Harry Roy Hill is the stage name of
Matthew Hall, a stand-up comedian who has graduated
to being a star of British television by way of a BBC
radio series Harry Hill's Fruit Corner.
Harry Hill is one of an elite team of alternative
British comics associated with the Avalon comedy family.
Other careers launched from this gun barrel include
those of Richard Herring, Stewart Lee, Dave Gorman,
Simon Munnery, Frank Skinner, David Baddiel and Al
Murray.
Matthew Hall is very fond of visual gimmicks and
there are several associated with his Harry Hill character.
Among these are the bald head, the thick black spectacles,
pens in the top pocket, small badges on the lapel and,
most famously, a comically oversized shirt collar.
Hill's humour is quirky almost to the point of surrealism.
In way of illustrating this, the comedy historian Oliver
Double described Hill as being "Ronnie Corbett
possessed by the ghost of Salvador Dali."
As almost every newspaper interview or profile of
Harry Hill will reveal, his real-life alter ego, Matthew,
is a qualified medical doctor.
In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of
the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In a 2005 poll
to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted amongst
the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and
comedy insiders. |