Michael "Micky" Flanagan is an English comedian. Flanagan has performed at the
Edinburgh Fringe and toured Britain with stand-up shows. He presented Micky
Flanagan: What Chance Change? for Radio 4 and has appeared on various TV shows
including Mock the Week, A League of Their Own, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Michael
McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow. He released his debut DVD in November 2011.
Early life and career Flanagan was born in Whitechapel, East
London and grew up on a council estate in Bethnal Green. He left school at the
age of 15 with no qualifications. His first job was as a fish porter at
Billingsgate Fish Market, after which he lived in New York for a year where he
worked as a dishwasher and chef. After returning to London he worked as a
furniture maker for several years. On an episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats, he also
revealed he was once a window cleaner. Flanagan resumed education at the age of
25, beginning with a GCSE in English and going on to a foundation course in arts
and social sciences and a degree at City University, which he began aged 29. He
went on to train as a teacher by taking the Postgraduate Certificate in
Education, but decided not to pursue teaching as a career, later describing
the experience as "the unhappiest year of my life ... everything that was wrong
about the school system when I was young was still the same".
Comedy career Flanagan became a professional comedian
in 1997 after attending a comedy course at Jacksons Lane in 1996. In 2001 he
performed in the Big Value Comedy Show at the Edinburgh Fringe as one of four
headline acts, and in 2003 co-headlined a show with Nina Conti.
He performed his first full-length solo show, What Chance Change? in 2006, and
in 2007 was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. He
toured Great Britain with The Out Out Tour in 2010/2011.
Flanagan was a regular performer on Out to Lunch on Radio 2 in 2008, and
appeared on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow in 2009. In 2010 he presented a
four-part series for Radio 4 entitled Micky Flanagan: What Chance Change?, and
performed on Live at the Apollo, Stand Up for the Week and the Royal Variety
Performance. He appeared on Mock the Week in 2010 and made further
appearances in 2011. He was a panellist on the BBC1 game show Epic Win, which
was broadcast in August and September 2011.
In 2009, Flanagan's agent lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards
Authority claiming that a television commercial for directory enquiries
service 118 118 was using his "out out" catchphrase and skit. The skit,
performed on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, is based on the idea that
people have different levels of going out, with "out out" referring to a big
night out. The commercial featured an animated character using the phrase in a
nightclub setting. The ASA acknowledged the similarity but said it was beyond
its remit to take action. In 2011 Flanagan signed a deal with
Ebury Publishing to write his autobiography. He appeared in a
celebrity version of The Chase, hosted by Bradley Walsh.
In 2012 he starred alongside Mark Watson and host Mark Dolan as a captain on the
Channel 4 advertising-based comedy panel programme The Mad Bad Ad Show. On 7 June
2013, he appeared on The Graham Norton Show alongside Dan Stevens, Hayden
Panettiere, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams. He was a team captain,
alongside Frank Skinner on the BBC One comedy series I Love My Country, which
is hosted by Gabby Logan. Additionally, he is a team captain on Channel 4 comedy
panel show Was It Something I Said?. In 2014, Flanagan teamed up with Spice
Girl Mel B on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year. Flanagan also hosted and starred
in comedy/travel series Detour De France [1] in 2014.
Personal life Flanagan is married and has a son. He
lives in East Dulwich. Stand-up DVDs
Live: The Out Out Tour Back in the Game Live
References External links
Official website Micky Flanagan at the Internet Movie
Database