Comedian and actor Tim Key is one of the guests on the New Year's Eve edition of The Graham Norton Show.
Tim Key is joined by Carely Mulligan, his co-star in the hit film the Ballad of Wallis Island.
Tim explains how the film came about: “It started as a short film made in the early 2000s. We shot it in three days and I loved it. It was one of the best experiences of my life. After that we just left it and didn’t think anything else would happen but eventually we unlocked it as a feature film.”
Asked how she got involved Carey says: “My husband (Marcus Mumford) and I were really big fans of Tim’s late might poetry programme and Marcus did that deeply nerdy thing and DM’d Tim to tell him he was a massive fan. I then emailed him about a charity event that he declined and then four years later I got an email from Tim asking me to be in the film with the subject line ‘Filming Opportunity.’ Of course, I said yes.”
Talking about getting his start in the business through the Cambridge Footlights, Tim says: “When I got in, I didn’t tell the truth, but the lead lie was that I was at Cambridge! I was actually temping as a regional deployment officer! I did get busted when I was cast in an Edinburgh Festival show. I got the call saying, ‘We know you’re not at Cambridge but don’t tell anyone else.’ I think it was a victimless crime!” When asked how long the lie went on for, Tim jokes, “Until now really!”
Key has come a long way since I first saw him at the Edinburgh Fringe in the early noughties. He has always been a playful character. I'd seen him in shows with future Taskmaster creator Alex Horne and I first met Key in Brookes Bar, the members club inside the Pleasance Dome. I was trying to send a work messsage to a colleague on a new phone - it was a Nokia (it was a long time ago) – and Key offered to do it for me. When I looked he'd actually sent a message to her that said "I really fancy you."
A few years later, in 2005, I encountered Key at Robin Ince's cult night The Book Club at the Albany Pub in Great Portland Street in London. Tim was at the bar and pulled out a well-thumbed notebook: "I've started writing poetry to perform onstage," he told me. In 2009 he won the Edinburgh Comedy Award with his mix of stories, oblique apercus and poetry and the rest is history.
Also appearing on The Graham Norton Show on BBC One on New Year's Eve are Owen Cooper, Laura Dern, Graham Norton, Will Arnett, Tom Hiddleston and Alison Limerick.
The Graham Norton Show, New Year's Eve, 10.30pm, BBC One.
Pictured l-r: Owen Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Tim Key, Laura Dern, Graham Norton, Will Arnett, Tom Hiddleston, Alison Limerick
Picture Credit: BBC/So Television/PA Media/Jas Lehal
