedies in the early 1990s: On The Hour, The Day Today and Knowing Me, Knowing You...with Alan Partridge...
.
Iannucci first received widespread fame as the producer for On the Hour
On the Hour
On the Hour was a British radio programme that parodied current affairs broadcasting, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992.Written by Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Steven Wells, Andrew Glover, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and David Quantick, it starred Morris as the overzealous and...
on Radio 4, which soon transferred to television as The Day Today
The Day Today
The Day Today is a surreal British parody of television current affairs programmes, broadcast in 1994, and created by the comedians Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris. It is an adaptation of the radio programme On the Hour, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992...
. He received critical acclaim for both his own talents as a writer and a producer, and for first bringing together such comics as Chris Morris
Chris Morris (satirist)
Christopher Morris is an English satirist, writer, director and actor. A former radio DJ, he is best known for anchoring the spoof news and current affairs television programmes The Day Today and Brass Eye, as well as his frequent engagement with controversial subject matter.In 2010 Morris...
, Richard Herring
Richard Herring
Richard Keith Herring is a British comedian and writer, whose early work includes his involvement in the double-act, Lee and Herring...
, Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring, and for co-writing and directing the critically acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera...
, Peter Baynham
Peter Baynham
Peter Baynham is a screenwriter and a British comedian, writer, and performer. He often collaborates with Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris and has worked with Stewart Lee and Richard Herring. He is first heard on Morris' early radio DJ slots, often going out to places...
and Steve Coogan
Steve Coogan
Stephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...
. The members of this group went on to work on separate projects and create a new comedy "wave" pre-New Labour: Morris went on to create Brass Eye
Brass Eye
Brass Eye is a UK television series of satirical spoof documentaries. A series of six aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001....
, Blue Jam
Blue Jam
Blue Jam was an ambient radio comedy programme created and directed by Chris Morris. It aired on BBC Radio 1 in the early hours of the morning from 1997 to 1999....
and the Chris Morris Music Show; Stewart Lee and Richard Herring created Fist of Fun
Fist of Fun
Fist of Fun was a popular British comedy television and radio programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring . A lot of the show's comic material was adapted from Lee and Herring's radio programme Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World.Each episode of Fist of Fun featured several disparate sketches...
and This Morning with Richard Not Judy
This Morning With Richard Not Judy
This Morning With Richard Not Judy or TMWRNJ was a BBC comedy television programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring. Two series were broadcast in 1998 and 1999 on BBC2...
.
Baynham was closely involved with both Morris's and Lee & Herring's work — simultaneously at one point. Lee would go on to co-write the controversial Jerry Springer — The Opera, but perhaps the most famous "alumnus" of this group is Steve Coogan
Steve Coogan
Stephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...
's character Alan Partridge
Alan Partridge
Alan Gordon Partridge is a fictional radio and television presenter portrayed by English comedian Steve Coogan and invented by Coogan, Armando Iannucci, Stewart Lee and Richard Herring for the BBC Radio 4 programme On The Hour...
, who first appeared in On the Hour, and has featured in multiple spin-off series.
Between 1995 and 1999, Iannucci produced and hosted The Saturday Night Armistice
The Saturday Night Armistice
The Saturday Night Armistice was a British satirical television comedy programme presented by Armando Iannucci with Peter Baynham and David Schneider, which ran from 1995 to 1999.The programme took an irreverent and often surreal look back at topical events, and featured studio...
.
2000s
In 2000, he created two pilot episodes for Channel 4, which became The Armando Iannucci ShowsThe Armando Iannucci Shows
The Armando Iannucci Shows is a series of eight programmes directed by Armando Iannucci and written by Iannucci with Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil. It was shown on UK's Channel 4 from September to October 2001...
. This was an eight-part series for Channel 4 broadcast in 2001, written with Andy Riley
Andy Riley
Andy Riley is a British author, cartoonist, comics scriptwriter, and television screenwriter.Riley has written several best-selling cartoon books, The Book of Bunny Suicides , Return of the Bunny Suicides, The Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides, Dawn of the Bunny Suicides, Great Lies To Tell Small...
and Kevin Cecil
Kevin Cecil
Kevin Robert Cecil is a British screenwriter.Writing alongside Andy Riley , he has won two BAFTA awards, the first for writing the Comic Relief one-off special, Robbie the Reindeer, in 2000, and the second for Black Books in 2005...
