Biography casting biography

FAC I L I TATORS OF M I RTH
Artist
biography
Edward Easton
Playing age: 20-35
Eye colour: Blue
Height: 6’ 2”
Build average: Slim
Weight: 12 st
Appearance: White
Hair color: Brown
Native Accent: Cheshire
Accents:American general, northern Irish, Glaswegian, Scottish general,
RP, Liverpudlian, Birmingham, Manchester and Cockney
Experienced in: Stand up, Improvisation, Acting in Film and Theatre, Highly
skilled in football, basketball, squash and guitar, skilled in cricket, tennis &
horse riding, Plays the Guitar & Drums
Driving License: Full and clean
“Quirkily different...with an engagingly casual approach despite the weirdness of some of his revelations”
– Chortle
An effortless and effervescent comedic actor and
improviser, Ed Easton brings a unique voice to his acting
and stand-up alike. Ed is also a prolific and talented
writer, very much tipped by the industry as one to watch.
Edward started performing stand up comedy in 2009
and his low-key outsider persona, married with esoteric
and engaging material saw him reach the final of the
World Series in 2011.
As one fourth of multi-award winning sketch group
Gein’s Family Giftshop, Ed brings a raw nervous energy
and perfectly pitched physicality to proceedings. In
2014 Gein’s Family Giftshop were nominees for the Best
Newcomer Award at The Fosters Edinburgh Comedy
Awards. They are also winners of London Sketchfest’s
Best New Sketch Act & The Audience Choice Award
2014. Gein’s sketches give as much attention to their
characters, situations and pacing as they do to the
eventual punchline. The vast majority of sketches well
exceed expectations: Gein’s Family Giftshop always goes
further, theirs is absurd comedy at its absolute best.
Ed Easton is a principle writer for GFG, and most
recently, Ed & Kiri Pritchard-McLean wrote an episode
of Crackanory for Dave TV. The group have written and
starred in a Chortle nominated Sky TV Christmas comedy
short – Gein’s Family Giftshop’s Christmas, that was
broadcast on sky.com and on Sky Arts, on Christmas Day.
Ed was invited to appear in the second series of BBC
Drama Inside No. 9, after Reece Shearsmith and Steve
Pemberton saw the debut GFG show in Edinburgh.
His consummate writing talent also led to him being
commissioned with the group, to write a three-part series
for BBC Radio Wales, which were hugely popular when
they were transmitted during the summer of 2015.
For all bookings please contact [email protected]
Gag Reflex Ltd
0161 205 8739 | 07974 685 267
Red 16, The Sharp Project, Manchester, M40 5BJ
0161 205 8739 | [email protected] | www.gagreflex.co.uk
Page 1 of 2
Edward Easton (continued)
Awards/Competitions
Nominees – ‘Gein’s Family Giftshop’s Christmas’ on Sky
Arts - Best TV - Chortle Awards 2016
Nominees – Gein’s Family Giftshop - Best Newcomer
Award - Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2014
Winners – Gein’s Family Giftshop - Best Newcomer
Award - Chortle Awards 2015
Winners – Gein’s Family Giftshop - London Sketchfest –
Best New Sketch – 2014
Nominees – Gein’s Family Giftshop - Best Character,
Improv or Sketch Award - Chortle Awards 2015
Winners – Gein’s Family Giftshop - London Sketchfest Audience Choice - 2014
“Gein’s Family Giftshop are three excellent comic actors (Easton in particular). Stand-out moments include
the one-man My Sharona sing-a-long which showcases Easton’s knack for physical comedy, and the
Scary Mary will-they-won’t-they” – London is Funny
“Ed Easton as a constant force for chaos and childish intemperance, this is a really distinctive debut
hour that glories in its own silliness, scatology and twisted masturbatory fantasies, without ever growing
overpowering.” – Fest
TV and Film
Radio
2016 – Drunk History - Series 2 (Comedy Central)
2015 – Comedy Specials – Gein’s Family Giftshop
BBC Radio Wales
2015 – Gein’s Family Giftshop’s Christmas (Sky)
