Edward Easton

FACILITATORS OF MIRTH

Artist biography

Edward Easton

Playing age: 20-35 Eye colour: Blue Height: 6’ 2” Build average: Slim Weight: 12 st Appearance: White Hair color: Brown Native Accent: Cheshire

Accents:American general, northern Irish, Glaswegian, Scottish general, RP, Liverpudlian, Birmingham, Manchester and Cockney Experienced in: Stand up, Improvisation, Acting in Film and Theatre, Highly skilled in football, basketball, squash and guitar, skilled in cricket, tennis & horse riding, Plays the Guitar & Drums Driving License: Full and clean

“Quirkily different...with an engagingly casual approach despite the weirdness of some of his revelations” – Chortle

An effortless and effervescent comedic actor and eventual punchline. The vast majority of sketches well improviser, Ed Easton brings a unique voice to his acting exceed expectations: Gein’s Family Giftshop always goes and stand-up alike. Ed is also a prolific and talented further, theirs is absurd comedy at its absolute best. writer, very much tipped by the industry as one to watch. Ed Easton is a principle writer for GFG, and most Edward started performing stand up comedy in 2009 recently, Ed & Kiri Pritchard-McLean wrote an episode and his low-key outsider persona, married with esoteric of Crackanory for Dave TV. The group have written and and engaging material saw him reach the final of the starred in a Chortle nominated Sky TV Christmas comedy World Series in 2011. short – Gein’s Family Giftshop’s Christmas, that was As one fourth of multi-award winning sketch group broadcast on sky.com and on Sky Arts, on Christmas Day. Gein’s Family Giftshop, Ed brings a raw nervous energy Ed was invited to appear in the second series of BBC and perfectly pitched physicality to proceedings. In Drama Inside No. 9, after Reece Shearsmith and Steve 2014 Gein’s Family Giftshop were nominees for the Best Pemberton saw the debut GFG show in Edinburgh. Newcomer Award at The Fosters Edinburgh Comedy His consummate writing talent also led to him being Awards. They are also winners of London Sketchfest’s commissioned with the group, to write a three-part series Best New Sketch Act & The Audience Choice Award for BBC Radio Wales, which were hugely popular when 2014. Gein’s sketches give as much attention to their they were transmitted during the summer of 2015. characters, situations and pacing as they do to the

For all bookings please contact [email protected] Gag Reflex Ltd 0161 205 8739 | 07974 685 267 Red 16, The Sharp Project, Manchester, M40 5BJ 0161 205 8739 | [email protected] | www.gagreflex.co.uk

Page 1 of 2 Edward Easton (continued)

Awards/Competitions Nominees – ‘Gein’s Family Giftshop’s Christmas’ on Sky Nominees – Gein’s Family Giftshop - Best Newcomer Arts - Best TV - Chortle Awards 2016 Award - Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2014 Winners – Gein’s Family Giftshop - Best Newcomer Winners – Gein’s Family Giftshop - London Sketchfest – Award - Chortle Awards 2015 Best New Sketch – 2014 Nominees – Gein’s Family Giftshop - Best Character, Winners – Gein’s Family Giftshop - London Sketchfest - Improv or Sketch Award - Chortle Awards 2015 Audience Choice - 2014

“Gein’s Family Giftshop are three excellent comic actors (Easton in particular). Stand-out moments include the one-man My Sharona sing-a-long which showcases Easton’s knack for physical comedy, and the Scary Mary will-they-won’t-they” – London is Funny

“Ed Easton as a constant force for chaos and childish intemperance, this is a really distinctive debut hour that glories in its own silliness, scatology and twisted masturbatory fantasies, without ever growing overpowering.” – Fest

TV and Film Radio 2016 – Drunk History - Series 2 (Comedy Central) 2015 – Comedy Specials – Gein’s Family Giftshop 2015 – Gein’s Family Giftshop’s Christmas (Sky) BBC Radio Wales 2015 – Inside No 9 (BBC) 2015 – Sketchorama – Gein’s Family Giftshop BBC Radio 4 2014 – Best Bathrooms (Corporate Video) 2014 – Fresh from the Fringe – BBC Radio 4 2014 – The Jonny and Enel Show (CBBC) 2012 – Forever Manchester (Advert Campaign) 2010 – The Valentines – Girl like You (Music Video)

“first-among-equals Ed Easton, whose lo-camp, faintly hysterical energy gives the show its off-kilter charge.” – The Guardian

“Ed Easton is a natural.. energetic, hysterical and able to nail a Coogan-esque kind of stuttering awkwardness during exchanges… brilliant to watch as he shifts from to shuffling to flustered to frenzied clowning.” – Short Com