. The series consisted of Iannucci pondering pseudo-philosophical and jocular ideas and fantasies inbetween surreal sketches. Iannucci has been quoted as saying it is the comedy series he is most proud of making. He told The Metro
Metro (Associated Metro Limited)
Metro is a free daily newspaper in the United Kingdom published by Associated Newspapers Ltd . It is available from Monday to Friday each week on many public transport services across the United Kingdom.-History:The paper was launched in London in 1999, and can now be found in 14 UK urban centres...
in April 2007 "The Armando Iannucci Show on Channel 4 came out around 9/11, so it was overlooked for good reasons. People had other things on their minds. But that was the closest to me expressing my comic outlook on life."
After championing Yes Minister
Yes Minister
Yes Minister is a satirical British sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted by BBC Television between 1980–1982 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. In total there were 38 episodes—of which all but...
on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2004 by the BBC, to identify the United Kingdom's best situation comedy. Viewers were asked to vote for their favourite by phone, text message and on the web. The top ten went forward to a final round of voting...
, Iannucci devised, directed and was chief writer of The Thick of It
The Thick of It
The Thick of It is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of modern British government. It was first broadcast on BBC Four in 2005, and has so far completed fourteen half-hour episodes and two special hour-long episodes to coincide with Christmas and Gordon Brown's...
, a political satire-cum-farce for BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
. It starred Chris Langham
Chris Langham
Christopher "Chris" Langham is an English writer, actor and comedian. He is most famous for playing MP Hugh Abbot in BBC Four sitcom The Thick of It and as presenter Roy Mallard in People Like Us, first on BBC Radio 4 and later on its transfer to television on BBC Two, where Mallard is almost...
as an incompetent cabinet minister being manipulated by a cynical Press Officer, played by Peter Capaldi
Peter Capaldi
Peter Dougan Capaldi is an Academy Award and BAFTA award winning Scottish actor and film director. In 1995, his short film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film...
and based on Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
's former Press Secretary Alastair Campbell
Alastair Campbell
Alastair John Campbell is a British journalist, broadcaster, political aide and author, best known for his work as Director of Communications and Strategy for Prime Minister Tony Blair between 1997 and 2003, having first started working for Blair in 1994...
. The series was broadcast in two-parts in 2005 before an expanded cast starred in two specials and a "third" series.
Based on a format he had used in Clinton: His Struggle with Dirt
Clinton: His Struggle with Dirt
Clinton: His Struggle with Dirt was a one-off satire, written and narrated by Armando Iannucci in a similar style to his later shows, notably Time Trumpet. Purporting to be a documentary from the future, it cast actors as older versions of genuine people, , to present a comic spin on the Lewinsky...
in 1996 and 2004: The Stupid Version
2004: The Stupid Version
2004: The Stupid Version is a satirical documentary written by Armando Iannucci, broadcast in two parts on BBC Three on New Year's Eve 2004. The one-off programme is a parody of review programmes typically broadcast at New Year...
, in mid-2006, his spoof documentary series Time Trumpet
Time Trumpet
Time Trumpet is a six-episode satirical television comedy series which aired on BBC Two in 2006. The series was written by Armando Iannucci, Roger Drew and Will Smith in a similar manner to Iannucci's earlier one-off programmes 2004: The Stupid Version and Clinton: His Struggle with...
was shown on BBC 2. The series looked back on past events through highly edited clips and "celebrity" interviews, looking back on the present and near-future from the year 2031. One episode, featuring fictional terrorist attacks on London and the assassination of Tony Blair, was postponed and edited in August 2006 amid the terrorism scares in British airports at that time. Jane Thynne, writing in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, accused the BBC of lacking backbone.
Other work
Despite his involvement in many facets of British comedy as a producer, writer and performer, Iannucci has remained relatively unknown amongst the British public. His non-television projects include Smokehammer, a web-based project with Chris Morris, a book in 1997 entitled Facts and Fancies, compiling some articles from his newspaper columns, which was turned into a BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
series. A little-known radio series called Scraps With Iannucci followed late in 1998, in which Iannucci used his tape-fiddling skills to present a review of the year.
He has appeared on Radio 3 talking about classical music, one of his passions and collaborated with composer David Sawer
David Sawer
David Sawer is a British composer of opera and choral, orchestral and chamber music.-Biography:Sawer was born in Stockport, England. He studied music at the University of York where he began composing for contemporary music-theatre pieces. He continued his studies with Mauricio Kagel in Cologne...
on Skin Deep, an operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
, which was premiered by Opera North
Opera North
Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and the Theatre Royal, Newcastle...
on 16 January 2009. He has also presented three programmes for BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
, including Mobiles Off!, a 20-minute segment on classical concert-going etiquette.