2015 – Inside No 9 (BBC)
2014 – Best Bathrooms (Corporate Video)
2014 – The Jonny and Enel Show (CBBC)
2015 – Sketchorama – Gein’s Family Giftshop
BBC Radio 4
2014 – Fresh from the Fringe – BBC Radio 4
2012 – Forever Manchester (Advert Campaign)
2010 – The Valentines – Girl like You (Music Video)
“first-among-equals Ed Easton, whose lo-camp, faintly hysterical energy gives the show its off-kilter
charge.” – The Guardian
“Ed Easton is a natural.. energetic, hysterical and able to nail a Coogan-esque kind of stuttering
awkwardness during exchanges… brilliant to watch as he shifts from to shuffling to flustered to frenzied
clowning.” – Short Com
“a fun hour of unpleasant comedy, and the sketch in which Ed Easton offering a pint to Kath Hughes
spirals into an epic Gothic dumbshow of a season in hell is one for the annals”
– The Guardian
For all bookings please contact [email protected]
Gag Reflex Ltd
0161 205 8739 | 07974 685 267
Red 16, The Sharp Project, Manchester, M40 5BJ
0161 205 8739 | [email protected] | www.gagreflex.co.uk
Page 2 of 2
FAC I L I TATORS OF M I RTH
Artist
biography
James Meehan
Playing age: 23-35
Eye colour: Blue
Height: 6’
Build average: Average
Weight: 12 st
Appearance: White British
Hair color: Brown
Native Accent: Lancashire
Accents: Lancashire, Scottish, London, American
Experienced in: Stand up, improvisation, theatre, acting, plays guitar
Driving License: Full and clean
“James Meehan is a domineering presence with razor sharp timing and cutting Northern wit” – Short.com
Offbeat, aloof, yet delightfully likeable, James Meehan
is a current rising star of the British comedy scene.
Described as brilliantly unconventional, and refreshingly
nonchalant, as a stand-up, James is carving out a niche
for himself as a wonderfully offbeat presence on the
circuit.
Unique and intelligent material sets him apart as a standup, with his writing chops proven once more as one
fourth of the multi-award winning sketch group Gein’s
Family Giftshop.
A regular on the Manchester comedy circuit since
2009, James threw himself into the City’s thriving stand
up scene, and just three years later his talent was
recognized when he became a runner up in Preston
Comedian of the Year. He continues to be a hit not only in
the North West, but across the country.
“Unplanned Orphan”. In 2014 & ‘15, James was a principle
member of the cast of Phil Ellis’ ‘Funz and Gamez’, which
won the Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Award Panel Prize in
15’ and went on to record a BBC pilot.
In 2014 Gein’s Family Giftshop were nominees for
the Best Newcomer Award at The Fosters Edinburgh
Comedy Awards. They are also winners of London
Sketchfest’s Best New Sketch Act & The Audience
Choice Award 2014.
Absurd in tone this quartet marry the tragic with the
hilarious, as they apply their warped world vision to the
hilarious subject matter of abject misery, and human
tragedy.
In 2013 James joined Phil Ellis as a cast member and
writer on his critically acclaimed Edinburgh show
Gein’s sketches give as much attention to their
characters, situations and pacing as they do to the
eventual punchline. The vast majority of sketches well
exceed expectations: Gein’s Family Giftshop always goes
further, theirs is absurd comedy at its absolute best.
For all bookings please contact [email protected]
Gag Reflex Ltd
0161 205 8739 | 07974 685 267
Red 16, The Sharp Project, Manchester, M40 5BJ
0161 205 8739 | [email protected] | www.gagreflex.co.uk
Page 1 of 2
James Meehan (continued)
James was invited to appear in the second series of BBC
Drama Inside No. 9, after Reece Shearsmith and Steve
Pemberton saw the debut GFG show in Edinburgh. He
was also commissioned with the group, to write a threepart series for BBC Radio Wales, which were hugely
popular when they were transmitted during the summer
of 2015.
