This fanlisting is for Simon Amstell.


**Don't forget to visit Simon's site.**


Simon Marc Amstell (born 29 November, 1979) is a BAFTA nominated, award-winning English comedian and television presenter. In 2007, Amstell was nominated for "The Times Breakthrough South Bank Show Award".


Career
Nickelodeon
His first professional television appearance was in 1998, as a presenter on the UK children's channel Nickelodeon. He claims he was sacked for being "sarcastic and mean to children."

Popworld
From 2000 to 2006 he presented Popworld on Channel 4 with Miquita Oliver. He voiced the characters "Timothy the Popworld melon" and "Richard the Popworld horse". On Popworld he developed a highly ironic, surreal and leftfield style which gained the show a cult following, but angered many of its guests. One such example was a mock interview with singer Lemar called "Lemar From Afar," in which Amstell shouted questions into a megaphone from one end of a car park while Lemar stood at the other end. Another was a "Si-chiatrist" interview with Luke Pritchard and Hugh Harris of The Kooks, in which Amstell played the role of psychiatrist and Pritchard and Harris his patients. Amstell was unafraid to ask quirky, unusual and even irrelevant questions to celebrities.

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Amstell first appeared on the show in episode eight of series thirteen as a guest star on March 20, 2005. Amstell now hosts Never Mind The Buzzcocks full time, with his first episode airing at the end of October 2006. He had said that he hoped to beat "the universal, exceptionless rule that when a new host takes over an old show it is a horrible, embarrassing disaster". In March 2007, Amstell won a Royal Television Society Award for Best Entertainment Performance for his work on Never Mind The Buzzcocks. In June 2007, Simon wrote with Dan Swimer Imagine... A Mildly Amusing Panel Show, a spoof version of Alan Yentob's arts programme Imagine. Alan Yentob and Simon Amstell play themselves in a mock interview in between clips of Simon's episodes of Never Mind The Buzzcocks. In December 2007, Amstell won 2 British Comedy Awards' for "Best Comedy Entertainment Personality" and "Best Comedy Entertainment Series" for his work on Never Mind The Buzzcocks. On 23 January 2008, Never Mind the Buzzcocks won the Best Entertainment Programme award at the Broadcast Awards 2008. In February 2008, Simon wrote with Dan Swimer, Never Mind the Buzzcocks - A Moving Tribute.


Stand up
Amstell also performs as a stand up comedian. He was the youngest ever finalist of the BBC New Comedy Awards, and was also listed in the Leicester Mercury Comedian of The Year Competition and the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year Competition. He has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival every August 2005 - 2007. He has also appeared at the Carling Festivals in the Cabaret and Comedy tent for the last two years. In 2006, Simon performed a short 45-minute long free comedy show at University College School in London, as part of the charity setup "Comedy UCS". In August 2007, Amstell returned to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with a stand up show titled 'No Self'. He also appeared on the Alternative Stage at the Carling Festival, at both Leeds and Reading in 2007. Amstell will return with a new stand up in April - June 2008, performing at 27 different venues across Britain. Official information on the content of the show has not been released.

Other appearances He made a guest appearance on Comic Relief.
He presented a one off charity special 'Celebrity Chair Off' in which celebrities would compete for the coveted 'Golden Chalice of Glee.'
He hosted Channel 4's coverage of V and O2 Wireless festivals.
He also briefly presented on Radio 2 and London radio station XFM.
He presented the 'Red carpet' coverage of the BAFTA Awards.
He narrated a Radio 2 documentary on comedian Lenny Bruce.
His first television appearance was in 1993 on the Channel 4 show GamesMaster.


Personal life
Amstell was born in Gants Hill into a Jewish family. Amstell came out as gay two months into his work on Popworld, claiming that no one believed him initially, "so I had to keep going on about it." His orientation has been referred to both on Popworld and Never Mind The Buzzcocks, with John Barrowman challenging him to a "gay-off" on NMTB. Amstell has been lauded by some for his "approach of refusing to treat homosexuality as a dirty secret that can’t be mentioned."


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