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Alexei Sayle

Alexei David Sayle (born 7 August 1952, Anfield, Liverpool) is an English comedian, actor and author. He was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s.

Early life

Sayle grew up in Liverpool, the son of Jewish working-class parents who were members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. In the aftermath of the May 1968 uprising, he joined the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist). After leaving school, Sayle took a foundation course in art at Southport, before attending Chelsea College of Art and Design in London.

Career

When the Comedy Store opened in London in 1979, Sayle responded to an advert for 'would-be comedians' and became its first compere.

In 1980 he was seen at the Edinburgh Festival by comedy producer Martin Lewis (producer of The Secret Policeman's Balls), who became his manager. Sayle went on to become the leading performer at the new Comic Strip club. He also secured a radio series for London's Capital Radio, (1981), for which he won a Sony Radio Award. Sayle later released an album based on the show, . He appeared on (1981) and recorded Cak! (1982). He also appeared in the stage show, film and comedy album of The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1981-82).

In 1982, Sayle joined Central Television's late-night alternative cabaret show O.T.T. He left nine weeks into the show's run, citing disappointment with the low-brow old-school comedy that was present in the show. He was replaced by Manchester based comedian Bernard Manning.

The height of his early fame was with the single , produced by Madness and Elvis Costello producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. The twelve inch version of the single achieved notoriety due to its extensive use of profanity. The record's success changed Sayle's comedy career from cult status into the mainstream. He went on to star in many television series and films and also became one of the UK's highest paid voiceover talents. He released another single, , which was accompanied by a popular music video, and the album , the cover of which parodies the cover of the Michael Jackson album Off The Wall.

In America, he is best known as a cast member of the short-lived UK comedy The Young Ones, in which he was credited with providing "additional material". He often portrayed the students' landlord Mr. Balowski, but had other Balowski family roles as needed. Usually, Sayle's main participation in the show was to introduce the special musical guest. In the episode titled Oil, he sings and performs a seemingly ad-libbed song called Doctor Marten's Boots.

In 1985, he appeared in the Doctor Who serial Revelation of the Daleks. In a column for a British tabloid newspaper around the same time, he indicated that he wanted to become the "first Socialist Doctor"[citation needed].

Sayle has co-written many programmes including one episode of The Comic Strip Presents, also entitled Didn't You Kill My Brother? (which also starred Beryl Reid), and six series of his own stand-up/sketch shows - three series of Alexei Sayle's Stuff (1988-91), two series of The All New Alexei Sayle Show (1994-95) and one series of Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round (1998). Sayle is often referred to as a "fat bastard" in his skits; the opening credits for Stuff featured various characters asking "Who's that fat bastard?" as he passed by.

Much of Sayle's humour is in the tradition of Spike Milligan and Monty Python with riffs based on an absurd premise. His television comedy is notable for cynicism, intelligence and political awareness, although he also employs physical comedy. Sayle's trademark appearance is his shaved head, five o'clock shadow, and a suit that's a size or two too small. As a consequence of a mild insult at Muslims in general on Stuff, Sayle was the subject of a Fatwa declaration from a Syrian Muslim cleric[citation needed].

In 1989, Sayle was awarded an International Emmy for Stuff. In conversation with Mark Thomas on BBC Radio 4's informal chat-show Chain Reaction, Sayle revealed that the first he knew of the award was when he watched Channel 4 News and saw, to his amazement, Benny Hill collecting the award on his behalf[citation needed].

Sayle alternates his comedic work with performances as a character actor ranging from serious (Gorky Park) to humorous (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

In 1994 he presented the miniseries Drive, which gave advice for safe driving through Alexei's signature form of humour interspersed with some very sober pieces. Examples include ending a piece on the likelihood of certain behaviour causing fatal accidents with "...but it's not gonna be me, so it must be one of you", and on the subject of alertness; "You not only have to expect the unexpected, you also have to expect the utterly impossible", followed by jumping into a car with two lobsters.

In 1995, he was awarded an honorary professorship at Thames Valley University.

On November 3, 2006 he presented a thirty-minute programme on BBC Radio 4 which reviewed the Chopwell miners 80 years after it (Chopwell) became known as Little Moscow. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/pip/48cfy

Sayle has written two short story collections and four novels including a graphic novel as well as columns for various publications. His book Great Bus Journeys Of The World, co-written with David Stafford is largely a collection of his columns for Time Out and the Sunday Mirror. In recent years, he has made the transition from a more performance-oriented career to one of writing. A new novel, Mister Roberts, is due out in 2008.

He has been married to since 1974.

Television series

Screen plays

Radio

Movies

Records

  • (single, Springtime/Island, 1981) (as Alexei's Midnight Runners)
  • Cak! (album, Springtime/Island, 1982)
  • (single, Springtime/Island, 1982) (7" IS162, 12" 12IS162)
  • (album, Island, 1984)
  • (single, CBS, 1985) (7" A6553, 12" TA6553)
  • (album, CBS, 1985)

Videos

  • (Springtime, 1982)

Books

  • (Methuen, 9 February 1984; hardcover ISBN 0-413-52460-4, paperback ISBN 0-413-52470-1) — novel co-written by David Stafford
  • (Methuen, 1987; paperback) - graphic novel
  • (Methuen, October 1989; paperback ISBN 0-413-62670-9) — collected columns from Time Out and the Sunday Mirror
  • (Sceptre, 17 February 2000; hardback ISBN 0-340-76752-9, paperback ISBN 0-340-76753-7) — short story collection
  • (Sceptre, 19 July 2001; hardcover ISBN 0-340-81868-9, paperback ISBN 0-340-81944-8) — short story collection
  • (Sceptre, 1 September 2003; hardcover ISBN 0-340-76768-5) — despite Train To Hell, this was publicised as being Sayle's first novel
  • (Sceptre, 27 February 2006; hardcover ISBN 0-340-83121-9 ) — Sayle's latest novel

External links

http://www.msdivine.net/alexeisayle/

Sources