Paul Merton Bio | Wiki
Paul Merton (Full Name: Paul James Martin) is a popular English writer, actor, comedian, and radio and television presenter known for his improvisation skill. His humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal, and sometimes dark comedy. Paul has been ranked by critics, fellow comedians, and viewers to be among Britain’s greatest comedians.
Paul is well known due to his regular appearances as a team captain on the BBC panel game Have I Got News for You and as the retired host of Room 101, and for many appearances on the original British version of the improvisational comedy television show Whose Line Is It Anyway?. He appears as a panellist regularly on Radio 4’s Just a Minute, first appearing in 1989, and becoming the only remaining regular panellist in 2009 after the death of Clement Freud. In addition, Paul has also appeared as one of the Comedy Store’s Comedy Store Players.
Paul Merton Age
Paul was born on July 9, 1957, in Parsons Green, London, England. He is 66 years old. Paul celebrates his birthday on July 9, every year.
Paul Merton Height
He is a man of above-average stature. Paul stands at a height of 6 ft 2 in (Approx 1.88 m).
Paul Merton Family
He was born in Parsons Green, London, England to an English Anglican father, Albert Martin (a train driver on the London Underground), and an Irish Catholic mother, Mary Ann Power (medical nurse). It was disclosed on Who Do You Think You Are? that Paul’s maternal grandfather, James Power, was from Passage East in County Waterford and worked in the British Army in the First World War but left to join the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence. Being a volunteer in the IRA he worked as a 1st lieutenant in the East Waterford Brigade. On Who Do You Think You Are? He disclosed that he lived in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham until 8 years old.
Paul Merton Wife
Paul is married to his wife Suki Webster a fellow improviser. The two married in 2009 and they live in Sudbury, Suffolk. Before, Paul was married to Sarah Parkinson who was a Writer, producer, and actress. The two married unofficially in service in the Maldives in 2000. Paul and Sarah were officially married three months prior to Sarah’s death from breast cancer on 23 September 2003. Prior to his marriage to Sarah, Paul was married to actress Caroline Quentin in 1990. The two announced their separation in April 1997, which was followed by divorce in 1998.
Paul Merton Children
He has no children and once said that having children was never a “big desire” as he admitted he likes it “when they go away”. “When I started off wanting to be a comedian in the late 70s, it was a very strange ambition to have, akin to being a deep-sea diver or astronaut,” he told Radio Times.
Paul Merton Education
He went to St Thomas’s School, Fulham, and St Teresa’s, Morden. Later on, Paul attended Wimbledon College, a Jesuit-run secondary school that was previously a grammar school and had just become a comprehensive, in a stream for boys who had failed the 11-plus, and he passed A-levels in English and History. Following leaving school, Paul served at the Tooting employment office as a clerical officer for three years, quitting in February 1980.
Paul Merton Comedian
He often claims that he was encouraged to go into comedy at an early age watching clowns at a circus, remembering, “I don’t think I’d seen clowns before. Though Paul had harboured serious ambitions of becoming a performing comedian since his school days, it became not until April 1982, at the Comedy Store in Soho, that his dream was realised.
Following performing on the London Alternative Comedy circuit at places like The Comedy Store and Jongleurs, in 1985 his first foray to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was with the show Have You Been on Telly where Paul shared the bill with Morris Minor and the Majors and Mark Steel. Paul has been a member of the London improvisation group The Comedy Store Players since 1985, and still regularly performs with them.
Paul has performed in Paul Merton’s Impro Chums at Pleasance as part of the Edinburgh Comedy Festival every year since 2008. His breakthrough as a television performer came in 1988 with Channel 4’s improvised comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which went to the TV from BBC Radio 4, though he had initially performed on the channel’s Saturday Live and compered its series Comedy Wavelength in 1987.
The show began his beginnings in the comedy business, to the development of his improvisational skills, his mental breakdown, and the popularity of Have I Got News For You. Paul is a keen student of comedy, particularly the early silent comedians, and in 2006, BBC Four broadcast Paul Merton’s Silent Clowns, a four-part documentary series on the silent comedy craft of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and Harold Lloyd.
Paul Merton Illness | Health
Shortly prior to becoming a household name on Have I Got News for You, Paul booked himself into the Maudsley psychiatric hospital for six weeks, due to psychiatric problems caused by the malaria medicine Lariam. During an interview with The Guardian Paul was reported to have been “hallucinating conversations with friends, and became convinced he was a target for the Freemasons”.
Paul Merton Sarah Parkinson
aul was married to Sarah Parkinson who was a Writer, producer, and actress. The two married unofficially in service in the Maldives in 2000. Paul and Sarah were officially married three months prior to Sarah’s death from breast cancer on 23 September 2003.
Paul Merton Net Worth
He gets his wealth from his work as an English writer, actor, comedian, and radio and television presenter known for his improvisation skill. Therefore, Paul has accumulated a decent fortune over the years. Paul’s estimated net worth is $3 million.
How Tall Is Paul Merton
Paul is a man of above-average stature who stands at a height of 6 ft 2 in (Approx 1.88 m).
How Old Is Paul Merton
Paul is a 66-year-old who was born on July 9, 1957, in Parsons Green, London, England.
Who Is Paul Merton Married To
Paul is married to his wife Suki Webster a fellow improviser. The two married in 2009 and they live in Sudbury, Suffolk. Before, Paul was married to Sarah Parkinson who was a Writer, producer, and actress.
Paul Merton Social Media Account
Twitter -@PaulMerton