ACTS / FESTIVALS / TOURS / LIVE GIGS / CORPORATE / DOWNLOADS / SHOP / CONTACT

STAND-UP BIO / TV & RADIO RESUME / PHOTOS BACK TO ACTS PAGE

Mark Allen has been writing and performing comedy for over ten years. As a stand-up comedian, he regularly performed gigs for promoters including Off the Kerb and Mirth Control, and played in some of the country’s most prestigious venues including The Comedy Store in London, The Stand in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, and The Belfast Empire. He played some truly crappy gigs too, but he clearly doesn’t need to list those because they’re less impressive.

For the last three years, Mark has performed three solo stand-up shows at the Edinburgh Fringe: ‘Quite Good Britain’ in 2006, ‘Mob Logic’ in 2007 and ‘Pet Project’ in 2008. Each show subsequently transferred to The Hen and Chickens Theatre, London and enjoyed sell-out runs, before variously going on to be performed at the Brighton, Manchester and Leicester comedy festivals. In 2009 Mark will return to Edinburgh for a short run with ‘Quite Good Britain’, before embarking on his first national tour of theatres and arts centres.

As well as stand-up, Mark also writes comedy for TV and radio. He was part of a writing team for a pilot tv series for Talkback Productions and has had work commissioned for BBC Talent's Urban Sketch Comedy initiative, as well as having a number of sketches shown on two series of ‘Shoot the Writers’ on ITV1. He was also featured in Pulse Film's documentary series ‘Citizen Smith’ on BBC4 and has appeared as a guest on BBC Radio Five Live’s ‘Richard Bacon Show’.

In 2009, Mark was asked to stand as a candidate in the election for the Mayor of Garratt. These elections hadn’t taken place for 200 years and originated from times when the poor people of London were denied the vote, so they created their own mock-elections. Following a rousing speech and a crowd singalong of his Quite Good British Anthem, Mark won the contest and was elected as Mayor of Garratt.

“Allen is a comic with something new to say” The Guardian

“a total delight” TimeOut