He directed the latest series of Post Office
Post Office Ltd.
Post Office Ltd is a retail post office company in the United Kingdom that provides a wide range of products including postage stamps and banking to the public through its nationwide network of post office branches.-Structure:Post Office Ltd...
adverts, featuring the actors John Henshaw
John Henshaw
John Henshaw is a British actor, best-known for his roles as Ken the landlord in Early Doors, Wilf Bradshaw in Born and Bred and PC Roy Bramwell in The Cops. He is often associated with playing "hard men"...
, Rory Jennings
Rory Jennings
Rory Jennings is a British actor. He is best known for his role as Craig Dixon in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders. Jennings made his first appearance in Eastenders on 27 July 2007, and left on 7 September 2007. He has also made an appearance in a Post Office TV advertisement.- Early life :He has...
and Di Botcher
Di Botcher
Di Botcher is a Welsh actress originally from Port Talbot. She has appeared in a series of Post Office advertisements in the UK and she is learning the Welsh language in the Big Welsh Challenge TV show along with Rhod Gilbert and Colin Charvis, with Glyn Wise as her mentor...
alongside guest stars such as Joan Collins
Joan Collins
Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
, Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie
William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
and Westlife
Westlife
Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...
.
Film directing
In January 2009, his first feature film In the LoopIn the Loop (film)
In the Loop is a 2009 British satirical black comedy film directed by Armando Iannucci. It is based on the BBC Television series The Thick of It satirising Anglo-American politics in the 21st century and the Invasion of Iraq...
, in the style of The Thick of It
The Thick of It
The Thick of It is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of modern British government. It was first broadcast on BBC Four in 2005, and has so far completed fourteen half-hour episodes and two special hour-long episodes to coincide with Christmas and Gordon Brown's...
, was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
. It was the first cinema film to be directed by Iannucci, after his contribution to Tube Tales
Tube Tales
Tube Tales is a collection of nine short films based on the true-life experiences of London Underground passengers as submitted to Time Out magazine. The stories were scripted and filmed independently of each other...
in 1999. The film has been applauded by critics, both in Britain and the US, and was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar in 2009.
The film secured the eighth highest placing in the UK box office in its opening week – despite its relatively insignificant screening numbers. According to the British Film Institute screenonline
Screenonline
Screenonline is a Web site devoted to the history of British film and television, and to social history as revealed by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute and funded by a £1.2 million grant from the National Lottery New Opportunities Fund.Reviews...
, Iannucci had previously failed to secure funding for a historical comedy film in 2003.
Iannucci used his BBC press pass to enter the US State Department headquarters whilst researching the film, saying how he just turned up and claimed to be "here for the 12.30". Iannucci spent an hour inside taking photographs which were used for the film's set designs.
Recognition
Iannucci has won two Sony Radio Awards and three British Comedy AwardsBritish Comedy Awards
The British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.-History:...
. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. He was also subject of a 2006 edition of The South Bank Show
The South Bank Show
The South Bank Show was a television arts magazine show, originally made by London Weekend Television , presented by Melvyn Bragg, broadcast on ITV and seen in over 60 countries worldwide — including Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States...
.
In January 2006 he took the post of News International
News International
News International Ltd is the United Kingdom newspaper publishing division of News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
Visiting Professor of Broadcast Media at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, where he has delivered a series of four lectures under the title "British Comedy — Dead Or Alive?".
In June 2011, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
by the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
to recognise his contribution to film and television.
Personal life and politics
In 1990, he married Rachael Jones, whom he met when she designed the lighting for his one-man show at Oxford. They have two sons and one daughter and currently live in Buckinghamshire.In the 2010 general election he supported the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
, stating: "I'll be voting Lib Dem this election because they represent the best chance in a lifetime to make lasting and fair change to how the UK is governed." Since the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition of 2010
Cameron Ministry
David Cameron is Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, after being invited by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new government after the resignation as Prime Minister of Gordon Brown on 11 May 2010. Leading a coalition government formed by the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, the coalition...
was established, however, he has expressed doubts over his continued support for the party, saying he is 'wavering' on many issues and has admitted to 'queasiness' over the Coalition's economic measures. He has expressed an interest in targeting the Liberal Democrats in the next series of The Thick Of It, just as the first three targeted what he perceived as the failings within the Labour governments of Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
and Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
.
Iannucci describes Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
as his "all-time comedy hero".
Television
- The Day TodayThe Day TodayThe Day Today is a surreal British parody of television current affairs programmes, broadcast in 1994, and created by the comedians Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris. It is an adaptation of the radio programme On the Hour, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992...