“a fun hour of unpleasant comedy, and the sketch in which Ed Easton offering a pint to Kath Hughes spirals into an epic Gothic dumbshow of a season in hell is one for the annals” – The Guardian

For all bookings please contact [email protected] Gag Reflex Ltd 0161 205 8739 | 07974 685 267 Red 16, The Sharp Project, Manchester, M40 5BJ 0161 205 8739 | [email protected] | www.gagreflex.co.uk

Page 2 of 2 FACILITATORS OF MIRTH

Artist biography

James Meehan

Playing age: 23-35 Eye colour: Blue Height: 6’ Build average: Average Weight: 12 st Appearance: White British Hair color: Brown Native Accent: Lancashire

Accents: Lancashire, Scottish, London, American Experienced in: Stand up, improvisation, theatre, acting, plays guitar Driving License: Full and clean

“James Meehan is a domineering presence with razor sharp timing and cutting Northern wit” – Short.com

Offbeat, aloof, yet delightfully likeable, James Meehan “Unplanned Orphan”. In 2014 & ‘15, James was a principle is a current rising star of the British comedy scene. member of the cast of Phil Ellis’ ‘Funz and Gamez’, which Described as brilliantly unconventional, and refreshingly won the Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Award Panel Prize in nonchalant, as a stand-up, James is carving out a niche 15’ and went on to record a BBC pilot. for himself as a wonderfully offbeat presence on the In 2014 Gein’s Family Giftshop were nominees for circuit. the Best Newcomer Award at The Fosters Edinburgh Unique and intelligent material sets him apart as a stand- Comedy Awards. They are also winners of London up, with his writing chops proven once more as one Sketchfest’s Best New Sketch Act & The Audience fourth of the multi-award winning sketch group Gein’s Choice Award 2014. Family Giftshop. Absurd in tone this quartet marry the tragic with the A regular on the Manchester comedy circuit since hilarious, as they apply their warped world vision to the 2009, James threw himself into the City’s thriving stand hilarious subject matter of abject misery, and human up scene, and just three years later his talent was tragedy. recognized when he became a runner up in Preston Gein’s sketches give as much attention to their Comedian of the Year. He continues to be a hit not only in characters, situations and pacing as they do to the the North West, but across the country. eventual punchline. The vast majority of sketches well In 2013 James joined Phil Ellis as a cast member and exceed expectations: Gein’s Family Giftshop always goes writer on his critically acclaimed Edinburgh show further, theirs is absurd comedy at its absolute best.

For all bookings please contact [email protected] Gag Reflex Ltd 0161 205 8739 | 07974 685 267 Red 16, The Sharp Project, Manchester, M40 5BJ 0161 205 8739 | [email protected] | www.gagreflex.co.uk

Page 1 of 2 James Meehan (continued)

James was invited to appear in the second series of BBC James Meehan wrote and performed in the Chortle Drama Inside No. 9, after Reece Shearsmith and Steve nominated Sky Short ‘Gein’s Family Christmas’ Pemberton saw the debut GFG show in Edinburgh. He transmitted on Sky in December. was also commissioned with the group, to write a three- James has been described as aloof, charming and part series for BBC Radio Wales, which were hugely compelling and was selected for the prestigious Just The popular when they were transmitted during the summer Tonic Big Value Showcase at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe of 2015. Festival.

“As befits their serial killer, specialist vendor name, Gein’s Family Giftshop excel in the delivery of dark and uniquely depraved sketches. With James Meehan as the de facto leader, Kath Hughes as the put-upon woman and Ed Easton as a constant force for chaos and childish intemperance, this is a really distinctive debut hour that glories in its own silliness, scatology and twisted masturbatory fantasies, without ever growing overpowering” – Fest

“Gein’s Family Giftshop – are three excellent comic actors” – London is Funny

“James Meehan has understated delivery and offbeat charm. Recommended.”– Lee Martin, Gag Reflex

“an hour of tense, inventive sketch comedy and enough psychosexual shenanighans to last an entire festival. … an experimental format that is by turns bold, intelligent and refreshingly prop free. Memorably unsettling” – Mail on Sunday

TV and Film Radio 2016 – Drunk History - Series 2 (Comedy Central) 2015 – Comedy Specials – Gein’s Family Giftshop 2015 – Gein’s Family Giftshop’s Christmas (Sky) BBC Radio Wales 2015 – Inside No 9 (BBC) 2015 – Sketchorama – Gein’s Family Giftshop BBC Radio 4 2015 –Funz & Gamez TV Pilot (BBC) 2014 – Fresh from the Fringe – BBC Radio 4 2011 – The Birthday Cake – Short Film 2010 –Tarrant Lets the Kids Loose - WatchTV

Currently appearing at: The Frog and Bucket, XS Malarkey, Comedy Central, Hilarity Bites, Buzz Comedy, Funny Bones Comedy and many more.

For all bookings please contact [email protected] Gag Reflex Ltd 0161 205 8739 | 07974 685 267 Red 16, The Sharp Project, Manchester, M40 5BJ 0161 205 8739 | [email protected] | www.gagreflex.co.uk

Page 2 of 2 FACILITATORS OF MIRTH

Artist biography

Kath Hughes

Playing age: 20-35 Eye colour: Blue Height: 5’ 6” Build average: Medium Weight: 12.8 st Appearance: White Hair color: Red Native Accent: North Wales

Accents: South Wales, Cockney, Liverpool, RP, Lancashire Experienced in: Theatre, Film acting, skilled in Mixed martial arts Driving License: Full and clean

“despite the air of simmering surrealism that is rather common in sketch comedy these days, the originality of the ideas and deadpan naturalism of the performances – Kath Hughes’s especially – help make the show feel very much its own thing” – The Telegraph

Understated, with a devastating line in nuanced comic 2014. They are also winners of the Chortle Award for Best timing, Kath’s performance style is a breath of fresh air on Newcomer, London Sketchfest’s Best New Sketch Act, both stage and screen. and The Audience Choice Award. As one fourth of multi-award winning sketch group Kath’s background in film production informs much of her Gein’s Family Giftshop, Kath brings a bold, intelligent and work, with a preference for the unassuming when writing refreshingly subtle side to proceedings. and performing, thus creating faceted and naturalistic Absurd in tone this quartet marry the tragic with the scenes and dialogue. hilarious, as they apply their warped world vision to the Kath was invited to appear in the second series of BBC hilarious subject matter of abject misery, and human Drama Inside No. 9, after Reece Shearsmith and Steve tragedy. Pemberton saw the debut GFG show in Edinburgh. She Gein’s sketches give as much attention to their was also commissioned with the group, to write a three- characters, situations and pacing as they do to the part series for BBC Radio Wales, which were hugely eventual punchline. The vast majority of sketches well popular when they were transmitted during the summer exceed expectations: Gein’s Family Giftshop always goes of 2015. further, theirs is absurd comedy at its absolute best. Kath Hughes wrote and performed in the Chortle Gein’s Family Giftshop were nominees for Best nominated Sky Short ‘Gein’s Family Christmas’ Newcomer at the Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Awards in transmitted on Sky in December.

For all bookings please contact [email protected] Gag Reflex Ltd 0161 205 8739 | 07974 685 267 Red 16, The Sharp Project, Manchester, M40 5BJ 0161 205 8739 | [email protected] | www.gagreflex.co.uk

Page 1 of 2 Kath Hughes (continued)

“Kath Hughes is deadpan and sardonic, sending herself up with confidence, and able to shift between her default role as the beleaguered of the three to an intimidating stage presence. Hughes’s finest moments occur when she is jousting with one of the other two in one of their sharp-tongued interchanges” – Short.com

“Hughes certainly pulls her weight, as all three have formidable acting chops, going from the sublime to the ridiculous and demonstrating a gift for physical as well as verbal comedy in their big, pugnacious and energetic performances. The three are pretty brutal with each other, adding violence both physical and psychological to their toilet humour in a messy melting pot of humanity’s baser instincts” – Chortle

TV and Film Radio 2016 – Drunk History - Series 2 (Comedy Central) 2015 – Sketchorama – Gein’s Family Giftshop - BBC Radio 4 2015 – Gein’s Family Giftshop’s Christmas (Sky) 2015 – Comedy Specials – Gein’s Family Giftshop 2015 – Inside No 9 (BBC) BBC Radio Wales 2014 – The Jonny and Inel Show (CBBC) 2014 – ‘Fresh from the Fringe’ – Gein’s Family Giftshop BBC Radio 4 2010 – Supporting artists – A Stab at the Truth (True Lioness Productions) 2012 – Presenter – The Rob and Kath Show- Calon Fm 2012 – Performer- The Collectors – Calon Fm

“a fun hour of unpleasant comedy, and the sketch in which Ed Easton offering a pint to Kath Hughes spirals into an epic Gothic dumbshow of a season in hell is one for the annals” – The Guardian “Refreshingly nonchalant…Hughes does get the last laugh” – Time Out

For all bookings please contact [email protected] Gag Reflex Ltd 0161 205 8739 | 07974 685 267 Red 16, The Sharp Project, Manchester, M40 5BJ 0161 205 8739 | [email protected] | www.gagreflex.co.uk

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