Sam Simmons (comedian)

{{Infobox comedian

| name = Sam Simmons

| image = Sam Simmons Oslo (194028) (cropped).jpg

| caption = Sam Simmons at Crap Comedy Festival, Oslo

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1977|3|19}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality =

| active = 2003–present

| spouse = Roslyn Durnford

| children = 1

}}

Sam Simmons (born {{birth based on age as of date|35|2013|10|27|noage=1}}) is an Australian comedian, actor, and radio and TV presenter. He has toured extensively with his stand-up shows, as well as many appearances on TV in Australia, the US, and the UK. He has won and been nominated for many awards, and won the Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer in 2014.

Early life and education

Sam Simmons was born in {{birth based on age as of date|35|2013|10|27|noage=1}} in Adelaide, South Australia.{{cite web | title=Adelaide Fringe review: Sam Simmons – Be a Verb | website=InDaily|first=Zoe |last=Rice | date=11 March 2022 | url=https://www.indaily.com.au/arts-culture/adelaide-fringe/2022/03/11/fringe-review-sam-simmons-be-a-verb | access-date=12 September 2024}}

He was raised in Adelaide by a single working mother, and has hinted in his shows that he was somewhat neglected as a child. His best friend described his childhood as "troubled". Going through a tough time as a 13-year-old, he attempted suicide.{{cite web | last=Bailey | first=John | title=Comedian Sam Simmons returns to stage with new show Not a People Person | website=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=22 March 2016 | url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/comedy/m26cover-20160301-gn7gp9.html | access-date=13 September 2024}}

He watched a lot of The Goodies, Monkey, and Benny Hill as a child, and says was also very influenced by John Cleese's character in Fawlty Towers, Basil Fawlty: "Rage and silliness combined. What a mix!".

Career

File:Sam Simmons Oslo (193412).jpg.]]

=Live=

Simmons' first performed comedy in 2001, at a benefit show for a friend whose handbag had been stolen. Performing as a duo with another young man, they presented Smutty and Pert, like Ernie and Bert (from Sesame Street. Later, working at Greasy Joe's in St Kilda, he would perform for the patrons of the café, who were a diverse audience.

He then began to perform in comedy rooms, "just doing my own thing", which was not stand-up, according to Simmons. Janet McLeod gave him a contract to perform for two months at her Local Laughs night.

In 2003, he presented The Steve Promise Story at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF).

He performed at TEDxSydney in 2014.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdWECtyM36s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/DdWECtyM36s |archive-date=2021-12-14 |url-status=live|title="Being silly: Sam Simmons at TEDxSydney"|website=YouTube |date=22 June 2012 }}{{cbignore}} In the same year, he developed and performed his show Death of a Sails-Man, which one reviewer described as "an extremely quirky one-man monologue... a man live on stage having a breakdown, singing, reflecting and joking with his sub-conscious".{{cite web | last=Pittaway | first=Isabella | title=Fringe Review: Sam Simmons: Death of a Sails-Man | website=Glam Adelaide | date=1 March 2014 | url=https://glamadelaide.com.au/fringe-review-sam-simmons-death-of-a-sails-man/ | access-date=12 September 2024}}

His 2015 award-winning show, Spaghetti for Breakfast featured his usual "silly" (self-described) pieces, followed by a deeply personal reference to how he nearly committed suicide as a young adolescent.

When in Los Angeles, he did regular shows with Dr Brown (Phil Burgers), and they worked together on developing a TV series. In 2015, they performed together at the Soho Theatre in London, in a show called Ceremony, which Burgers described as "two idiots playing with the idea of ceremony".{{cite interview|author=Burgers, Philip |interviewer-last1=Fleckney |interviewer-first1=Paul |date=20 Jan 2015 |title=Dr Brown. Interview |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jan/20/doctor-brown-phil-burgers-sam-simmons-comedy |accessdate=30 April 2018}}

In March 2016, Simmons performed a new show, Not a People Person, at MICF.

