Micky Flanagan

Early life and career

Flanagan was born in October 1962 in Whitechapel, East London, and grew up on a council estate in Bethnal Green. He left school at the age of 15 with no qualifications. His first job was as a fish porter at Billingsgate Fish Market, after which he lived in New York for a year where he worked as a dishwasher and chef. After returning to London he worked as a furniture maker for several years. On an episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats, he also revealed he was once a window cleaner.

Flanagan resumed education at the age of 25, beginning with a GCSE in English and going on to a foundation course in arts and social sciences and a degree at City University, which he began aged 29. He went on to train as a teacher by taking the Postgraduate Certificate in Education, but decided not to pursue teaching as a career, later describing the experience as "the unhappiest year of my life ... everything that was wrong about the school system when I was young was still the same".

Comedy career

Flanagan became a professional comedian in 1997 after attending a comedy course at Jacksons Lane in 1996. In 2001 he performed in the Big Value Comedy Show at the Edinburgh Fringe as one of four headline acts, and in 2003 co-headlined a show with Nina Conti.

He performed his first full-length solo show, What Chance Change? in 2006, and in 2007 was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. He toured Great Britain with The Out Out Tour in 2010/2011.

Flanagan was a regular performer on Out to Lunch on Radio 2 in 2008, and appeared on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow in 2009. In 2010 he presented a four-part series for Radio 4 entitled Micky Flanagan: What Chance Change?, and performed on Live at the Apollo, Stand Up for the Week and the Royal Variety Performance. He appeared on Mock the Week in 2010 and made further appearances in 2011. He was a panellist on the BBC1 game show Epic Win, which was broadcast in August and September 2011.

In 2009, Flanagan's agent lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority claiming that a television commercial for directory enquiries service 118 118 was using his "out out" catchphrase and skit. The skit, performed on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, is based on the idea that people have different levels of going out, with "out out" referring to a big night out. The commercial featured an animated character using the phrase in a nightclub setting. The ASA acknowledged the similarity but said it was beyond its remit to take action.

In 2011 Flanagan signed a deal with Ebury Publishing to write his autobiography. He appeared in a celebrity version of The Chase, hosted by Bradley Walsh.

In 2012 he starred alongside Mark Watson and host Mark Dolan as a captain on the Channel 4 advertising-based comedy panel programme The Mad Bad Ad Show. On 7 June 2013, he appeared on The Graham Norton Show alongside Dan Stevens, Hayden Panettiere, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams. He was a team captain, alongside Frank Skinner on the BBC One comedy series I Love My Country, which is hosted by Gabby Logan. Additionally, he is a team captain on Channel 4 comedy panel show Was It Something I Said?.

In 2014, Flanagan teamed up with Spice Girl Mel B on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year. Flanagan also hosted and starred in comedy/travel series Detour De France [1] in 2014. In 2017 he had his own show Thinking Aloud on sky 1

Personal life

Flanagan is married and has a son. He lives in East Dulwich.

Stand-up DVDs