Vic Reeves
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Vic Reeves (born Jim Moir January 24, 1959), a British comedian, best known through his double act with Bob Mortimer. Supposedly he got the name Vic Reeves from his favourite singers Vic Damone and Jim Reeves.
James Roderick Moir (known to his family as Rod) was born in Leeds, but at the age of five, moved to Darlington with his mother, father and younger sister Lois. In his youth he was a fan of Monty Python. He left school without qualifications. He wished to attend art school but this was unaffordable.
Before moving to London to pursue a career in the civil service, Jim had worked as a pig farmer, a cabbage farmer, in cancer research and as a factory inspector. He also formed the Fashionable Five, a group of five friends (including Jack Dent, who ran the original Fan Club) who would follow bands like The Enid and Free onto stage and perform pranks, (including Jim pretending to have a brass hand, and following a Terry Scott lookalike around Darlington town centre in single file formation). Eventually, they formed their own band. Vic had an early break through the help of Malcolm Hardee.
In 1983 he began a part-time course at a local art college, developed his love of painting and eventually persuaded a local art gallery to stage an exhibition of his unique work.
As well as working and performing in bands, in London, Jim also joined the alternative comedy circuit under many different guises. These included a loudmouth American called Jim Bell, a beat poet called Mister Mystery and, eventually, "The North-East’s Top Light Entertainer" - Vic Reeves. His stage show "Vic Reeves Big Night Out" began life as a regular Thursday night gig at Goldsmith’s Tavern. Here he met Bob Mortimer, a solicitor who jumped up on stage one night and ended up joining the show. His growing TV profile led to the Big Night Out getting a slot on channel 4.
Reeves is one of few comedians to have had a no 1 hit in the UK chart, which he did in company with The Wonder Stuff, singing "Dizzy" (previously a no 1 hit for Tommy Roe). He also released a version of Born Free which was critically acclaimed and also reached the top ten.
As well as off-the-wall comedy shows (see Vic and Bob), Reeves played Marty Hopkirk in the BBC's 1990s revival of the comedy thriller, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), with Mortimer as Randall and Tom Baker as Wyvern.
Although Reeves primarily is known as a comedian, he is also gaining a reputation as an artist. His drawings and paintings have been used in his television shows and is a major part of his 1999 book, Sun Boiled Onions.
Every now and then his appears in the British tabloids for random, bizarre acts with seemingly little intention to attract media attention. One such act included burying his vintage car in his back garden.
In 2003, he and Bob were listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he and Bob were voted the top 9th greatest comedy act ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
Jim has two children, Alice and Louis, by his first wife Sarah. He was romantically linked to Emilia Fox, co-star of the Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) remake, before marrying second wife Nancy Sorrell. In 2004 he and Sorrell were both contestants in the fourth series of I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here.
Since 1998, with his comedy partner Bob Mortimer, Jim has lent his voice to the nodding dog in the Churchill Insurance adverts. He had his contract terminated in March 2005 after being arrested for a drink/driving offence in which he ploughed his vintage Jaguar into a stationary car in Maidstone before careering into a bank and hitting a fence. For this offence he was on 21 April 2005 disqualified for driving for thirty-six months and ordered to do 100 hours community service.
His father and grandfather share the same birthday as Vic and are both called Jim Moir.