After living for some time across three cities (Sydney, Los Angeles, and London, he announced early in 2019 that he was going to quit touring with live comedy for a while after his current commitments with his new show, 26 Things You're Doing Wrong with Sam Simmons, although still intending to do some acting and write TV scripts.{{cite web | last=Iannella | first=Antimo | title=Why Sam Simmons is quitting comedy | website=Adelaide Now | date=18 February 2019 | url=https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/entertainment/adelaide-fringe/comedian-sam-simmons-to-quit-the-industry-and-focus-on-his-family/news-story/a5e54743eea5d41ba7df61f29d6a82e6?nk=a1fec0dfd2cccdcbd2d206f4b312650b-1726139853 | access-date=12 September 2024}} At several comedy festivals in 2019, Simmons performed a new show, 26 Things You're Doing Wrong with Sam Simmons about unconventional life hacks.{{Cite web|url=https://token.com.au/artist/sam-simmons/|title=Token Profile page|website=Excellence Through Guesswork|access-date=24 July 2019}} In December 2019, he performed for 10 nights at the Soho Theatre in London,{{cite web | title=Sam Simmons tour dates & tickets 2024 | website=Ents24 | date=6 April 2011 | url=https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/sam-simmons | access-date=12 September 2024}} and in 2020 was working on a solo show called FUNT there.

In 2021, he performed a show in the Spiegeltent at the Adelaide Fringe entitled Sam Simmons is Putting Things on His Knee to Raise Awareness for People Who Not have Good Knees, based on fictional stories about celebrities.{{cite web | title=Adelaide Fringe review: Sam Simmons|first=Zoe |last=Rice | website=InDaily | date=12 March 2021 | url=https://www.indaily.com.au/arts-culture/adelaide-fringe/2021/03/12/fringe-review-sam-simmons-2 | access-date=12 September 2024}} In 2022, he performed Be a Verb at the Garden of Unearthly Delights in the Adelaide Fringe.

In March 2024, Simmons performed his new show Man With A Fork In A World Full Of Soup at the Adelaide Fringe, which earned good reviews.{{cite web | last=Oakeshott | first=Will | title=Fringe Review: Sam Simmons – Man With A Fork In A World Full Of Soup | website=Glam Adelaide | date=15 March 2024 | url=https://glamadelaide.com.au/fringe-review-sam-simmons-man-with-a-fork-in-a-world-full-of-soup/ | access-date=12 September 2024}}{{cite web |first= Richard |last=De Pizzol| title=Man With A Fork In A World Full Of Soup @ The Factory At The Garden Of Unearthly Delights, Adelaide 16/2/2024 | website=Hi Fi Way | date=17 February 2024 | url=https://hifiway.live/2024/02/17/sam-simmons-man-with-a-fork-in-a-world-full-of-soup-the-factory-at-the-garden-of-unearthly-delights-adelaide-16-2-2024/ | access-date=12 September 2024}}

John Bailey wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald in 2016: "...an hour with Simmons is a tour of the comic spectrum: physical comedy, musical comedy, sketch and character work, puns, one-liners, shaggy dog stories, mime, crowd work, visual gags, observational comedy, meta-comedy and more, all delivered with the kind of pummelling intensity...".

=TV and radio=

Simmons has also made regular appearances on TV since 2003, as a stand-up comedian, as a guest, in comedy sketch shows, and as an actor (including a main role in the comedy series Squinters). Network appearances include NBC, BBC, Channel 4, Comedy Central, ABC, and other Australian networks.

