Liam Williams (comedian)

Liam Williams
BornMarch 1988 (age 38)
Garforth, Yorkshire, England
EducationCambridge University
Notable workLadhood
Comedy career
Years active2009–present
MediumStand-up, television, radio, theatre
Websiteliamwilliamscomedy.blogspot.co.uk

Liam Williams (born March 1988)[1] is an English comedian, actor and writer, known for his wry poetic presentation style. He was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2013 Edinburgh Comedy Awards and for Best Show at the 2014 awards.[2]

Early life and education

Williams grew up in Garforth, Yorkshire.[3] His parents were civil servants.

Williams studied English at Homerton College at the University of Cambridge, where he was a member of Footlights.[4][5][6] It was through the group that he met his later collaborators Daran Johnson and Al Roberts.[3] In 2009, he participated in the Cambridge heat of the Chortle Student Comedy Award.[7]

Career

In 2013, Williams appeared as the guest stand-up on Russell Howard's Good News.[8] Later that year he performed a solo show for the first time at the Edinburgh Fringe, where he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards.[9] It received a mixed 3-star review from the Guardian who said "Sense of fun is in short supply. Williams could sell this bleak world view more effectively, but the clarity of his vision, and his poeticism, overcome resistance."[10] Williams also participated in a show with his fellow members of the comedy sketch group Sheeps, with Daran Johnson and Al Roberts.[11][12]

In 2014, Williams performed a new show at Edinburgh, Capitalism.[13] It was nominated for Best Show at the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards.[5][14][15] The show also received a five-star review from the Guardian.[13] He also recorded a series of short clips for the Channel 4 online series Comedy Blaps, based on a previous routine.[16] After the Edinburgh festival, Williams performed his show at the Soho Theatre and The Invisible Dot in London.[17][14][18] He has also performed at the club with Sheeps.

Williams's 2015 Edinburgh show was called Bonfire Night.[2] In 2015, Williams also wrote and presented a semi-autobiographical radio show titled Ladhood. The series was broadcast on BBC Radio 4.[19] The second series of Williams's radio show Ladhood was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2017.[20]

In 2015, Williams participated in the Comedy Feed sketch show pilot, People Time, for BBC Three alongside Daran Johnson and Al Roberts, Jamie Demetriou, Natasia Demetriou, Claudia O'Doherty and Ellie White.[21][22][23] The Guardian said that "someone needs to invest big in People Time because it should be on television and soon".[24] Comedian Adam Buxton said that it was the "best comedy thing I’ve seen in a long while".[24] Despite it's good reviews, it did not get commissioned.[25] Continuing with the cast (minus O'Doherty), he co-created the web series 2016: Year Friends.[26] Each episode was written by a different member of the troupe. The premise of the series is that a group of friends get together and make some new year's resolutions. The show is influenced by British mocumentaries including The Office and That Peter Kay Thing, as well as the nascent reality TV genre.

Also in 2016, Williams starred in the BBC Three comedies Uncle and Together and on Comedy Central UK's Drunk History.[27]

In January 2016, Williams co-directed with Matt Bulmer a one-off performance of Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night featuring a cast of comedians including Kieran Hodgson, Tim Key and The Pin, with proceeds going to Refugee Action.[28] The play was staged again, with an altered cast, in July 2016 at the Latitude Festival and during London Wonderground at the South Bank in London.[29]

At the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe festival, Williams presented his debut play, Travesty, following previews in London.[29][30] December 2016 and January 2017 saw the presentation of the panto Ricky Whittington & His Cat, co-written by Williams and Daran Johnson and starring Charlotte Ritchie alongside previous comedy collaborators.[31]

In 2017, Williams wrote and starred in a web mockumentary series called Pls Like released by BBC Three.[32][33] Williams played a struggling comedian who wins a contest to become the next superstar megavlogger, but must first undertake a series of challenges to win the attached £10,000 prize. Along the way, several successful YouTubers give him help and advice. The show was renewed for a second series in June 2018 and it was broadcast in September 2018; a third series was shown in January 2021.

Later in 2017, Williams and Josie Long co-wrote and co-starred in the BBC Radio 4 comedy Perimeter, part of the ’Dangerous Visions’ season on the station.[34] Williams also appeared on the final episode of series 2 of Live from the BBC, performing a 30-minute set.[35] The Netflix version of the series features his full one-hour set, made available on the streaming service in July 2018. In 2018, he also guest starred in the comedies Friday Night Dinner and Stath Lets Flats.[27]

In February 2019, Williams appeared as a hacktivist in the first episode of This Time with Alan Partridge.[36] He also played main character Nathan in the BBC series Back to Life starring Daisy Haggard.[37]

Williams wrote and starred in a TV adaptation of his radio series Ladhood, whose first series was released on BBC iPlayer on 24 November 2019.[38] Set in William's hometown of Garforth, the series explores themes of masculinity and class.[3] In February 2020, it was announced that Ladhood had been renewed for a second series of six episodes, which was released in August 2021.[39] The third and final series was released in September 2022.[40]

Williams released his debut novel, Homes and Experiences, in 2020, available on hardback and audiobook.[41]

Williams also appeared in Everyone Else Burns as a tragic convert to the show's 'Order of the Divine Rod' evangelical Christian cult.[27]

Personal life

Williams supports Manchester United.[42]

References

  1. ↑ Liam Williams: Home – Comedy Blaps – Channel 4 on YouTube
  2. 1 2 "Liam Williams: Edinburgh Fringe 2015 interview". Laugh Out London. 8 August 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Aroesti, Rachel (23 November 2019). "Liam Williams: 'I'm still coated in a residue of laddishness, for better or worse'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  4. ↑ Nell Frizzell (28 October 2013). "Liam Williams on writing comedy". IdeasTap.
  5. 1 2 Brian Logan (4 August 2014). "Liam Williams: 'I've had nervous breakdowns on stage'". The Guardian.
  6. ↑ "ARCHIVE 2000-2018". cambridge-footlights. Retrieved 26 March 2026.
  7. ↑ Liam Williams – Chortle Student Comedy Award on YouTube
  8. ↑ Liam Williams on Russell Howard's Good News on YouTube
  9. ↑ "Liam Williams". Nick Hern Books. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  10. ↑ Logan, Brian (6 August 2013). "Liam Williams – Edinburgh festival 2013 review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  11. ↑ Ed Cripps (17 January 2014). "Liam Williams: The Philip Larkin of British Comedy". The Huffington Post UK.
  12. ↑ Julian Hall (19 August 2013). "Edinburgh 2013: Liam Williams – A comedian of existential introspection". The Independent. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022.
  13. 1 2 Logan, Brian (10 August 2014). "Liam Williams five-star review – a shatteringly funny set: Edinburgh festival 2014". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  14. 1 2 Rachel Holdsworth (9 October 2014). "Liam Williams: Die, Capitalist Scum". Londonist.
  15. ↑ Logan, Brian (20 August 2014). "Edinburgh comedy awards 2014 shortlist: why Liam Williams should win". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  16. ↑ Liam Williams: Things – Comedy Blaps – Channel 4 on YouTube
  17. ↑ ID 197: Liam Williams on YouTube
  18. ↑ ID 463: Liam Williams: Bonfire Night – Interview With Mark Watson on YouTube
  19. ↑ "BBC Radio 4 - Liam Williams: Ladhood, Series 1". BBC.
  20. ↑ "BBC Radio 4 - Liam Williams: Ladhood, Series 2, Episode 1". BBC. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  21. ↑ "BBC Three - Comedy Feeds, Series 4, People Time". BBC.
  22. ↑ "Alastair Roberts, comedian reviews". Chortle. 14 July 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2026.
  23. ↑ Raeside, Julia (21 July 2015). "Comedy Feeds: People Time – the sketch show rises from the dead". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  24. 1 2 Raeside, Julia (21 July 2015). "Comedy Feeds: People Time – the sketch show rises from the dead". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  25. ↑ Aroesti, Rachel (8 April 2016). "Mockumentaries, millennials and Zayn Malik – inside web comedy 2016: Year Friends". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  26. ↑ Aroesti, Rachel (8 April 2016). "Mockumentaries, millennials and Zayn Malik – inside web comedy 2016: Year Friends". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  27. 1 2 3 "Liam Williams". United Agents. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  28. ↑ "Twelfth Night – The Play". Archived from the original on 5 February 2016.
  29. 1 2 Si Hawkins (5 July 2016). "Circuit Training 97: Liam Williams, limping round Latitude". British Comedy Guide.
  30. ↑ Craig Angus (2 August 2016). "Liam Williams on his debut play Travesty". The Skinny.
  31. ↑ "New Diorama". www.newdiorama.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  32. ↑ "Pls Like: Why you have to watch BBC3's fantastic YouTube mockumentary". Radio Times. 25 March 2017.
  33. ↑ Stuart Heritage (10 February 2017). "Pls Like: a brutal new mockumentary satirising YouTube stars". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
  34. ↑ "BBC Radio 4 - Dangerous Visions, Perimeter". BBC.
  35. ↑ "BBC Three - Live from the BBC, Series 2, Liam Williams". BBC. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  36. ↑ "Alan Partridge fans react as Norfolk's finest returns in new series 'This Time'". www.nme.com. 2 June 2004.
  37. ↑ "Liam Williams joins new BBC Three comedy : News 2018 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. 15 November 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  38. ↑ "Inbetweeners-style comedy set in Garforth is now streaming on BBC iPlayer". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  39. ↑ "BBC Three Renews 'Ladhood' For Second Season". TVWise. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  40. ↑ "Ladhood to end after third series". Chortle. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  41. ↑ "Liam Williams: 'I like saying poem to rhyme with home'". The Guardian. 29 May 2020.
  42. ↑ "FA Cup third-round predictions - Lawro v Ladhood star Liam Williams". BBC Sport. 5 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.