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Lee Evans was born in Avonmouth, Bristol, England. His secondary school was The Billericay School in Scotland, Essex. After a spell as a boxer and two years at art school in Essex, Evans decided to follow in his father's footsteps in the entertainment business. In his teens he moved to Rhyl, Wales, and played drums in a punk band that he has on the bill and won the contest. The first four years were spent touring working-men's clubs; the next five on the alternative circuit. Like a lot of now-established comics' his break came at the Edinburgh Festival in 1988. In 1981, at age 17, he married Heather Evans with whom he has a daughter, Mollie, born in 1994, and a dog, Brian, although in the "Wired and Wonderful" tour and DVD he says his dog is called Rex (he may have two dogs or one may have died then the other replaced the first).
They live near Billericay. His niece Lauren Archer, has been on tour with him several times. Lee Evans rose to fame during the 1990s in his home country, becoming noted for his loud, hot, sweaty, energetic on-stage performances, mastery of humourous voices, and very physical, observational alternative comedy. He is regarded as having a Norman Wisdom-style of slapstick comedy acting, and in many respects has taken on Wisdom's role for a later generation. In his earlier work, he often used a dysfunctional character called Malcolm to illustrate how he viewed unusual characters in the world.
One of the trademarks of Evans's performances is his sweatiness: he is usually drenched in his own sweat. During most of his headlining performances, he often must take an intermission, during which he changes into a completely different suit; he once said that this was because he was "as nervous as a nun awaiting her pregnancy test results". He has also said that his suits are regularly thrown away after just one performance, mainly because of the sweat, with dry-cleaners refusing to handle them.
A second trademark is The Lee Evans Trio, which consists of him on a bare stage, in a spotlight, miming to a recording of instrumental sound; the spotlight goes out, only to reappear in another location, to which Evans has moved during the blackout, and where he is now miming playing a different instrument. He mimes in three locations, with an imaginary drum kit, bass cello, and piano.
A third trademark is his apparent "stage fright". At the beginning of his act he'll often pretend to get the microphone cord tangled up or thrown over his shoulder, or even that it doesn't work (he'll begin to talk but nothing is heard, until the end of a gag or question is suddenly audible). He may spend the first few minutes rambling as if he can't remember what he came on stage for. Often he will tilt the microphone stand and pretend to machine gun the audience, again as a nervous reaction and supposed "time filler".
Evans is also known for performing music skits at the end of every gig, usually his world-famous mime to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". His live act is also notable for its persistent use of variations of the word fuck.
In November 2005, Evans broke the Guinness World Record for a solo act performing to the biggest comedy audience, playing to 10,108 at the Manchester Evening News Arena. Evans will tour Britain with a brand new stand-up act, "Big", in Autumn 2008, with a DVD of the tour released in November 2008. Tickets for this tour went on sale on 26 October 2007. During this tour he will become the first comedian to play at the O2 Arena in London
Big Tour 2008 Lee Evans, one of Britain's best-loved stars of stage, screen and stand-up is once again poised to enter the record books with the UKs biggest ever live comedy gig.
With a total of 300,000 tickets available, 'Lee Evans - Big - UK Tour 2008' will be not only Evans largest tour to date but will make history by including the first comedy gig to grace the stage of the London's O2 Arena.
His manic energy, hilarious delivery and side-splitting material have made his live performances a must-see for comedy fans around the world with more than a quarter of a million people seeing his sold out 2005 XL Tour.
The multi-talented comedian, who has also gained acclaim on both stage and screen, was nominated for an Olivier award for his performance as Leo Bloom in the hit stage musical The Producers and has starred in such Hollywood blockbusters as There's Something About Mary, The Mouse Hunt, The Fifth Element and the award-winning Funny Bones.
There are no age restrictions in place on this show, however the event promoter has made us aware that there will be strong language in use throughout the show and the decision to bring younger people to the show is down to the individual child's parent/guardian.
Lee Evans will tour from September 3, 2008 to November 16, 2008 in the following locations:
Nottingham Arena, Nottingham Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth O2 Arena, London National Indoor Arena, Birmingham SECC, Glasgow Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, Aberdeen Wembley Arena, London Brighton Centre, Brighton Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester
