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Alexei Sayle

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Alexei David Sayle is an English comedian, actor and author. He was born in Anfield, Liverpool, England on August 7, 1952. He was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early Eighties. He has written several novels and television series and has made many television and film appearances.

Early life

Sayle grew up in Liverpool, the son of Jewish working-class parents who were members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. In the aftermath of May 1968, he joined the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist). After leaving school in dubious circumstances[citation needed], Sayle took a foundation course in art at Southport, before attending Chelsea College of Art and Design in London.

Career

When the Comedy Store opened in London in 1979, Sayle responded to an advert for 'would-be comedians' and became its first compere.

In 1980 he was seen at the Edinburgh Festival by comedy producer Martin Lewis, producer of The Secret Policeman's Balls shows and films, who became his manager and mentor. Under Lewis' management, Sayle became the leading performer at the new Comic Strip club. He also secured a radio series for London's Capital Radio, Alexei Sayle And The Fish People (1981), for which he won a Sony Radio Award. Sayle later released an album based on the show, The Fish People Tapes. He appeared on The Comic Strip Album (1981) and recorded Cak! (1982). He also appeared in the stage show, film and comedy album of The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1981-2) with established comedy performers. These strategies were all designed to bring Sayle to a broader audience, as was his appearance in Central Television's controversial late-night alternative cabaret show O.T.T. in 1982. Sayle left nine weeks into the show's run, citing disappointment with the low-brow old-school comedy that was present in the show; indeed, his humour seemed at odds with that of his co-presenters and the live studio audience appeared to be unsure whether to laugh or not. He was replaced by Manchester based comedian Bernard Manning. Following this exposure, Sayle began to receive critical acclaim and his popularity grew.

The height of his early fame was with the single "Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?", produced by Madness and Elvis Costello producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. Langer had been a member of the Lewis-managed Portsmouth Sinfonia. The single achieved notoriety due to the amount of swearing heard on the 12" single. After this record's success, Sayle went from being an underground cult figure to having a more mainstream career. Some of his early fans felt that he had sold out[citation needed], but this was not detrimental to his commercial success. He also became one of Britain's highest-paid voice-over talents.

In the late 1980s, Sayle released another hit record, "Didn't You Kill My Brother?", which was accompanied by a popular music video.

He had starred in many TV series and films: The Comic Strip Presents, The Young Ones and many stand-up comedy series. He also co-wrote many programmes including six series of his own stand-up/sketch shows (three series of Alexei Sayle's Stuff (1988-91), two series of The All New Alexei Sayle Show (1994-95) and one series of Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round (1998)). He was credited with providing "additional material" for The Young Ones. He is often referred to as a "fat bastard" in his skits; the opening credits for Stuff featured various characters asking "Who is that fat bastard?" as he passed by.

In 1989, Sayle was awarded an International Emmy for Stuff. In conversation with Mark Thomas on BBC Radio 4's informal chat-show Chain Reaction, Sayle revealed that the first he knew of the award was when he watched Channel 4 News and saw Benny Hill collecting the award on his behalf to his amazement.

Much of Sayle's humour was in the tradition of Spike Milligan and Monty Python with riffs based on an absurd premise. A sketch in Alexei Sayle's Stuff featured Sayle playing the part of Godot, hitch-hiking across contemporary northern England but never managing to get a lift. His television comedy is notable for cynicism, intelligence and political awareness, although he also employs grotesque physical comedy. Sayle's trademark costume is a suit and tie a size or two too small for his body, a shaved head and a five o'clock shadow.

Sayle alternates his comedic work with performances as a character actor ranging from serious (Gorky Park) to humorous (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). He also appeared in the Doctor Who serial Revelation of the Daleks and, in a column for a British tabloid newspaper around the same time, indicated that he wanted to become the "first Socialist Doctor".

Sayle had also written several novels and short story collections and a graphic novel. He admits to having moved away from performance in favour of writing.

He had been married to Linda Rawsthorn since 1974. In 1995, he was awarded an honorary professorship at Thames Valley University.

As of 2006, he wrote a motoring column in The Independent newspaper.

On 3/11/2006 he presented a thirty-minute program on BBC Radio 4 which reviewed the Chopwell Miners 80 years after it (Chopwell) became known as Little Moscow. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/pip/48cfy/


TV series

Radio

Movies

Records

  • Pop-Up Toasters (single, Springtime/Island, 1981) (as "Alexei's Midnight Runners")
  • 'Ullo John! Got A New Motor? (single, Springtime/Island, 1982) (7" IS162, 12" 12IS162)
  • Cak! (album, Springtime/Island, 1982)
  • The Fish People Tapes (album, Island, 1984)
  • Panic! (album, CBS, 1985)
  • Didn't You Kill My Brother? (single, CBS, 1985) (7" A6553)

Books

  • Train To Hell (Methuen, 9 February 1984; hardcover ISBN 0-413-52460-4, paperback ISBN 0-413-52470-1) — novel
  • Geoffrey the Tube Train and the Fat Comedian (Methuen, 1987; paperback) - graphic novel
  • Alexei Sayle's Great Bus Journeys Of The World (Methuen, October 1989; paperback ISBN 0-413-62670-9) — collected columns from Time Out
  • Barcelona Plates (Sceptre, 17 February 2000; hardback ISBN 0-340-76752-9, paperback ISBN 0-340-76753-7) — short story collection
  • The Dog Catcher (Sceptre, 19 July 2001; hardcover ISBN 0-340-81868-9, paperback ISBN 0-340-81944-8) — short story collection
  • Overtaken (Sceptre, 1 September 2003; hardcover ISBN 0-340-76768-5) — despite Train To Hell, this was publicised as being Sayle's first novel
  • Weeping Women Hotel (Sceptre, 27 February 2006; hardcover ISBN 0-340-83121-9 ) — this is Sayle's latest novel

Sources

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