He appeared on Conan in the US in 2013, after moving to Los Angeles in June of that year. Host Conan O'Brien called him "a very strange fellow". Simmons said that the US show allowed him greater freedom in presenting his "weird" stuff.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160119092711/http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/conan-obrien-was-so-impressed-by-sam-simmons-standup-that-hes-invited-him-to-perform-on-his-talk-show-for-a-second-time/story-e6frfmqi-1226747335085 "Conan O'Brien was so impressed by Sam Simmons' stand-up that he's invited him to perform on his talk show for a second time"], news.com.au, 27 October 2013 He has also appeared on another American TV show, Adam Devine's House Party, as well as the British shows 8 Out of 10 Cats, Room 101.

On radio, Simmons started as a regular guest on the morning show The Pinch on Triple R (Melbourne) in 2003. He became a regular host on Triple J radio station from 2005.

He was a regular guest host and contributor on JTV from 2007 to 2009 This led to his first television show, The Urban Monkey with Murray Foote, in 2009.

In 2012, Simmons followed up with a sketch-style TV series Problems, with a tone more similar to that of his surrealist stand-up shows. After moving from Adelaide to Los Angeles, in 2013 he filmed a US pilot in Albuquerque with David Quirk, described by Simmons as "a reality show about animals".{{Cite web|url=https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/sam-simmons-begins-filming-us-tv-pilot/|website= Pedestrian.TV|title=Sam Simmons Begins Filming US TV Pilot|date=28 October 2013}}

In 2017, he provided the voice of Mr Wallaby in Peppa Pig.{{cite web | title=Sam Simmons: Comedian / Writer / Broadcaster / Actor|publisher=Token | url=https://token.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/SIM-Biography-7.pdf | access-date=12 September 2024}}

In 2020, he appeared in the Australian comedy series LOL: Last one Laughing.Steve Bennett: [https://www.chortle.co.uk/review/2020/06/19/46346/lol:_last_one_laughing LOL: Last One Laughing], in: Chortle.co.uk, 19 June 2020.{{cite web | title=Sam Simmons | website=NextUp Comedy | url=https://nextupcomedy.com/authors/sam-simmons | access-date=12 September 2024}}

Since 2022 and {{as of|lc=yes|March 2024}}, Simmons has hosted the podcast Niche as Quiche,{{Cite web|url=https://simplesam1987.podbean.com/|title=Niche as Quiche|date=13 March 2024}} a regular deep-dive into various niche subjects and stream-of-consciousness topics.

Simmons has appeared on the comedy quiz show Dirty Laundry Live.

Awards and nominations

=Awards=

2003: Moosehead Award for The Steve Promise Story{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.com.au/moosehead/shows/|title=Comedy|last=|first=|date=|website=Comedy.com.au|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120164234/http://www.comedy.com.au/moosehead/shows/|archivedate=20 November 2008|accessdate=24 February 2009}}
2006: The Groggy Squirrel Critics' Award{{cite web|url=http://www.thegroggysquirrel.com/articles/2006/05/14/squirrel-grip-awards/|title=The Groggy Squirrel|last=|first=|date=|website=|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106202659/http://www.thegroggysquirrel.com/articles/2006/05/14/squirrel-grip-awards/|archivedate=6 January 2009|accessdate=24 February 2009}}

(The Groggy Squirrel Critics' Award is open to Australian acts only.) for Tales from the Erotic Cat