James Meehan wrote and performed in the Chortle
nominated Sky Short ‘Gein’s Family Christmas’
transmitted on Sky in December.
James has been described as aloof, charming and
compelling and was selected for the prestigious Just The
Tonic Big Value Showcase at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe
Festival.
“As befits their serial killer, specialist vendor name, Gein’s Family Giftshop excel in the delivery of dark and
uniquely depraved sketches. With James Meehan as the de facto leader, Kath Hughes as the put-upon
woman and Ed Easton as a constant force for chaos and childish intemperance, this is a really distinctive
debut hour that glories in its own silliness, scatology and twisted masturbatory fantasies, without ever
growing overpowering” – Fest
“Gein’s Family Giftshop – are three excellent comic actors” – London is Funny
Awards/Competitions
Nominees – ‘Gein’s Family Giftshop’s Christmas’ on Sky
Arts - Best TV - Chortle Awards 2016
Nominees – Gein’s Family Giftshop - Best Newcomer
Award - Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2014
Winners – Gein’s Family Giftshop - Best Newcomer
Award - Chortle Awards 2015
Winners – Gein’s Family Giftshop - London Sketchfest –
Best New Sketch – 2014
Nominees – Gein’s Family Giftshop - Best Character,
Improv or Sketch Award - Chortle Awards 2015
Winners – Gein’s Family Giftshop - London Sketchfest Audience Choice - 2014
“James Meehan has understated delivery and offbeat charm. Recommended.” – Lee Martin, Gag Reflex
“an hour of tense, inventive sketch comedy and enough psychosexual shenanighans to last an entire
festival. … an experimental format that is by turns bold, intelligent and refreshingly prop free. Memorably
unsettling” – Mail on Sunday
TV and Film
Radio
2016 – Drunk History - Series 2 (Comedy Central)
2015 – Comedy Specials – Gein’s Family Giftshop
BBC Radio Wales
2015 – Gein’s Family Giftshop’s Christmas (Sky)
2015 – Inside No 9 (BBC)
2015 –Funz & Gamez TV Pilot (BBC)
2011 – The Birthday Cake – Short Film
2015 – Sketchorama – Gein’s Family Giftshop
BBC Radio 4
2014 – Fresh from the Fringe – BBC Radio 4
2010 –Tarrant Lets the Kids Loose - WatchTV
Currently appearing at: The Frog and Bucket, XS Malarkey, Comedy Central, Hilarity Bites, Buzz Comedy, Funny
Bones Comedy and many more.
For all bookings please contact [email protected]
Gag Reflex Ltd
0161 205 8739 | 07974 685 267
Red 16, The Sharp Project, Manchester, M40 5BJ
0161 205 8739 | [email protected] | www.gagreflex.co.uk
Page 2 of 2
FAC I L I TATORS OF M I RTH
Artist
biography
Kath Hughes
Playing age: 20-35
Eye colour: Blue
Height: 5’ 6”
Build average: Medium
Weight: 12.8 st
Appearance: White
Hair color: Red
Native Accent: North Wales
Accents: South Wales, Cockney, Liverpool, RP, Lancashire
Experienced in: Theatre, Film acting, skilled in Mixed martial arts
Driving License: Full and clean
“despite the air of simmering surrealism that is rather common in sketch comedy these days, the
originality of the ideas and deadpan naturalism of the performances – Kath Hughes’s especially – help
make the show feel very much its own thing” – The Telegraph
Understated, with a devastating line in nuanced comic
timing, Kath’s performance style is a breath of fresh air on
both stage and screen.
2014. They are also winners of the Chortle Award for Best
Newcomer, London Sketchfest’s Best New Sketch Act,
and The Audience Choice Award.
As one fourth of multi-award winning sketch group
Gein’s Family Giftshop, Kath brings a bold, intelligent and
refreshingly subtle side to proceedings.
