Liverpudlian-in-exile Silky has been a full time comedian since 1997. He did his first gig in 1994, and his fourth gig (the final of the 1995 BBC New Comedy Awards alongside Lee Mack, Daniel Kitson and Julian Barratt) was shown on BBC1’s Stand-Up Show.
Other awards he has failed to win include the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year (prize-winning runner-up 2000), the Liverpool Echo Arts and Entertainment Award (the only person to be nominated twice: always the sodding bridesmaid), the Perrier Best Newcomer (not even nominated for that one), the Time Out Award (didn't get entry form in on time), the F.A. cup (not a football team), numerous Academy Awards, and so on.
The list gets longer every day. He did, however, win the 2000 BAF 'Out There' award for Artistic Courage, for a show at the Bakewell Arts Festival, where they were genuinely expecting folk music. Silky has performed internationally, including gigs in China, the Philippines, the Gulf, Singapore, the US, the Melbourne Comedy Festival, and all over Europe, including at the Glastonbury Festival, where no-one lobbed bottles of wee, much to his relief. He performed at the 2004 God’s Kitchen Global Gathering, the 2005 Big Bang at Santa Pod, and in the houseband for the Kilkenny Festival.
He is also the evil mastermind behind the Kill for a Seat Comedy clubs across the UK, and has performed with the Comedy Store’s MEN at Work satirical team and Monkey Lab Improv. A tall, versatile, funny and very likable performer, whether you need an MC, an extended set, or simply something down from the top of a cupboard… Silky headlined the inaugural Frampton Mansell comedy festival, the world’s smallest. He acted in ‘All Shorts’ for Club West (winners of the coveted Spirit of the Fringe award), and presented WorldArt Media’s TV Stage in Princes Street Gardens for Telewest.
He compered the Big Value Comedy Show at the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe (**** Edfringe.com), the final of the FHM Com and has played from Manila to Berlin, Belfast to Prague, Shanghai to Croydon, but he’s never been to me, and actually enjoys making people laugh. Indoor work with no heavy lifting? Lovely. In Winter 2003 he headlined his own 30-date tour of the UK and Ireland as an exercise in humility, and is doing so again this year. He acted in a pilot for SO TV that was bought for broadcast by Disney, and will never show the tape as Bee Costumes are involved.
Warm-up work includes Strictly Come Dancing for BBC1, a Saturday evening primetime show attracting 9.1 million viewers. He’s always doing interesting stuff.
