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Chris Morris
Born	September 5, 1965 (1965-09-05) (age 42) Bristol, England, United Kingdom
Medium	Radio, television, print
Nationality	British
Years active	1987-present
Genres	Black humour, satire
Subject(s)	Current events

Christopher Morris (born September 5, 1965 in Bristol, England) is an English satirical comedian, writer, director, producer, actor and radio DJ.

Morris began his career in radio before later moving into television. He found fame in the nineties fronting the spoof current affairs shows The Day Today and Brass Eye. Morris is known for his often highly controversial yet intelligent brand of comedy, which has brought him praise and criticism in equal measure. Reluctant to discuss his work or appear in public, Morris has become one of the more mysterious figures in British comedy.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Radio career 1.3 Move into television 1.4 Controversy 1.5 Recent work 2 Music 3 Recognition 4 Personal life 5 Works 6 References 7 External links

Morris grew up in Cambridgeshire; both his parents were doctors. He was educated at Stonyhurst College, a Jesuit boys' boarding school in Lancashire, and studied zoology at the University of Bristol.

On graduating, Morris took up a traineeship with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, where he took advantage of the free access to editing and recording equipment to create elaborate spoofs and parodies. On leaving Radio Cambridgeshire he worked at BBC Radio Bristol and Greater London Radio (GLR). He was fired by Radio Bristol, with varying accounts claiming that he had either been excessively abusive to a caller or had talked (and possibly eaten) over a news broadcast. However, the legendary incident in which he supposedly released helium into a news studio was part of a prepared 'sketch' item and did not lead to his suspension or dismissal. Also, despite rumours to the contrary, he was never fired or suspended from GLR and continued to broadcast with the station sporadically until his television career took off.

In 1991 Morris largely gave up work as a mainstream disc jockey and devoted himself to comedy with his radio project On the Hour. Working with Armando Iannucci, Patrick Marber, Richard Herring, Stewart Lee, Steve Coogan and others, he created a highly original spoof news show which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. In 1994 Morris began presenting a weekly evening show on BBC Radio 1 alongside sidekick Peter Baynham. In the shows Morris perfected the art of the 'spoof interview' which would later become a central component of his Brass Eye programme. The show's persistent pranks left BBC bosses nonplussed, and a profanity-laden, mid-afternoon show on Boxing Day would be his last.

In the same year, Morris teamed up with comedy legend Peter Cook, as Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling, in a series of improvised conversations for BBC Radio 3, entitled Why Bother?. Morris followed this with Blue Jam, a late-night ambient music and sketch show broadcast on Radio 1, which was later reworked for television as Channel 4's Jam.

In 1994 a television series based on On the Hour was broadcast under the name The Day Today. The Day Today made a star of Morris, and also helped to launch the careers of Patrick Marber and Steve Coogan.

The "sick comedy" which had bubbled under in On the Hour and The Day Today found full release, however, with Brass Eye, another spoof current affairs television documentary show, shown on Channel 4. Brass Eye later became known for its central device of tricking celebrities and politicians into throwing their support behind public awareness campaigns for made-up issues that were often absurd or surreal in the extreme (such as a designer drug called 'cake' and an elephant with its trunk stuck up its anus). In 2001 a reprise of Brass Eye on the subject of the moral panic that surrounds paedophilia led to a record-breaking number of viewer complaints (now the third highest on UK television after Celebrity Big Brother 2007 and Jerry Springer: The Opera), and a great deal of discussion in the press. Many complainants, some of whom later admitted to not having seen the programme (notably Beverley Hughes, at the time a government minister), felt the satire was directed at the victims of paedophilia, which Morris denies. Channel 4 defended the show, insisting that the show's target was the media and not victims of any crime.

Morris also developed and produced Jam, a television reworking of his radio show Blue Jam. Darker and more unsettling than his previous work, the show explored such taboos as infant mortality, incest, anal sex, rape, suicide and sadomasochism through a series of unsettling, dreamlike sketches with a soundtrack of ambient music. This was followed by a 'remix' version, Jaaaaam.

Morris has also covered other controversial subjects. He once falsely suggested on the radio that Jimmy Savile and Conservative MP Michael Heseltine had died; had a show faded mid-broadcast when he played an iconoclastic cut-up of the Archbishop of Canterbury's funeral oration for Diana, Princess of Wales, although Radio 1 had previously cleared this for broadcast, claiming that this was an error on their part as they mistook it for another censored sketch on a similar theme; and performed a song in the style of Pulp lead singer Jarvis Cocker about notorious child-murderer Myra Hindley with the following lyrics: "Every time I see your picture, Myra/I have to phone my latest girlfriend up and fire her/And find a prostitute who looks like you and hire her/Oh, me oh Myra."

In 1994 Morris portrayed a fictional rapper, Fur-Q, for a sketch satirising hip hop's glamorisation of guns and violence promoting his song "Uzi Lover" (a parody of Phillip Bailey's song "Easy Lover") featuring lyrics such as "Uzi like a metal dick in my hand, magazine like a big testicle gland, bitch wanna try it, I said keep it quiet.. shove it up your motherfuckin ass and fry it" and "Cunt! Bitch! Cunt bitch motherfucker!". He would visit similar territory in Brass Eye, with JLB-8 (Jailbait), an Eminem clone (though in appearance and attire he more closely resembled Fred Durst) who openly worked paedophile themes into his music and thus had a huge following of preteen girls.