(BBC 2 — creator, co-writer, producer plus occasional appearances. The Day Today was the TV adaptation of On The HourOn the HourOn the Hour was a British radio programme that parodied current affairs broadcasting, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992.Written by Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Steven Wells, Andrew Glover, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and David Quantick, it starred Morris as the overzealous and...
) - The Saturday Night ArmisticeThe Saturday Night ArmisticeThe Saturday Night Armistice was a British satirical television comedy programme presented by Armando Iannucci with Peter Baynham and David Schneider, which ran from 1995 to 1999.The programme took an irreverent and often surreal look back at topical events, and featured studio...
(writer, producer, presenter etc. - later The Friday Night Armistice) - Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan PartridgeKnowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge (TV series)Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge is a BBC Television series of six episodes , and a Christmas special in 1995...
(co-writer, producer, co-creator) - I'm Alan PartridgeI'm Alan PartridgeI'm Alan Partridge is a BBC situation comedy starring Steve Coogan, of which two series of six episodes each were produced — the first in 1997 and the second in 2002...
(co-writer, producer, director) - The Armando Iannucci ShowsThe Armando Iannucci ShowsThe Armando Iannucci Shows is a series of eight programmes directed by Armando Iannucci and written by Iannucci with Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil. It was shown on UK's Channel 4 from September to October 2001...
(writer, performer, director) - Clinton: His Struggle with DirtClinton: His Struggle with DirtClinton: His Struggle with Dirt was a one-off satire, written and narrated by Armando Iannucci in a similar style to his later shows, notably Time Trumpet. Purporting to be a documentary from the future, it cast actors as older versions of genuine people, , to present a comic spin on the Lewinsky...
(writer, director) - GashGash (TV series)Gash was a satirical TV comedy created by Armando Iannucci and broadcast every weeknight from Monday 28th April to Thursday May 1st 2003 on Channel 4 to coincide with the 2003 local elections. Written and filmed on the day of transmission, the programme was a topical review show featuring sketches,...
(writer, presenter) - Have I Got News For YouHave I Got News for YouHave I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
, four times as a panelist on 23 April 2004, 4 May 2007, 20 May 2010 and 27 May 2011. - The Thick of ItThe Thick of ItThe Thick of It is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of modern British government. It was first broadcast on BBC Four in 2005, and has so far completed fourteen half-hour episodes and two special hour-long episodes to coincide with Christmas and Gordon Brown's...
(writer, director) - 2004: The Stupid Version2004: The Stupid Version2004: The Stupid Version is a satirical documentary written by Armando Iannucci, broadcast in two parts on BBC Three on New Year's Eve 2004. The one-off programme is a parody of review programmes typically broadcast at New Year...
(Presenter, co-writer, director) - Time TrumpetTime TrumpetTime Trumpet is a six-episode satirical television comedy series which aired on BBC Two in 2006. The series was written by Armando Iannucci, Roger Drew and Will Smith in a similar manner to Iannucci's earlier one-off programmes 2004: The Stupid Version and Clinton: His Struggle with...
(writer, presenter, director) - Comics BritanniaComics BritanniaComics Britannia is a three part documentary series from BBC Four which started on 10 September 2007. It was then repeated on BBC Two starting on 19 July 2008....
(narrator) - Paradise Lost (presenter and writer)
- Lab RatsLab RatsLab Rats is a 2008 BBC 2 situation comedy set in a university science laboratory. It stars Chris Addison, who has co-written the series with Carl Cooper...
(executive producer) - Stewart Lee's Comedy VehicleStewart Lee's Comedy VehicleStewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle is a comedy series created by Stewart Lee.The BBC Two series debuted on 16 March 2009, and featured stand-up routines and sketches performed by Simon Munnery, Kevin Eldon and Paul Putner amongst others. Peter Serafinowicz recorded voice-over parts. The series is...
(executive producer, plus appears in "Comedy Extra" segments on red button) - Channel 4's 2010 Alternative Election (guest)
- Veep (writer, director, producer)
- Armando Iannucci on Dickens (writer, presenter)
Radio
- On the HourOn the HourOn the Hour was a British radio programme that parodied current affairs broadcasting, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992.Written by Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Steven Wells, Andrew Glover, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and David Quantick, it starred Morris as the overzealous and...
(BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
— creator, co-writer, producer) - No' The Archie McPherson Show (BBC Radio ScotlandBBC Radio ScotlandBBC Radio Scotland is BBC Scotland's national English-language radio network. It broadcasts a wide variety of programming, including news, sport, light entertainment, music, the arts, comedy, drama, history and lifestyle...
