Matthew Holness
{{short description|British comedian (born 1975)}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Matthew Holness
| image = Matthew Holness in 2023.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Holness in 2023
| birthname = Matthew James Holness
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1975}}
| birth_place = Whitstable, Kent, England
| occupation = Actor, comedian, writer, director
| years_active =
| education =
| alma_mater = Trinity Hall, Cambridge
| known_for = Garth Marenghi
}}
Matthew James Holness (born 1975) is an English comedian, director, author, plus actor. He is known for creating and portraying the fictional horror author Garth Marenghi.
Early life and education
Born in Whitstable, Kent, Holness became a fan of Hammer horror films at a young age, to the extent that when, at the age of six, he asked Hammer star and fellow Whitstable resident Peter Cushing for his autograph, Cushing expressed concern that the child knew so much about the films.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/oct/12/from-garth-marenghi-to-big-screen-horror-what-the-lost-boy-of-comedy-did-next |title=From Garth Marenghi to big-screen horror – what the 'lost boy' of comedy did next |last=Shoard |first=Catherine |date=12 October 2018 |website=theguardian.com |access-date=12 October 2018 |archive-date=30 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330210320/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/oct/12/from-garth-marenghi-to-big-screen-horror-what-the-lost-boy-of-comedy-did-next |url-status=live }} Holness received the Master of Arts from Cambridge, graduating in absentia due to his comedy work.{{cite news|title=Congregation of the Regent House on 25 March 2000|url=http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/1999-2000/weekly/5807/37.html|publisher=Cambridge University Reporter|access-date=9 March 2012|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222816/http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/1999-2000/weekly/5807/37.html|url-status=live}}
Holness attended Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury and went on to read English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. As a member of the Cambridge Footlights, he appeared in a number of shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the mid-1990s. He also served as vice-president when David Mitchell was president. Other contemporaries included Robert Webb, Richard Ayoade and John Oliver.{{cite web|title=Cambridge Footlights Alumni 1990–1999|url=http://footlights.org/1990.html|publisher=Footlights Official Website|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213104810/http://footlights.org/1990.html|archivedate=13 February 2012|df=dmy-all}}
Career
Holness first appeared on television as a cast-member of the short-lived BBC Two comedy series Bruiser in 2000.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/bruiser/ |title=Comedy: Bruiser |author= |date=28 October 2014 |website=BBC |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=26 January 2019 |archive-date=28 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228225254/http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/bruiser/ |url-status=live }} In the same year, Garth Marenghi's Fright Knight, a stage show written by Holness and Ayoade and starring the pair along with Alice Lowe, was nominated for the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe.{{cite news|title=Send in the clowns|url=http://www.varsity.co.uk/features/2109|publisher=Varsity|date=25 February 2010|access-date=6 March 2012|archive-date=15 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615032410/https://www.varsity.co.uk/features/2109|url-status=live}} The show was built around a spoof horror writer named Garth Marenghi. The sequel, Garth Marenghi's Netherhead, won the Perrier Award the following year.{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1508461.stm |title=Marenghi wins Perrier Award |author= |date=26 August 2001 |website=BBC News |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=26 January 2019 |archive-date=24 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124234542/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1508461.stm |url-status=live }}
He played the role of Simon, an arrogant and sarcastic computer technician in series two of The Office, which aired in 2002.{{cite web |url=https://observer.com/2016/06/matthew-holness-travels-to-darkplaces/ |title=Matthew Holness Travels to DarkPlaces |last=McEwan |first=Cameron K. |date=6 June 2016 |website=Observer |publisher=Observer Media |access-date=26 January 2019 |archive-date=5 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105181915/https://observer.com/2016/06/matthew-holness-travels-to-darkplaces/ |url-status=live }} About the same time, he appeared in the comedy stage play The Mighty Boosh, filling the role of Bob Fossil while regular cast member Rich Fulcher was overseas.{{cite AV media |people=Dave Lambert (director) |date=5 May 2010 |title=The Mighty Boosh: A History |medium=video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sGCf0vZzDY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/7sGCf0vZzDY |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|access-date=27 January 2019 |at=6'39" |publisher=YouTube: TheMightyBooshClips |quote= (Julian Barratt:) Rich wasn't in the country at the time, so we got Matt Holness to do... (Noel Fielding:) From Garth Marenghi. (Julian Barratt:) Yeah. (Caption:) Matthew Holness, Guest Appearance as 'Bob Fossil'. }}{{cbignore}}
In 2004, the character of Garth Marenghi transferred to television with the Channel 4 horror comedy Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Despite critical acclaim and later, a cult following, the series suffered from relatively low ratings when first broadcast.
In 2009, he appeared in the Channel 4 sitcom Free Agents. A year later he played the part of a bandleader in Cemetery Junction, a dramedy film by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.
In 2011, he played a minor role in the first episode of the Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner. The same year, "A Gun for George" was released. This was a short film written and directed by Holness in which he plays an angry loner who writes pulp-fiction crime novels about a vigilante called the Reprisalizer. He played the part of a smug lawyer in Life's Too Short, a sitcom starring Warwick Davis.
Holness wrote and directed a 2012 short film for Sky Arts' Playhouse Presents series entitled "The Snipist", which depicted a dystopian alternative 1970s Britain stricken by rabies. Douglas Henshall starred, with John Hurt providing the voice of the Ministry.{{cite web |url=https://vimeo.com/45754017 |title=The Snipist |author= |date=14 July 2012 |website=Vimeo |publisher=InterActiveCorp |access-date=26 January 2019 |archive-date=4 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504115901/https://vimeo.com/45754017 |url-status=live }}
Holness wrote and directed the 2016 "Smutch", a Halloween Comedy Short shown on Sky Arts, in which he played an embittered author haunted by a ghostwriter.{{cite web |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/matt_holness_horror_smutch/ |title=Matt Holness's Horror: Smutch |author= |date=2016 |website=British Comedy Guide |publisher=Mark Boosey and Aaron Brown |access-date=26 January 2019 |archive-date=26 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126222924/https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/matt_holness_horror_smutch/ |url-status=live }}
In 2018, he played the part of brooding Swedish detective Knut Ångström in the BBC Radio 4 Nordic noir parody Angstrom.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09m7kvr |title=Angstrom |author= |date=2018 |website=BBC Radio 4 |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=27 January 2019 |archive-date=26 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126114133/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09m7kvr |url-status=live }}
The following year, he played Prince Hector of Bulgaria in an episode of the Channel 4 sitcom Year of the Rabbit.{{cite AV media | date=2019 | title=Year of the Rabbit, Episode 4 | medium=Television | location=United Kingdom | publisher=Channel 4 | time=22:59 |quote=(end creditsP}} The same year, Holness made his debut as a feature director with Possum, a psychological horror film set in Norfolk. He described the film as "not remotely funny". In interviews to promote Possum, Holness said he had written a script for another horror film which he was also hoping to get made.{{cite web |url=https://theartsdesk.com/film/matthew-holness-i-wanted-make-modern-silent-horror-film |title=Matthew Holness: 'I wanted to make a modern silent horror film' |last=Richards |first=Owen |date=19 October 2018 |website=The Arts Desk |publisher=Kevin Madden |access-date=26 January 2019 |archive-date=14 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114010747/https://theartsdesk.com/film/matthew-holness-i-wanted-make-modern-silent-horror-film |url-status=live }}
In 2022, Holness announced a short fiction collection entitled Garth Marenghi's TerrorTome. This was written as Marenghi and presented as one of the character's own works, which Marenghi began working on in the 1980s. It was also released as an audiobook narrated by Holness as Marenghi. The collection was released in November 2022.{{Cite web |date=2022-08-17 |title=Garth Marenghi book to be published |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/shop/news/6976/garth-marenghi-book-terrortome/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819230641/https://www.comedy.co.uk/shop/news/6976/garth-marenghi-book-terrortome/ |archive-date=19 August 2022 |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=British Comedy Guide |language=en}}
Filmography
=Films=
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 2000
| Bruiser | Various roles | 6 episodes; also writer |
| 2002
| Simon | Episode: "Motivation" |
| 2004
| Garth Marenghi / Dr. Rick Dagless M.D. | 6 episodes; also co-creator and writer |
| 2005
| Casanova | Landlord | Episode #1.1 |
| rowspan="2" | 2006
| Himself | 6 episodes |
| Man to Man with Dean Learner
| Various roles | 6 episodes; also co-creator, writer and executive producer |
| 2009
| Dan Mackey | 6 episodes |
| 2011
| Chris | Episode: "The Sofa Bed" |
| 2011
| Ian Wold | 3 episodes[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0180j62 Episode 4, Series 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112034719/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0180j62 |date=12 November 2020 }}, [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018jkt4 Episode 6, Series 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111172201/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018jkt4 |date=11 November 2020 }}, [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018wpq4 Episode 7, Series 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112023214/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018wpq4 |date=12 November 2020 }}. Life's Too Short Episode Guide. BBC. Retrieved 31 December 2011. |
| 2012
| {{n/a}} | Episode: "The Snipist"; director and writer |
| 2014
| Max Gland | Episode: "Buried Alive" |
| 2016
| Smutch | Oswin | Television short; also director, writer and composer |
| 2017
| Back | Laurie | 4 episodes |
| 2019
| Prince Hector of Bulgaria | Episode #1.4 |
| 2020
| Dominic Wingrave | 2 episodes |
| 2021
| Bloods | Phil | 1 episode |
| 2021
| Gameshow Host | Episode: "Sparta" |
| 2022
| Richard Chickentoss | Episode: "Doctor Grainger" |
| 2023
| Dodger | Sir Denholm Havers | 1 episode |
Radio
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 2004
| Keith Bilk | 14 episodes |
| 2018
| Knut Ångström | 4 episodes |
Bibliography
References
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|1478358}}
- [https://x.com/MrHolness Matthew Holness - Twitter]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holness, Matthew}}
Category:English male comedians
Category:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge