Tim Key
{{short description|English comedian and poet (born 1976)}}
{{BLP sources|date=August 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Tim Key
| image = Tim Key Horne Section (cropped).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Key performing in 2010
| birth_name = Timothy Key
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1976|09|02|df=y}}
| birth_place = Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| alma_mater = University of Sheffield (BA)
| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|comedian|poet|radio personality|screenwriter}}
| years_active = 2001–present
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| website = {{URL|https://timkey.co.uk}}
}}
Timothy Key (born 2 September 1976) is an English poet, comedian, actor and screenwriter. He has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, both as a solo act and as part of the comedy group Cowards, and plays Alan Partridge's sidekick Simon in film and television. In 2009, he won the Edinburgh Comedy Award and was nominated for the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality.
Early life
Key was born on 2 September 1976,{{Cite web |title=Set 4, Game 1 [11.02.21] – No More Jockeys with Alex Horne, Tim Key + Mark Watson - YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZIcSKkIR4Y |access-date=12 May 2023 |website=www.youtube.com| date=4 June 2021 }} in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.{{cite news |last1=Key |first1=Tim |title=My Secret Life: Tim Key, poet and comedian, 35 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/my-secret-life-tim-key-poet-and-comedian-35-6277076.html |access-date=5 March 2025 |work=The Independent |date=17 December 2011 |language=en}}{{cite web |date=2011-07-18 |title=An Interview with Tim Key |url=http://thehumourdor.co.uk/post/7726696568/an-interview-with-tim-key |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108073345/http://thehumourdor.co.uk/post/7726696568/an-interview-with-tim-key |archive-date=8 November 2011 |access-date=2011-11-29 |website=The Humourdor |df=dmy-all}} He grew up in Impington, Cambridgeshire,{{Cite web |date=2012-04-05 |title=Tim Key is beyond a joke |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/comedy/tim-key-is-beyond-a-joke-6435854.html |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Evening Standard |language=en}} was educated at Impington Village College before moving on to Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge and then the University of Sheffield, where he studied Russian. Following graduation, he returned to Cambridge and joined the Cambridge Footlights, despite not being a student of Cambridge University.{{cite news |last1=Gibsone |first1=Harriet |title=Tim Key, the superstar standup poet, on fishcakes, Footlights and the fringe |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/aug/13/tim-key-poetry-taskmaster-edinburgh-fringe |access-date=30 April 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=13 August 2015}}{{Cite news |last=Gibsone |first=Harriet |date=2015-08-13 |title=Tim Key, the superstar standup poet, on fishcakes, Footlights and the fringe |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/aug/13/tim-key-poetry-taskmaster-edinburgh-fringe |access-date=2024-02-13 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} There he met Tom Basden, Stefan Golaszewski, and Lloyd Woolf, with whom he formed the sketch group Cowards.
Career
= Stage =
Key's first appearance with the Footlights was in the stage production Far Too Happy in 2001.{{Cite web|title=Cambridge Footlights: Far Too Happy|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/live/shows/828/cambridge-footlights-far-too-happy/|access-date=2022-01-07|website=British Comedy Guide|language=en}} The cast, which included Mark Watson and Sophie Winkleman, took the show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and were nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer. Key has regularly attended Edinburgh ever since, performing in solo shows and collaborations.
In 2009, Key's solo poetry show The Slutcracker won the Edinburgh Comedy Award and was nominated for the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality.{{cite web|url=http://www.londonisfunny.com/edinburgh/8939/Tim_Key_loses_the_bullying,_wins_comedy|title=Tim Key loses the bullying, wins comedy|publisher=London Is Funny|date=29 August 2009|access-date=29 September 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100428034352/http://www.londonisfunny.com/edinburgh/8939/Tim_Key_loses_the_bullying,_wins_comedy|archive-date=28 April 2010|df=dmy-all}} He took the show to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival the following year.
Key co-starred in Daniel Kitson's play Tree when it premiered in September 2013 at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.{{cite web|title=Royal Exchange Tree|url=http://www.royalexchange.co.uk/event.aspx?id=742|publisher=Manchester Royal Exchange}} The play then transferred to The Old Vic in 2015.{{cite web|title=Tree|work=The Old Vic |url=http://www.oldvictheatre.com/whats-on/2015/tree/|access-date=30 March 2017|publisher=Oldvictheatre.com}} He appeared alongside Paul Ritter and Rufus Sewell in Yasmina Reza's Art at The Old Vic, directed by Matthew Warchus, from December 2016 to February 2017.{{cite web|title=Art|work=The Old Vic |url=http://www.oldvictheatre.com/whats-on/2016/art/|access-date=30 March 2017|publisher=Oldvictheatre.com}}
Key's comedy show Megadate toured from 2017 to 2018. Like The Slutcracker, it featured Key reading "deliberately bad" poetry interspersed with black-and-white films.{{Cite web|title=MICF: Tim Key – Megadate : Reviews 2018 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide|url=http://www.chortle.co.uk/review/2018/04/09/39619/micf:_tim_key_-_megadate|access-date=2019-04-06|website=www.chortle.co.uk|language=en}}
In 2023, Key toured his sell-out show Mulberry around the UK and Ireland,{{Cite web|title=TIM KEY: MULBERRY UK & IRELAND TOUR - Plosive|url=https://www.plosive.co.uk/events/tim-key-mulberry-tour-2023|access-date=2024-04-09|website=www.plosive.co.uk|date=2 May 2023 |language=en}} as well as a run at the SoHo Playhouse in New York City.{{Cite web|title=Mulberry - Show and Tell|url=https://showandtellpresents.com/events/tim-key-new-york-2023|access-date=2024-04-09|website=www.showandtellpresents.com|language=en}} The show was centred around Key's experience of the COVID-19 lockdowns in Britain.
= Radio =
Key has regularly been heard on BBC Radio 4 since 2006, when the station commissioned All Bar Luke, a series based on his earlier stage show Luke & Stella. It aired from 2006 to 2008, with a Christmas special in 2009. Key's prior radio projects included Cowards and Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better.
In 2010, Key was heard as Duncan in the radio sitcom Party, created by Tom Basden and based on the stage show of the same name.{{Cite web|date=2010-03-11|title=Party {{!}} Comedy review|url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/mar/11/party-review-comedy-tom-basden|access-date=2022-01-07|website=the Guardian|language=en}} In 2012, he reunited with Basden for Tim Key's Late Night Poetry Programme, a series that features Key reading poetry and Basden providing musical accompaniment, intercut with dialogue between the two. Six series of the show have been broadcast as of 2024.{{Cite web|title=Tim Key's Late Night Poetry Programme |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/tim-key-poetry-programme/episodes/6/|access-date=2024-04-09|website=British Comedy Guide|language=en}}
= Album =
Key's first album, Tim Key. With a String Quartet. On a Boat. was released by The Invisible Dot Ltd / Angular Records in November 2010. It features Key reading poetry backed by a string quartet, with interjections from Basden.
= Television =
Key was a contestant on the first series of Britain's Worst Driver and received a car but sold it after a week.{{cite web |title=Chortle Weekly Trivia File |url=https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2010/02/05/10465/salmon_%c3%a0_la_irn-bru |website=Chortle }}
Key first appeared on television in a comic role in 2006's satirical comedy Time Trumpet, as an Eastenders special effects supervisor. The next year, he appeared as himself in Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe, reading poetry. He also appeared in an episode of Saxondale alongside future Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge co-star Steve Coogan.
In 2009, Key (along with Mark Watson and Alex Horne) co-created We Need Answers for BBC Four, a comedic quiz show in which celebrities answer questions posed by question-answering text services. It was hosted by Watson, with Horne providing technical support and Key reading questions.{{Cite news|title=Tim Key: A man of his words|first=Alice|last=Jones|date=16 December 2009|work=The Independent|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/tim-key-a-man-of-his-words-1841773.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/tim-key-a-man-of-his-words-1841773.html |archive-date=7 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}} As part of the show's bonus online content, the BBC uploaded videos of Key and Watson playing No More Women, a parlour game they had invented several years earlier, with Horne supplying narration. The three reunited in 2020 to play the game as a trio, renaming it No More Jockeys.
In November 2010, Key appeared as "Sidekick Simon" alongside Steve Coogan on Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge, an online series based on Coogan's Alan Partridge character. The series was also broadcast on Sky Atlantic in 2012. Key would appear again as Simon in the 2013 film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa and the BBC series This Time with Alan Partridge.
In 2013, Key played Greg in the E4 comedy-drama series Gap Year. In 2014, he played Ian in the Inside No. 9 episode "Sardines". His performance was praised,{{cite news|author=Dean, Will|date=5 February 2014|title=Inside No 9, TV review: A top-drawer cast puts these twisted tales in a league of their own|newspaper=The Independent|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/inside-no-9-tv-review-a-topdrawer-cast-puts-these-twisted-tales-in-a-league-of-their-own-9110196.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/inside-no-9-tv-review-a-topdrawer-cast-puts-these-twisted-tales-in-a-league-of-their-own-9110196.html |archive-date=7 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=6 February 2014}}{{cbignore}} with one journalist calling him "an unsung hero of British comedy".{{cite news|author=Watson, Keith|date=6 February 2014|title=Inside No 9 matched Tales of the Unexpected for entertaining weirdness|newspaper=Metro|url=http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/06/inside-no-9-matched-tales-of-the-unexpected-for-entertaining-weirdness-4292415/|access-date=6 February 2014}} The following year, he was a panellist on the first series of Taskmaster and has been credited as a "Task Consultant" since the show's second series.
Key has also had minor roles in shows such as Skins, Plebs, Life's Too Short, Stag, Peep Show, Brassic (TV Series) and The End of the F***ing World. He has also appeared on panel shows Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Richard Osman's House of Games.
In 2022, Key starred in the BBC Two comedy series The Witchfinder. That year he also appeared as Ray, nemesis and old archery teammate of Paul (Jim Howick) in an episode of friend Tom Basden's BBC1 sitcom, Here We Go.
In 2023, he appeared on the Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer, opening up about his experience of being diagnosed with a melanoma.{{cite web |last1=Colderick |first1=Stephanie |title=The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer: Who is Tim Key? |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/tv/great-celebrity-bake-stand-up-26563872 |website=WalesOnline |publisher=Wales Online|date=26 March 2023 |access-date=16 January 2024}}
In 2024, he appeared in the last episode of Inside No. 9 as himself.{{Cite web |last=Midgley |first=Carol |date=2024-06-14 |title=Inside No 9 finale — a beautiful, funny and brilliant farewell |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/inside-no-9-finale-bbc-steve-pemberton-reece-shearsmith-bw7kpngmz |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=www.thetimes.com |language=en}}
= Film =
Key and Basden collaborated on short film The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island in 2007. The film won Best UK Short at the 2007 Edinburgh Film Festival, was nominated for a 2008 BAFTA in the category of Best Short Film, and in 2025, was the basis for the feature length film The Ballad of Wallis Island. In 2012, Key collaborated with director J. van Tulleken on one of 16 short films to have won production funding through BFI Shorts. The resultant film was a black comedy entitled Anthony, starring Key and Basden, in which Key played Santa Claus.{{cite web|author=British Film Institute|title=16 short films greenlit through BFI Shorts 2012|work=British Film Institute |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk//news/16-short-films-greenlit-through-bfi-shorts-2012|access-date=21 August 2013|publisher=Bfi.org.uk}}
Key reprised his role as Sidekick Simon for Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge film Alpha Papa, released in August 2013. Also in 2013, he appeared in the Richard Ayoade film The Double. In 2019, he again starred alongside Coogan in Greed, playing the character of Sam. In 2022, he played Commissioner Harrold Scott in See How They Run.
= Writing =
Key has written six books. The first, Instructions, Guidelines, Tutelage, Suggestions, Other Suggestions and Examples Etc.: An Attempted Book by Tim Key. (And Conversations / Descriptions / A Piece About a Moth), was published in 2009. The second, 25 Poems, 3 Recipes and 32 Other Suggestions (An Inventory) was published in 2011. The third, The Incomplete Tim Key, was published by Canongate Books in 2011.
In 2020, Key collaborated with designer Emily Juniper to create He Used Thought As a Wife (An Anthology of Poems and Conversations from Inside). This book, published by Utter and Press, chronicles Key's experiences during the UK's first COVID-19 lockdown. A sequel, Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (An Anthology of Poems and Conversations from Outside), was released in 2022.
Key released a new poetry anthology, "Chapters", in February 2024.{{Cite book|title=Chapters Tim Key London Review Bookshop|url=https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/stock/chapters-tim-key|access-date=2024-04-09|website=www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk|date=14 February 2024 |isbn=978-1-9162226-8-7 |language=en}} Poetic Justice noted its humour and "subversive focus on the contemporary world".{{Cite web |date=March 12, 2024 |title=poeticjusticemagazine.com/2024/03/12/tim-key-chapters/ |url=https://poeticjusticemagazine.com/2024/03/12/tim-key-chapters/ |access-date=December 9, 2024 |website=Poetic Justice Magazine}}
Credits
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
!Title !Role !Notes |
|---|
| rowspan="2" | 2007
| The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island | Charles | Short film |
| Christmas at the Riviera
| Gary | TV movie |
| 2009
| The Transaction | The Poet | Short film |
| 2010
| The Honeymoon Suite | Samuel | Short film |
| 2011
| One Day | Customer | |
| rowspan="5" | 2013
| Alan | |
| Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
| 'Sidekick' Simon Denton | |
| The Double
| Care Worker | |
| The Harry Hill Movie
| Toilet Attendant | |
| Very Few Fish
| Jimbo | TV movie |
| rowspan="3" | 2014
| Anthony | Santa | Short film |
| Two Films About Loneliness
| Jonathan Smallman (voice) | Short film |
| Not now Keith!
| Keith | Short film |
| 2017
| The Overcoat | The Narrator | Short film |
| 2018
| Wonderdate | Man | TV short |
| rowspan="2" | 2019
| Dale | |
| Greed
| Sam | |
| rowspan="2" | 2020
| Sidney | |
| Talk Radio
| Danny Mallard | Short film |
| 2022
| Commissioner Harold Scott | |
| 2023
| Father Ambrose | |
| 2025
| Charles | Also co-writer |
| 2025
| Pigeon Man | |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
!Title !Role !Notes |
|---|
| 2002
|Himself (series 1); "Timid Tim" |Eliminated second |
| rowspan="2" | 2006
| Promotions Guy | Episode: "Mice" |
| Time Trumpet
| Special Effects Crew - Eastenders | Episode: "Witness to a Wedding" |
| rowspan="2" | 2007
| Kim | Episode: "Episode #2.5" |
| Angelo's
| Steve | Episode: "Episode #1.4" |
| 2009
| Cowards | | Also writer |
| 2010-2016
| Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge | |
| 2011
| News Reporter | Episode: "Episode #1.2" |
| rowspan="4" | 2012
| Skins | Dr. O'Dwyer | Episode: "Mini and Franky" |
| Games On
| Dan | Episode: "Tent" |
| A Young Doctor's Notebook
| Pyotr the Patient | Episode: "Episode Three" |
| 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
| Guest in the Dictionary Corner | Episode: "Episode #1.1" |
| 2013
| Chickens | Thomas | Episode: "Men on Leave" |
| rowspan="3" | 2014
| Ian | Episode: "Sardines" |
| Playhouse Presents
| Jonah | Episode: "The Dog Thrower" |
| Plebs
| Mushki | Episode: "The New Slave" |
| rowspan="3" | 2015
| Stutely | 2 episodes |
| Together
| Joseph the Policeman | 4 episodes |
| Peep Show
| Jerry | 3 episodes |
| 2015–present
| Himself (series 1); Task consultant (series 2-) | 6 episodes (as Himself) |
| rowspan="2" | 2016
| Stag | Aitken | Episode: "Episode 1" |
| Year Friends
| Peter Priest | 3 episodes |
| 2016-2017
| Various Characters | 5 episodes |
| 2017-2021
| Pls Like | James Wirm | |
| rowspan="5" | 2017
| Gap Year | Greg | |
| Comedy Playhouse
| The Sheriff of Nottingham | Episode: "Tim Vine Travels in Time" |
| Zapped
| Sextus | Episode: "Showtime" |
| Detectorists
| Tim | 3 episodes |
| Random Acts
| Regular | Episode: "Episode #4.3" |
| 2018
| Trust | Gavin | Episode: "John, Chapter 11" |
| 2019-2021
| This Time with Alan Partridge | 'Sidekick' Simon Denton | |
| rowspan="3" | 2019
| Brassic | Vortex | 2 episodes |
| The Reluctant Landlord
| Tommy | Episode: "Love Is in the Air" |
| The End of the F***ing World
| Gus | 2 episodes |
| rowspan="3" | 2021
| Gregson | 2 episodes |
| Stath Lets Flats
| Howard | Episode: "Here Comes The Steven" |
| Cryptids
| | Episode: "Owlman" |
| rowspan="5" | 2022
| Rude Date | Episode: "Episode #3.4" |
| The Witchfinder
| Gideon Bannister |
| Richard Osman's House of Games
| Himself | Episode: "Episodes #6.46 to #6.50 |
| Here We Go
| Ray | Episode: "Dad's Bronze Medal" |
| The Train
| | |
| 2023
| The Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off | Himself / Contestant |
| 2024
| Himself | Episode: "Plodding On" |
| 2024
| Lawyer | Episode: |
| 2025
| {{TableTBA}} | Upcoming TV Series |
Bibliography
- Instructions, Guidelines, Tutelage, Suggestions, Other Suggestions and Examples Etc.: An Attempted Book By Tim Key. (And Conversations/ Descriptions/ A Piece About A Moth). The Invisible Dot Ltd, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9553703-3-5}}
- The Incomplete Tim Key. Canongate Books Ltd, 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-85786-118-4}}
- 25 Poems, 3 Recipes and 32 Other Suggestions (An Inventory). The Invisible Dot Ltd, 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-9553703-6-6}}
- He Used Thought As A Wife (An Anthology of Poems and Conversations from Inside.) "Utter" and Press, 2020.
- Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush (An Anthology of Poems and Conversations from Outside.) "Utter" and Press, 2022. {{ISBN|9781916222663}}
- Chapters "Utter" and Press, 2023. {{ISBN|9781916222687}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|2764713}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Edinburgh Comedy Award winners}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Key, Tim}}
Category:Actors from South Cambridgeshire District
Category:Alumni of the University of Sheffield
Category:English comedy writers
Category:English stand-up comedians
Category:English male comedians
Category:Comedians from Cambridgeshire
Category:Male actors from Cambridgeshire