— presenter, writer, producer) - Armando Iannucci (BBC Radio 1BBC Radio 1BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
— writer, presenter, producer) - The News QuizThe News QuizThe News Quiz is a topical panel game broadcast on British radio BBC Radio 4.-History:It was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman as chairman. Subsequently it was chaired by Simon Hoggart, Barry Took , and then again by Simon Hoggart until March 2006. Hoggart was replaced by Sandi Toksvig in...
(BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
— producer, also appeared as guest) - Quote... UnquoteQuote... UnquoteQuote... Unquote is a long-running panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4 based on quotations. Every episode since the beginning of the series in 1976 has been chaired by its deviser, Nigel Rees. In July 2011, the programme began a new series, being broadcast at 1.30pm on Mondays, repeated on...
(BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
— producer) - Loose TalkLoose TalkLoose Talk was a British youth orientated chat show which ran for two series on Channel 4 in 1983. It was presented by Steve Taylor, along with a different guest presenter each week....
(producer) - The Mary Whitehouse ExperienceThe Mary Whitehouse ExperienceThe Mary Whitehouse Experience was a British topical sketch comedy show produced by the BBC in association with Spitting Image Productions. It starred two comedy double acts - David Baddiel and Rob Newman, and also Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis, all of whom had graduated from Cambridge University...
(producer) - The 99p ChallengeThe 99p ChallengeThe 99p Challenge is a spoof panel game originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4. The show is presented by Sue Perkins and features a selection of regular panelists such as Armando Iannucci and regular writers Kevin Cecil, Andy Riley, Jon Holmes and Tony Roche...
on BBC Radio 4. - Armando Iannucci's Charm OffensiveArmando Iannucci's Charm OffensiveArmando Iannucci's Charm Offensive is a British radio comedy programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2005 with a second series in 2006, a third in 2007 and a fourth in 2008. Series 2, 3 and 4 of the show were broadcast in the popular Friday evening slot, which it has shared with The...
on BBC Radio 4 - Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable WorldLionel Nimrod's Inexplicable WorldLionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World was a BBC Radio 4 comedy series starring Stewart Lee and Richard Herring , and narrated by Tom Baker as the titular character, Lionel Nimrod, an over the top parody of Leonard Nimoy. The show itself somewhat parodies the Leonard Nimoy program "In Search Of..."...
as various characters. - Desert Island DiscsDesert Island DiscsDesert Island Discs is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast on 29 January 1942. It is the second longest-running radio programme , and is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio...
- BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
as a guest. Armando reveals how as a youngster he rebelled against his parents' "Classical Music listening ways" by playing Wagner. - Scraps With Iannucci a BBC Radio 4 series from 1998.
- Week EndingWeek EndingWeek Ending... was a satirical radio current affairs sketch show, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4, usually on Friday evenings. It was devised by writer/producers Simon Brett and David Hatch, and was originally hosted by Nationwide presenter Michael Barratt.The show's title was always announced as...
(BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
— producer) - The Unbelievable TruthThe Unbelievable TruthThe Unbelievable Truth is a BBC radio comedy panel game made by Random Entertainment, devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith. It is very similar to the occasional I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue game "Lies, All Lies", which was first played in 1985...
(BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
- guest)
- Alan Partridge: Every Ruddy Word by Steve Coogan, Peter Baynham, Armando Iannucci, Patrick Marber (Michael Joseph, 2003) ISBN 0-7181-4678-6
- Facts and Fancies (Michael Joseph, 1997) ISBN 0-7181-3951-8
- Weekly newspaper column in The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
- The Audacity of Hype: Bewilderment, Sleaze and Other Tales of the 21st Century (Little Brown, 2009) ISBN 978-1-4087-0197-3
Audiobooks
- Facts and Fancies (BBC Audiobooks, 1998) ISBN 0-563-55756-7
- I'm Alan Partridge: Knowing Me, Knowing Yule (BBC Audiobooks, 1998) ISBN 0-563-55763-X
- Knowing Me, Knowing You...: With Alan Partridge: Complete Series (BBC Audiobooks, 1995) CD ISBN 0-563-38896-X, cassette ISBN 0-563-38891-9
External links
- Armando Iannucci on TwitterTwitterTwitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
- Profile at the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
- Column archive at The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Armando Iannucci Interview, New StatesmanNew StatesmanNew Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, March 2010 - Armando Iannucci interview, LeftLion Magazine