Kath’s background in film production informs much of her
work, with a preference for the unassuming when writing
and performing, thus creating faceted and naturalistic
scenes and dialogue.
Absurd in tone this quartet marry the tragic with the
hilarious, as they apply their warped world vision to the
hilarious subject matter of abject misery, and human
tragedy.
Gein’s sketches give as much attention to their
characters, situations and pacing as they do to the
eventual punchline. The vast majority of sketches well
exceed expectations: Gein’s Family Giftshop always goes
further, theirs is absurd comedy at its absolute best.
Kath was invited to appear in the second series of BBC
Drama Inside No. 9, after Reece Shearsmith and Steve
Pemberton saw the debut GFG show in Edinburgh. She
was also commissioned with the group, to write a threepart series for BBC Radio Wales, which were hugely
popular when they were transmitted during the summer
of 2015.
Gein’s Family Giftshop were nominees for Best
Newcomer at the Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Awards in
Kath Hughes wrote and performed in the Chortle
nominated Sky Short ‘Gein’s Family Christmas’
transmitted on Sky in December.
For all bookings please contact [email protected]
Gag Reflex Ltd
0161 205 8739 | 07974 685 267
Red 16, The Sharp Project, Manchester, M40 5BJ
0161 205 8739 | [email protected] | www.gagreflex.co.uk
Page 1 of 2
Kath Hughes (continued)
Awards/Competitions
Nominees – ‘Gein’s Family Giftshop’s Christmas’ on Sky
Arts - Best TV - Chortle Awards 2016
Nominees – Gein’s Family Giftshop - Best Newcomer
Award - Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2014
Winners – Gein’s Family Giftshop - Best Newcomer
Award - Chortle Awards 2015
Winners – Gein’s Family Giftshop - London Sketchfest –
Best New Sketch – 2014
Nominees – Gein’s Family Giftshop - Best Character,
Improv or Sketch Award - Chortle Awards 2015
Winners – Gein’s Family Giftshop - London Sketchfest Audience Choice - 2014
“Kath Hughes is deadpan and sardonic, sending herself up with confidence, and able to shift between her
default role as the beleaguered of the three to an intimidating stage presence. Hughes’s finest moments
occur when she is jousting with one of the other two in one of their sharp-tongued interchanges”
– Short.com
“Hughes certainly pulls her weight, as all three have formidable acting chops, going from the sublime to
the ridiculous and demonstrating a gift for physical as well as verbal comedy in their big, pugnacious and
energetic performances. The three are pretty brutal with each other, adding violence both physical and
psychological to their toilet humour in a messy melting pot of humanity’s baser instincts” – Chortle
TV and Film
Radio
2016 – Drunk History - Series 2 (Comedy Central)
2015 – Sketchorama – Gein’s Family Giftshop - BBC Radio 4
2015 – Gein’s Family Giftshop’s Christmas (Sky)
2015 – Comedy Specials – Gein’s Family Giftshop
BBC Radio Wales
2015 – Inside No 9 (BBC)
2014 – The Jonny and Inel Show (CBBC)
2010 – Supporting artists – A Stab at the Truth (True
Lioness Productions)
2014 – ‘Fresh from the Fringe’ – Gein’s Family Giftshop
BBC Radio 4
2012 – Presenter – The Rob and Kath Show- Calon Fm
2012 – Performer- The Collectors – Calon Fm
“a fun hour of unpleasant comedy, and the sketch in which Ed Easton offering a pint to Kath Hughes
spirals into an epic Gothic dumbshow of a season in hell is one for the annals” – The Guardian
“Refreshingly nonchalant…Hughes does get the last laugh” – Time Out
For all bookings please contact [email protected]
Gag Reflex Ltd
0161 205 8739 | 07974 685 267
Red 16, The Sharp Project, Manchester, M40 5BJ
0161 205 8739 | [email protected] | www.gagreflex.co.uk
Page 2 of 2