Armando Iannucci

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Armando Iannucci, 2010

Armando Giovanni Iannucci OBE (born November 28, 1963 in Glasgow ) is a British comedian , director and film and television producer . He was best known through several TV productions with the fictional presenter Alan Partridge and as the inventor of the political satire The Thick of It .

Life

Iannucci is the son of an Italian father and a Scottish mother. He grew up in Glasgow, where he also went to school, and then studied English literature at the Universities of Glasgow and Oxford .

In the 1990s he began producing comedy shows for the BBC radio stations . His first major success came with the parodic news program On The Hour , which was also adapted for BBC television under the title The Day Today . Here he already worked with several actors and authors who were subsequently counted as part of the New Wave of British Comedy and who also worked with Iannucci in later years, such as Chris Morris , Steve Coogan or Stewart Lee .

In On The Hour , the character of Alan Partridge appeared for the first time, an incompetent and always overwhelmed sports reporter, played by Steve Coogan. Partridge quickly became so popular that Iannucci had him appear in several independent productions, for example in the talk show parody Knowing Me Knowing You (1994/95) and in the mockumentary series I'm Alan Partridge (1997 and 2002), which has won several BAFTA awards, the highest distinction in the British film and television industry.

Iannucci also produced other comedy formats, some of which he also appeared in himself, such as The Saturday Night Armistice and Time Trumpet for the BBC or The Armando Iannucci Shows for Channel 4 . In many of these series he also used the mockumentary format, which has become an essential stylistic element in almost all of his productions. He also wrote regular columns for the weekly newspaper The Observer .

In 2005, Iannucci began working on a political sitcom based on the successful series Yes Minister . The result was The Thick of It , a satirical comedy series about the manipulative government spokesman Malcolm Tucker (played by Peter Capaldi ). The series was a huge hit with critics and audiences and also won multiple awards. Three seasons and two feature films have already been broadcast by the BBC, and a new season is in the works.

In 2009, the movie was In The Loop (dt. In the Loop ), the form and content of The Thick Of It is based and where the character of Malcolm Tucker also plays a major role. The film became a box office hit in the UK despite a small budget and was also nominated for a Screenplay Oscar together with Simon Blackwell .

In 2011, the American pay-TV broadcaster HBO commissioned Iannucci with the production of a comedy series based on the model of The Thick Of It for the American market. This resulted in the series Veep - The Vice President with Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the lead role as the incompetent US Vice President. The first season ran in spring 2012 and received a positive response. So far there have been six seasons; a seventh is in production.

In 2012 Iannucci was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his services to the British broadcasting industry. He is also working on his first novel, Tongue International .

In 2017 he was responsible as a screenwriter and director for The Death of Stalin . The film was awarded the European Film Prize 2018 in the category Best Comedy .

Awards (selection)

  • 1998 BAFTA TV Award for "I'm Alan Partridge" in the category "Best Comedy"
  • 2005 Golden Rose of Montreux for "The Thick Of It" in the " Sitcom " category (nominated)
  • 2005 British Comedy Award for "The Thick Of It" in the category "Best New TV Comedy"
  • 2009 British Comedy Award for "In The Loop" in the "Best Comedy Film" category
  • 2010 BAFTA TV Award for "The Thick Of It" in the "Best Sitcom" category
  • 2010 Oscar nomination for "Cabinet Out of Control" in the "Best Adapted Screenplay" category

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ BAFTA: Prize Winner 1997
  2. ↑ The Guardian / The Observer : Archive of articles and columns by Iannuccis [1]
  3. ↑ Den of Geek: The Thick of It: Series 4 starts shooting this month , [2]
  4. ↑ BBC News Scotland: Armando Iannucci: OBE 'won't stop me poking fun at politicians' , [3]
  5. ↑ Chortle: Armando Iannucci writes his first novel ' , [4]
personal data
SURNAME Iannucci, Armando
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Iannucci, Armando Giovanni
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British comedian, director and producer
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Glasgow