2008: MICF Directors' Choice Award{{cite web |url= http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/about-us/awards/|title= Awards |website= Melbourne International Comedy Festival|access-date= 19 July 2015|quote=The Directors' Choice is awarded by the Comedy Festival Director, in consultation with other visiting Festival Directors, to a fabulous show that somehow missed out on any other prize.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160111095203/http://www.comedyfestival.com.au:80/2015/season/about-us/awards/| archive-date=11 Jan 2016}} for Where can I win a bear around here?
2010: MICF Golden Gibbo Award for The Incident with David Quirk
2010: MICF Piece of Wood Award for Fail
2011: Adelaide Fringe Best Comedy Award for Sam Simmons and the Precise History of Things{{cite web | title=Awards Archive | website=Adelaide Fringe | url=https://adelaidefringe.com.au/awards-archive | access-date=12 September 2024}}
2011: The Sydney Morning Herald M Award for Best Comedy
2014: Sydney Comedy Festival Director's Choice Award for Death of a Sails-Man{{Cite web|url=http://www.sydneycomedyfest.com.au/|title=Sydney Comedy|website=www.sydneycomedyfest.com.au}}
2014: Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer
2015: Co-winner, Underbelly Edinburgh Award at the Adelaide Fringe, for Spaghetti For Breakfast
2015: Barry Award at MICF, for Spaghetti for Breakfast{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/comedy/quirky-comic-sam-simmons-wins-2015-barry-award-at-melbourne-comedy-festival-20150419-1mo6vi.html|title=Quirky comic Sam Simmons wins 2015 Barry Award at Melbourne Comedy Festival|date=19 April 2015}}
2015: Winner, Edinburgh Fringe Comedy award, for Spaghetti for Breakfast{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/aug/29/sam-simmons-wins-edinburgh-comedy-award-2015-sofie-hagen|title=Sam Simmons wins the Foster's Edinburgh comedy award 2015|newspaper=The Guardian |date=29 August 2015 |last1=Logan |first1=Brian }}
Note: The Barry Award and Edinburgh Comedy Award are regarded as the two top comedy prizes, and at this point Simmons was one of only two people ever to have won both for the same show, the other being American comedian Phil Burgers ("Dr Brown").

=Nominations=

2003: National finalist, Triple J Raw Comedy Competition
2005: Golden Gibbo, MICF
2006: MICF Barry Award for Tales from the Erotic Cat
2011: MICF Barry Award for Precise History of Things
2011: Edinburgh Best Comedy Award for Meanwhile
2012: Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer
2014: Edinburgh Best Comedy Award for Death of a Sails-man

Personal life

Simmons married Roslyn Durnford. In February 2019, Simmons revealed that he was father to a baby, and wanted to spend some time enjoying family life.

He said that he loves LA, with its "weird hippie thing" where he attends yoga classes and does not drink alcohol, whereas in other places he would drink too much.

He has synaesthesia.

He loves animals, and has considered a career in animal husbandry or zookeeping. He said that he would love to make animal documentaries, like David Attenborough. His oldest friend, Stuart Peevor, described him as a "generous" and "warm" person.

Filmography

class="wikitable"

|+Television/Film

!Year

!Title

!Role

!Notes

2022

|The Strange Chores

|Bad Tony (voice)

|14 episodes

2021

|Bluey

|Bob (voice)

|1 episode

2021

|Stand up for Mental Health

|Self

|TV Specials

2021

|Wakefield

|Pete Seamen

|8 episodes

2020

|Drunk History Australia

|Tanky

|1 episode

2018-20

|Hughesy, We Have a Problem

|Self

|5 episodes

2018-19

|Squinters{{cite web | url=https://tvtonight.com.au/2019/07/sam-simmons-off-script.html | title=Sam Simmons off-script | TV Tonight | date=9 July 2019 }}

|Lukas

|12 episodes

2019

|Mr Black

|Barry Donato

|1 episode

2017

|Get Krack!n

|Creepy Dude

|3 episodes

2017

|Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience

|Mr Wallaby

2016

|Peppa Pig

|Mr Wallaby (voice)

|1 episode

2015-16

|Drunk History

|Various

|2 episodes

2015

|Sky Comedy Christmas Shorts

|Joke Writer

|1 episode

2015

|No Activity{{cite web | url=https://tvtonight.com.au/2015/08/no-activity-announces-comedy-guest-stars.html | title=No Activity announces comedy guest stars | TV Tonight | date=13 August 2015 }}

|Glen

|2 episodes

2015

|Rotters

|Ears

|TV Movie

2015

|Sam Simmons: Wallstud

|Sam

|3 episodes

2015

|Alt Tab