Joe Wilkinson

Joseph "Joe" Wilkinson (born 2 May 1975)^[1] is an English comedian, actor and writer. He began his comedy career in his local village pub in 2004 and has supported Alan Carr and Russell Howard on tour.^[2] He has also made numerous appearances on television on programmes such as Live at the Apollo and Live at the Electric and has been touring solo since 2011. He currently appears on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown as Rachel Riley's assistant. He is also one half of the comedy duo 'Two Episodes of Mash' alongside Diane Morgan.

In 2006, Wilkinson won the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year.^[3]

Career

Wilkinson started his career in 2004 at his local pub. His local was holding an 'open mic' evening and decided to give it a go so he signed himself up.^[4] Since 2008, Joe has appeared more than 1000 times on television^[5] and has performed many stand up shows on his tour: "Joe Wilkinson: My Mum's Called Stella and My Dad's Called Brian"^[4] and at venues such as the Edinburgh Fringe and the Bloomsbury Theatre.

Television

Since 2010, Wilkinson has appeared in a number of television shows. In 2010, he played various characters in Robert's Web for the first series. He also appeared in the 2010 TV movie, England's Worst Ever Football Team. Wilkinson appeared on The Rob Brydon Show, The Wright Stuff, Show & Tell, Comedy Lab and My Funniest Year. He played a major role in Him & Her as Dan Perkins – the lonely, socially awkward neighbour to main characters Becky and Steve.

Wilkinson has also appeared on 8 Out of 10 Cats, Have I Got News For You, Mock the Week and Never Mind The Buzzcocks and has performed at a stand-up section of Russell Howard's Good News. He has also appeared in Miranda.

Wilkinson wrote three episodes in the first series of Anna & Katy along with an animated short in 2012, entitled, "A Fishy Tale". Additionally, three episodes of Show & Tell and the episode '2001' for My Funniest Year were written by him.

Wilkinson is involved in the BBC Three comedy show Live at the Electric, as half of the comedic double-act 'Two episodes of MASH'.^[6] The other half of this double act is Diane Morgan and it has been previously broadcast on BBC Radio 2.^[2] Live at the Electric also features his own sketches, which are largely based on dark humour.

Since 2014, Wilkinson has appeared as a resident comedian on the revived series of Celebrity Squares, hosted by Warwick Davis on ITV.^[7] It returned for a second series in April 2015.

In 2016, Wilkinson was a contestant on the Dave^[8] comedy game show series Taskmaster.^[9]

8 Out of 10 Cats

Since 2012, Wilkinson has made regular appearance on the 8 Out of 10 Cats spin-off show 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. He usually appears in the second half of the show where he stands in as Rachel Riley's assistant. His main roles throughout each episode involve his appearing in a dressing-up costume and making humorous comments towards the contestants and Rachel Riley in his usual tongue-in-cheek manner. Furthermore, in 2012 during the special episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Deal or No Deal, Wilkinson made a special appearance as the banker's assistant.

Stand-up

Wilkinson has performed two major tours – My Mum's called Stella and my Dad's called Brian^[10] and The Joe Wilkinson Experience.^[11] Both tours have received mixed reviews, however those for "The Joe Wilkinson Experience" have exceeded those of "My Mum and Dad"; in an August 2011 review for "My Mum's called Stella and my Dad's called Brian", Steve Bennett said "There's just enough to earn Wilkinson three stars, but it's a close call for a comedian who always seems to attract industry attention but never really comes up with the goods to make an impact."^[12]

Other work

In 2014, Wilkinson appeared in a commercial for Hellmann's Mayonnaise with Sue Barker and Brian Blessed, and in 2015, Wilkinson began voicing ads for Hotels.com.

Personal life

Wilkinson was born to Brian and Stella Wilkinson. He married in July 2015 and now lives in Brighton.^[13] Wilkinson has been very open about how his life has been "boring" and states that it has been useful in giving him material for his stand-up tour and comedies.^[14]

Wilkinson is a fan of Gillingham Football Club.^[15][13]

Filmography

References

External links

• Joe Wilkinson at the Internet Movie Database
• Wilkinson's page at Avalon Agency