Bob Mortimer
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Robert Renwick Mortimer (born May 23, 1959 in Middlesbrough, England), is an English comedian and actor, best known for his double act with Vic Reeves (see Vic and Bob).
In 2003, he and Vic were listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, they were voted the 9th greatest comedy act ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
Personal life
Bob's father died when he was very young, and as a result, he and his three brothers were brought up by their mother, Eunice. He trialed for the Middlesbrough F.C. youth team (but could not take this up professionally due to his arthritis), later leaving school with three A-levels and going on to study law at the University of Leicester where he obtained two law degrees. Here he became involved in the punk movement, starting a band called Dog Dirt, and other political causes. After leaving University, he moved to London and became a solicitor, his most famous case being a cockroach infestation.Mortimer suffers from Rheumatoid Arthritis, which gives him great pain when he is stressed, especially before making a TV series or embarking on a tour, so on those occasions he controls the illness with steroids.
He is a keen amateur birdwatcher.
Mortimer represented Jarvis Cocker at the police station following the Pulp singer's arrest at the Brit awards in 1997 (after Cocker had pretended to flash his bottom in protest at Michael Jackson's performance at the ceremony).
Entertainment career
In 1986, in an attempt to drown his sorrows after finding his girlfriend in bed with a Hells Angel, he met up with an old friend who persuaded him to go to the Goldsmith's Tavern see a new show by someone called Vic Reeves (Bob has said that this might have been the very first Big Night Out). Bob was impressed by the performance, particularly the character Tappy Lappy which was Vic attempting to tap dance whilst wearing a Bryan Ferry mask and planks on his feet, and approached Vic/Jim afterwards (Fred Aylward, who played Les, remarked to Vic afterwards "Eric, you've met your Ernie". According to Vic, on that night they began writing things for next week's show together, and became good friends, even forming a band called The Potter's Wheel. Bob began to perform on the show, christened Vic Reeves Big Night Out, creating such characters as the Singing Lawyer, Graham Lister, Judge Nutmeg and The Man With The Stick (whose helmet helped Bob's nerves on stage).The show became very successful in south London and eventually outgrew Goldsmith's Tavern, moving in 1988 to the Albany Empire in Deptford. Although it was still named Vic Reeves Big Night Out, Bob became and integral part of the performance, providing Mortimer with a weekly break from the legal work which had begun to disillusion him.
A television pilot was filmed in late 1989 and the two soon began filming the first series of Vic Reeves Big Night Out, which remained true to the variety show format of the live shows. Bob took a 10 week break from his job to film the series and never returned (his plastic briefcase is still there). Off-screen, Jim and Bob had always been an equal partnership, but didn't become known as ‘Reeves & Mortimer’ until their move to the BBC in 1993.
In 2000, Mortimer played the part of Randall in the remake of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), opposite Reeves as Hopkirk.
In July 2002 he fought - and defeated - Les Dennis in the BBC's first "Celebrity Boxing" match, and presented and produced the second match a year later, called "The Fight" which saw Grant Bovey face Ricky Gervais
In 2005, he hosted his first major TV series without Jim Moir, a comedy panel game for BBC One, called 29 Minutes of Fame.
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