Simon Amstell - Biography

In a nutshell

Simon started out his comedy career early ? at the age of 14 he was a finalist in the BBC's new comedy awards and, being the BBC, meant he was spotted by television 'execs' who, rather than offer him his own late-night comedy show thought he'd be really good on satellite channel Nickelodeon. After a stint there he was eventually sacked for being a little sarcastic and a little mean to the kiddies.

The mean streak obviously stood him in good stead for a presenting role on Channel 4's Popworld. It's the show we all remember from 'the good old days' where, alongside Miquita Oliver (the moody one), Simon conducted over the top interviews with bemused pop stars and took part in highly ironic sketches and stuff. You can only do that sort of thing for a little while, so the pair eventually left and we don't remember what happened to the show after that. Well, we do but we're trying to forget it.

Where does somebody go from Popworld? It would seem either presenting T4 'full time' or going over to another channel and presenting Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Simon chose the latter, taking over from Mark Lamarr in 2006. And he's settled in nicely, winning Best Entertainment Performance at the Royal Television Society awards.

Simon's still doing stand-up and probably releases the odd DVD. He's also Jewish AND gay. So that makes him special in our book. He came out when he started presenting Popworld but it seems nobody believed him at the time so he had to keep 'going on about it'.

Did you know?

John Barrowman, who apparently flies the flag for gays everywhere, challenged Simon to a 'gay off'. We dread to think what he meant.