In 1999 a regular feature appeared in the Observer newspaper documenting the impending suicide of columnist Richard Geefe entitled Second Class Male/Time To Go. After much protest, it was revealed that the column was in fact a spoof written by Morris. In 2002 Morris ventured into film, directing the short My Wrongs 8245 - 8249 and 117, adapted from a Blue Jam monologue about a man led astray by a sinister talking dog. It was the first film project of Warp Films, a branch of Warp Records. In 2003 this won the BAFTA for best short film. In 2005 Morris worked on a sitcom entitled Nathan Barley, based on the character created by Charlie Brooker for his website TVGoHome. Co-written by Brooker and Morris, the series was broadcast on Channel 4 in early 2005.

Morris was a cast member in The IT Crowd, a Channel 4 sitcom focusing on the office and home lives of two "geeks" who work in the information technology department of the fictional company Reynholm Industries. The series is written and directed by Graham Linehan (writer of Father Ted and Black Books, with whom Morris collaborated on The Day Today, Brass Eye and Jam) and produced by Ash Atalla (The Office). Morris played Denholm Reynholm, the eccentric managing director of the company. This marks the first time Morris has acted in a substantial role in a project which he hasn't developed himself and is far more mainstream than his earlier work. Morris's character appeared to leave the series during episode two of the second season.

The Guardian reported that Morris is working on a new film, satirising terrorism and suicide bombers for Channel 4. Channel 4 have not confirmed this, instead stating that he "is currently at an early stage of development on several ideas" and "As yet no script has been written. At the earliest stage of ideas he involves actors to help with his own writing process." [1] A more recent story reported that he is teaming up with Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain on an undisclosed project.^[1]

Morris often co-writes and performs incidental music for his television shows, notably with Jam and the 'extended remix' version, Jaaaaam. Morris supplied some sketches for British band Saint Etienne's 1993 single 'You're In A Bad Way' (the sketch 'Spongbake' appears at the end of the 4th track on the CD single). British band Stereolab's song 'Nothing To Do With Me' from their 2001 album 'Sound Dust' featured various lines from Chris Morris sketches as lyrics.

In 2003 he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. [2]. In 2004, Channel 4 aired a show called The Comedian's Comedian in which foremost writers and performers of comedy ranked their 50 favourite acts. Morris was at number eleven, above many acclaimed comedians including Bill Hicks, Peter Sellers and Eddie Izzard.

Morris lives in Brixton, with actress Jo Unwin, and has two children.

• No Known Cure (August 1987- March 1990, BBC Radio Bristol)
• Chris Morris (1988-1993, BBC GLR)
• Loose Ends (1989, BBC Radio 4)
• Up Yer News (1990, BSB)
• The Chris Morris Christmas Show (25 December 1990, BBC Radio 1)
• On The Hour (1991-1992, BBC Radio 4)
• Why Bother? (1994, BBC Radio 3)
• The Day Today (1994, BBC 2)
• The Chris Morris Music Show (1994, BBC Radio 1)
• Brass Eye (1997, Channel 4)
• Blue Jam (1997-1999, BBC Radio 1)
• Big Train (1999, BBC 2) Various sketches.
• Second Class Male/Time To Go (1999, newspaper column for The Observer)
• Jam/Jaaaaam (2000, Channel 4)
• Brass Eye Special (2001, Channel 4)
• The Smokehammer (2002, website)
• Absolute Atrocity Special (2002, newspaper pullout for The Observer)
• Bushwhacked (2002)
• My Wrongs 8245 - 8249 and 117 (2002, short film)
• Nathan Barley (2005, Channel 4)
• The IT Crowd (2006, Channel 4)

1. ^ Wolf, Ian (2007-08-28). Chris Morris and Peep Show writers team up. British Sitcom Guide. Retrieved on 2007-08-28.

• The Smokehammer - A site by Chris Morris
• BESTBAR(NONE) - Spoof bar guide compiled by Chris Morris for Warp Records
• trashbat.co.ck - This site is referred to in Nathan Barley throughout and, notionally, is the creation of the titular character. The .co.ck domain is as a result of the second level domain for company and the top level domain for the Cook Islands.
• Christopher Morris at the Internet Movie Database
• Cook'd and Bomb'd - A site devoted to the work of Chris Morris and his collaborators

v • d • e Chris Morris
Radio shows	No Known Cure • Chris Morris • Loose Ends • Up Yer News • The Chris Morris Christmas Show • On the Hour • Why Bother? • The Chris Morris Music Show • Blue Jam
Television shows	The Day Today • Brass Eye • Jam/Jaaaaam • Brass Eye Special • Nathan Barley
Other projects	Big Train • BEST BAR (NONE) • Second Class Male/Time To Go • The Smokehammer • Absolute Atrocity Special • Bushwhacked • My Wrongs 8245 - 8249 and 117 • The IT Crowd
Related articles	Peter Baynham • Charlie Brooker • Armando Iannucci • Peter Cook