Stephen Frost

{{short description|British comedian}}

{{about||the Texas politician|Stephen James Frost|the television producer|Steve Frost}}

{{Multiple issues|

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{{BLP sources|date=January 2024}}

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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}

{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Stephen Frost

| image = Stephen Frost Glastonbury 2019.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Glastonbury Festival, 2019, with the Stephen Frost Improv All Stars

| birth_name = Stephen Frederick Eustace Frost

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1955|12|28|df=y}}

| birth_place = Redruth, Cornwall, England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = British

| other_names =

| known_for =

| occupation = Actor and comedian

| years_active = 1980–present

}}

File:Stephenfrost.JPG, 2008]]

Stephen Frederick Eustace Frost (born 28 December 1955) is an English actor and comedian, best known for his work on Whose Line Is It Anyway? as well as several projects with comedy partner Mark Arden.

Early life

Frost was born in Redruth, Cornwall, and is the son of the abstract artist Terry Frost and brother of painter Anthony Frost.

He joined Banbury School (now Wykham Park Academy) in north Oxfordshire, part of Stanbridge Hall, in September 1967. The school had become comprehensive that term, but only in name; the buildings largely remained. The school transitioned over years. He played rugby for his county at age 16, and badminton locally, and athletics, in the AAA five star scheme.Banbury Guardian Thursday 29 October 1970, page 24 His brother Simon was also athletic. He took part in many school drama productions, in the sixth form, with his brothers Simon and Matthew.Banbury Guardian Thursday 29 November 1973, page 16 In the sixth form he grew a beard, and worked with the National Youth Theatre. He won a playwright award from the Royal Court Theatre. The head of the school drama group was Brian Derbyshire; the teacher left the school at the same time as Stephen, in July 1974.Times Friday March 29 1974, page 12

He passed two O-levels, Geography and Physics. He passed one A level, Geography.Banbury Guardian Thursday 29 August 1974, page 11 His headteacher was Harry Judge. He lived at 2 Old Parr Road from 1963 to 1974. In 1974 family moved to Newlyn in Cornwall. He attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Art Malik (and his wife Gina Rowe), Mark Arden and actors Jeremy Gittins and Robert McCulley.The Stage Thursday 16 June 1977, page 15

Career

=Work with Mark Arden=

Frost is known for his work in the 1980s with Mark Arden as part of the double act The Oblivion Boys on Saturday Live. Veterans of the alternative comedy scene, he and Arden appeared in The Young Ones, and later had their own TV series Lazarus and Dingwall on BBC2. They played the lead roles in the 1987 revival of Tom Stoppard's play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Piccadilly Theatre. They also played two robbers in 'Big Deal' series 2, in the episode 'Popping Across The Pond'.

In 1994 the Oblivion Boys starred opposite the comedy duo Raw Sex (Simon Brint and Rowland Rivron) in the partially-improvised comedy film There's No Business....

The duo appeared in a series of British TV advertisements ending with the catchphrase "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label". One spoofed the "launderette" commercial for Levi's in which Nick Kamen stripped to his underwear; in their pastiche, Arden and Frost played launderette customers who were stripped entirely, with just strategically placed books maintaining their modesty.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCemJAd3KZA Ad] on YouTube

=Solo work=

Without Arden, Frost has appeared on BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute, and the improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway?. He has appeared on three episodes of Have I Got News for You (there was a 13-year gap between his second and third appearance) and on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. He also appeared as Dirk in Tony Bagley's series Married.

He played two small roles in Blackadder: a prison guard in the first-series episode "Witchsmeller Pursuivant", and the overly cheerful head of a firing squad in the episode "Corporal Punishment" of Blackadder Goes Forth. He also appeared in the comedy series Mr. Bean, starring Rowan Atkinson, in the episode entitled "Mr. Bean Rides Again" in one of the skits where Mr. Bean is on a train.

In 2003 he appeared in a production of 12 Angry Men alongside Bill Bailey.

Frost appeared alongside Tony Hawks and Angus Deayton in the 2012 feature film Playing the Moldovans at Tennis.

=Currently=

Frost is a regular on the London comedy circuit. He is also a veteran of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Glastonbury Festival.

Frost still appears regularly with The Comedy Store Players in The Comedy Store, London.

Filmography

=Film=

class="wikitable"

! colspan=4 style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film

style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Year

! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Title

! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Role

! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Notes

1987

| The Love Child

| Tough Policeman

|

1994

| There's No Business

| Reg Prince

|

rowspan=3| 1995

| Savage Hearts

| Concierge

|

Feast of July

| Man in Restaurant

|

Spot's Magical Christmas

| Deer 1

| Voice
Video short
United Kingdom version
Credited as Steve Frost

1998

| Wind

| Policeman

| Short film

2000

| The Suicidal Dog

| Philip the Test Your Strength Man

| Short film

2012

| Playing the Moldovans at Tennis

| Steve

|

2014

| The Squeakies

| Compere

|

2021

| Phase

| Dad

|

=Television=

class="wikitable"

! colspan=4 style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Television

style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Year

! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Title

! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Role

! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Notes

1981

| Doctor Who

| Tharil

| Uncredited
Series 18: "Warriors' Gate: Part Four"

1982-1983

| Carrott's Lib

|

| 8 episodes, 1 special
Writer – "Best of Carrott's Lib"

1982-1984

| The Young Ones

| Various

| 7 episodes – 3 credited as Steve Frost

rowspan=4| 1983

| Blackadder

| Soft, A Guard

| 2 episodes – 1 uncredited

Dramarama

| Rev. Bell

| Series 1, episode 2: "Rip It Up"

Reilly, Ace of Spies

| Styrne

| Episode 11: "The Last Journey"

Rebellious Jukebox

| The Oblivion Boys

| Episode #1.2

1983-1984

| The Entertainers

| The Oblivion Boys

| 2 episodes

1984

| The Comic Strip Presents...

| Bula

| Series 2, episode 7: "Slags"

rowspan=4| 1985

| Big Deal

| Tony

| Series 2, episode 14: "Popping Across the Pond"

Dempsey and Makepeace

| Big Mall

| Series 2, episode 5: "Tequila Sunrise"

Happy Families

| Village Gendarme

| Episode 3: "Madeleine"

Girls on Top

| Disco Dancer

| Series 1, episode 3: "C.O.D."

1986

| Kit Curran

| Pates

| Series 2, episode 4: "A Sick Society"

1986-1996

| Saturday Live

| Himself / Oblivion Boys / Various

| 10 episodes
Writer – 1 episode

1988

| Bust

| Mike Benson

| 2 episodes

rowspan=2| 1989

| Blackadder Goes Forth

| Corporal Jones

| Series 4, episode 2: "Corporal Punishment"

Close to Home

| Frank DeAngelo

| 4 episodes

rowspan=2| 1991

| Lazarus & Dingwall

| Steve Lazarus

| 6 episodes
Writer

Murder Most Horrid

| Sgt. Dawkins

| Series 1, episode 1: "The Case of the Missing"

1991-2005

| Have I Got News for You

| Himself / Panelist

| 3 episodes

rowspan=3| 1992

| Mr. Bean

| The Laughing Man

| Episode 6: "Mr. Bean Rides Again"

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles

| Huge Man

| Series 2, episode 4: "Barcelona, May 1917"

Fool's Gold: The Story of the Brink's-Mat Robbery

| Bernie Clarke

| TV movie

1992-1998

| Whose Line Is It Anyway?

| Himself / Performer

| 33 episodes

1993

| The Almost Complete History of the 20th Century

| Narrator

| Voice
13 episodes

1993-1994

| Brighton Belles

| Gilbert

| 2 episodes

rowspan=5| 1994

| The All New Alexei Sayle Show

| Various

| Episode 6

What's Up Doc?

| Steve the Security Guard / Walter Flume

| 16 episodes
Credited as Steve Frost

Blue Heaven

| Big Larry

| Episode 1

Frank Stubbs Promotes

| Big Eddie

| Series 2, episode 5: "Mr. Chairman"

Harry Enfield & Chums

| Man Painting

| Episode #1.5

1994-1995

| The Bill

| Duggan / Colin Glover

| 2 episodes

1995

| Jack and Jeremy's Police 4

| Various

| TV movie

rowspan=3| 1996

| Jack and Jeremy's Real Lives

| Steve / Stephen / Farmer

| 3 episodes

Drop the Dead Donkey

| Tom

| Series 5, episode 7: "Charnley in Love"

The Famous Five

| Dirty Dick

| Series 2, episode 6: "Five on a Hike Together"

rowspan=2| 1997

| Gobble

| Gun shop assistant

| TV movie

Pie in the Sky

| Trubb

| Series 5, episode 3: "Pork Pies"

1998

| Vanity Fair

| Bute Crawley

| Miniseries
4 episodes

rowspan=2| 1999

| Just a Minute

| Himself / Panelist

| 4 episodes

French and Saunders

| Special – "French and Saunders: The Phantom Millennium"

2001

| Mr. Charity

| Cab Driver

| Episode 6: "The Big W"

2002

| Spheriks

| Match Narrator

| Voice
Credited as Steve Frost

2002-2005

| Never Mind the Buzzcocks

| Himself

|

2004

| Working the Thames

| Himself / Presenter

| Documentary

2011

| Paul Merton's Adventures

| Himself

| Episode 4: "Caravan"

2013

| Poirot

| Chief Inspector

| Series 13, episode 4: "The Labours of Hercules"

2015

| Boomers

| German John

| Episode: "Christmas Special"

2018

| Holby City

| Peter Mosley

| Series 20, episode 49: "Love Is"

2023

| Ted Lasso

| Bruce

| Series 3, episode 2: "(I don't want to go to) Chelsea"

Books

  • Sit-Down Comedy (contributor to anthology, ed Malcolm Hardee & John Fleming) Ebury Press/Random House, 2003. {{ISBN|0-09-188924-3}}; {{ISBN|978-0-09-188924-1}}

References

{{reflist}}