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Paul Martin (born 9 July 1957 ), better known by the Stage Name '''Paul Merton''', is an English Actor , BAFTA award-winning Comedian and Writer . He is best known as a panellist on the BBC television show '' Have I Got News For You '' and Radio 4 's '' Just A Minute '', as well as Channel 4 's '' Whose Line Is It Anyway? '' in the first five series, and as the host of the BBC TV show '' Room 101 ''. His style is characterised by describing extremely improbable scenarios with a straight — even mournful-looking — face. He rapidly grabs hold of any chance to expand on a subject and stretch its credibility to snapping point. In 2003, he was listed in '' The Observer '' as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.1 In '' The Comedian's Comedian '', a 2005 Channel 4 poll of fellow comedians, he was voted the 20th funniest comedian in the universe. PERSONAL LIFE Merton was born on 9 July 1957 Many sources give a birthdate of 17 January 1957 . The date given above is in '' Who's Who '' and Internet Movie Database .in Parsons Green , London to an English father (a Train driver on the London Underground ) and a mother of Irish Catholic extraction. When his mother returned to work as a nurse, Merton and his younger sister were looked after by their grandfather, who lived with them in their Council Flat . He failed his Eleven Plus , and famously received an unclassified grade for metalwork at CSE before moving on to Wimbledon College just as it became comprehensive. His experience of victimisation there as a working-class boy became a frequent subject of his comedy. After leaving Catholic school, Merton worked at the Tooting Employment Office for ten years. Merton married the actress Caroline Quentin in 1990, but they divorced in 1998. Merton subsequently had a relationship with comedian Sarah Parkinson ; they married shortly before her death from Breast Cancer on 23 September 2003 . Shortly before becoming a household name on ''Have I Got News for You'', Merton had suffered a '' he was reported to have been "hallucinating conversations with friends, and became convinced he was a target for the Freemasons".http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1386064,00.html CAREER Merton often claims that he was inspired to go into comedy at a young age watching clowns at a circus, remembering, "I had no idea that adults could behave like that." He gained his earliest professional credits under his birth name, including an appearance as a Yokel in an episode of '' The Young Ones ''. On joining Equity he found that the name Paul Martin was already taken, so he renamed himself after Merton , the district of London where he grew up. Stage Though he had harboured serious ambitions of becoming a performing comedian since his school days, it was not until April 1982, at the Comedy Store in Soho , that his dream was realised. He recalls that, on only his second or third night, he found the dour role that was to inform his comic approach ever since. He has been a member of the London improv group The Comedy Store Players since 1985, and still regularly performs with them. One of these early routines at the Comedy Store involved the report of a policeman who had been given a Hallucinogenic Drug . This routine was very popular and went on to be included in his television series. Merton recalls, "I walked all the way home to my bedsit in Streatham . I was on a cloud. And that one night got me through every single bad gig after that — and there were a lot of them. I was so lucky to get that encouragement early on. It kept me going over the next eighteen months of just dying the whole time." In 1986, while performing in the Edinburgh Fringe , he was mugged while helping a friend put up posters. He was kicked in the head and had to go to Hospital . A year later, Merton returned to Edinburgh . His one-man show was receiving very good reviews. However, while playing football with fellow comedians, he broke his leg, and whilst in hospital, he suffered a Pulmonary Embolism and contracted Hepatitis A . He lost the £3,000 he had paid up front for the theatre and would have been in worse trouble had the Comedy Store not held a benefit for him. "I was getting the reviews of my life — they were saying 'Go and see this man!'", he said. "And I was in a hospital bed. They should have said 'Go see this man and take a bunch of grapes with you'." In 1999, Merton undertook a stand-up (or, rather, sit-down) tour entitled "and this is me PAUL MERTON". "I did this show on tour last , Dublin , Stoke . Sixty-eight dates, two hours per night. Two hours, and not one laugh." Merton, speaking to '' on September 26, 1999 Television His breakthrough as a television performer came as a result of the improvised comedy show '''', followed soon after. In 1996, Merton performed updated versions of fifteen of Ray Galton & Alan Simpson 's old scripts for an ITV series, '' Paul Merton In Galton & Simpson's... ''. Six of these scripts were previously performed by Tony Hancock . These were very badly received by both critics and public, and although a selection of episodes were initially released on VHS , it was not until June 2007 that the complete series was released on DVD . Amazon.co.uk: ''Paul Merton in Galton & Simpson's...: The Complete Series'' Also in 1996, Merton took a break from ''Have I Got News for You'' during its eleventh series, making only one appearance as a guest on fellow captain , with prostitutes and drug use, the host was asked to resign from the show. Merton hosted the first episode after Deayton's departure and was described as "merciless" in his treatment of his former co-star. BBC News: Show goes on after Deayton exit In 1999 Merton replaced Nick Hancock as host of '' Room 101 '', a chat show in which guests are offered the chance to discuss their pet hates and consign them to the oblivion of Room 101 . He hosted 64 editions. In 2007, his final guest was Ian Hislop (himself becoming the first interviewee to appear twice, having also been on an edition with Hancock). Hislop's selections purposely included items that Merton was known to like, such as The Beatles and the films of Charlie Chaplin .2 In 1999, Merton starred alongside Ronnie Corbett as one of the ugly sisters in ITV 's Christmas Pantomime . His other co-stars were Samantha Janus , Ben Miller , Harry Hill , Frank Skinner and Alexander Armstrong . He was rumoured to be a possible new host of '',http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5402246.stm but decided not to pursue this. Merton is known to be a keen student of comedy, and particularly the early film comedians. In 2006, , Charlie Chaplin, Laurel And Hardy , and Harold Lloyd .3 Merton examined their respective careers, interspersed with moments from a live show in which he presented clips of their work. Among the audience were many children, who were seeing the performers for the first time. Merton took a stage version of this show to the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 2007 he presented a four-part travel documentary, '' Paul Merton In China '', which was broadcast on Five from 21 May 2007 . Radio Between 1993 and 1995, Merton was amongst the regular cast members on the BBC Radio 4 improvisational comedy series '' The Masterson Inheritance ''. Besides his regular appearances on '' Just A Minute '', he has also joined the '' I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue '' team for the occasional programme. Awards After seven nominations for a BAFTA Award for Best Entertainment Performance, Merton finally won the award in April 2003, defeating fellow ''Have I Got News for You'' star Angus Deayton , who had been fired from the show the previous October. REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHY
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