James Mullinger

James Mullinger

James Mullinger is an English alternative comedian and finalist in the comedy competition "Jimmy Carr's Comedy Idol". He now lives in Atlantic Canada and has been nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award for Best Live Solo Show and a Just For Laughs Best Comedy Show Award. He is the star of Bell Aliant's Blimey! An Englishman In Atlantic Canada which has been nominated for and won numerous awards. Mullinger is also the co-writer and co-producer of the movie The Comedian's Guide to Survival, a British and Canadian co-production about Mullinger's early struggles as a comedian. Mullinger is played in the film by James Buckley and it also stars Jimmy Carr, Omid Djalili, Paul Kaye, Gilbert Gottfried, MyAnna Buring, Kevin Eldon and many more comedians. In 2015, Mullinger began co-hosting the genre and cult film podcast Field & Mullinger's Underground Nights, where he has interviewed filmmakers such as Troma Entertainment's Lloyd Kaufman, Lowell Dean and Joshua Ligairi.

Comedy career

James Mullinger began doing stand up comedy in 2005. Within a year he had reached the final of three national competitions and appeared on Jimmy Carr's DVD Stand Up.

He performed his first full-length solo show at the Camden Fringe in August 2009, titled: James Mullinger Is The Bad Boy Of Feminism.[1] The controversial subject matter and painfully funny anecdotes were a hit with both critics and audiences at the Camden Fringe in August. Both shows sold out and Time Out described it as “very funny stuff” and it was named one of the best shows by the Evening Standard, Metro and London Lite. He then toured the UK with the show culminating with two sold out shows at London's Soho Theatre in June 2010. He has toured three subsequent solo stand up shows (James Mullinger's Schooldays, An Hour Of Killer Stand Up and The Man With No Shame) and continues to perform in clubs all over the world.

In May 2005 he created Upstairs at the Masons, a small comedy club in Mayfair, London. Every other week the club has several comedians performing, and have attracted comedians such as Russell Brand, Michael McIntyre, Richard Herring, Shappi Khorsandi and Stewart Lee among others to try out new material. They were shut down after a social worker complained of hearing offensive material. However, after the management changed, it was reopened, and was featured in Time Out, The Guardian among others.

TV career

Mullinger's TV debut was on panel show Street Cred Sudoku alongside Robin Ince, Sue Perkins and Rufus Hound. From November 2011 to January 2012, Mullinger hosted 10 episodes of the world's first funny film review show titled Movie Kingdom for the DMAX channel on the Discovery Network. Devised and created by Mullinger alongside filmmaker Mark Murphy, the show took an irreverent view of Hollywood with honest reviews, comical interviews with A-list stars and sketches featuring comedians. Movie Kingdom was Pick Of The Week in The Guardian and Mail On Sunday. Mullinger interviewed Hollywood actors Daniel Craig, Tom Cruise, George Clooney in the show and introduced other comedians such as Micky Flanagan, Rob Brydon, Andi Osho, Simon Pegg, Richard Herring and Scott Capurro.

The show was then developed with Comedy Central and became a web series titled A Moment With... Each week Mullinger would meet with the likes of Cameron Diaz, Anne Hathaway, Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Matthew McConaughey, Javier Bardem and comedians such as Greg Davies, Jerry Seinfeld, Jackie Mason, Ross Noble and Stewart Lee to discuss what makes them laugh.

Since moving to Canada in 2014 he has been the star of Bell Aliant's Blimey! An Englishman In Atlantic Canada. Partially scripted, the show follows James as he tours around Atlantic Canada performing in theatres, basements, arts centres, vineyards, food markets, aircraft hangars and anywhere else that will have him. It also features many other comedians who tour the East Coast of Canada with James. The show is currently on its third season and has been nominated for and won numerous awards.

Film career

Before moving to Canada, Mullinger had a few small parts in British films such as Crypt 3D (also known as The Convent), Vendetta (2013 film) and Assassin (2015 film). In 2015 he began work on a screenplay titled The Comedian's Guide to Survival about Mullinger's early life as a struggling comedian with a day job with writer and director Mark Murphy. The film was released in October 2016 and stars Mullinger alongside James Buckley (who plays Mullinger in the film), Jimmy Carr and many more comedians many of whom are playing themselves. He was also the subject of a documentary film about his 2014 UK stand up tour.

Early life

Mullinger grew up in Maidenhead, Berkshire. He was educated at King Edward's School, Witley then studied English Literature and Women's Studies at Kingston University before embarking on a career as a journalist and Photo Director. He began performing stand up comedy in 2005 and quickly made a name for himself as "one to watch" (The Guardian) by reaching the final of three major comedy competitions. They were: Jimmy Carr's Comedy Idol (which resulted in a performance alongside Carr at The Comedy Store that appeared on Carr's DVD 'Stand Up'), You Must Be Joking at the Newbury Comedy Festival and Your Comedy Stars at the Edinburgh Festival.

As a journalist Mullinger interviewed Rachel Weisz, Alan Hollinghurst, Scarlett Johansson, Jerry Seinfeld, Emily Mortimer, Dara Ó Briain, Russell Brand, Sheryl Crow, Charlie Brooker, Matt Le Blanc and Rufus Wainwright.

References

  1. ↑ Kettle, James (6 February 2010). "This week's comedy previews". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
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