Steve Furst
Encyclopedia
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, actor and writer. Furst says his father told him that he arrived as an immigrant from Hungary with "nothing but a violin under my arm". He stars in the Orange
Orange UK
Orange is a mobile network operator and internet service provider in the United Kingdom, which launched in 1994. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was purchased by France Télécom in 2000, which then adopted the Orange brand for all its other mobile communications activities...
mobile phone cinema adverts in the UK (with Brennan Brown
Brennan Brown
Brennan Brown is an American actor, perhaps best known for playing Orange's spoof film board executive Mr. Dresden in the long-running series of UK cinema ads.-Orange Wednesday adverts:...
), playing the role of Eliot, a spoof studio executive and has appeared regularly in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
comedy television programme Little Britain
Little Britain
Little Britain is a British character-based comedy sketch show which was first broadcast on BBC radio and then turned into a television show. It was written by comic duo David Walliams and Matt Lucas...
.
Comedy career
He first worked in comedy writing for Chris Evans's Power Up show on BSBBritish Satellite Broadcasting
British Satellite Broadcasting was a British television company which provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom...
's Power Station music channel in 1990. He then set up Britain's first comedy magazine called The Heckler. In 1992, he worked as a stand-up comedian. He worked as a promoter, founding comedy nights such as The Double Six Club, The Youth Club, and The Regency Rooms.
Lenny Beige
He also works under the name Lenny Beige, promoted comedy nights (started on the Regency Rooms) and fought the 1997 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
in Putney
Putney (UK Parliament constituency)
-Elections 1950–1979:-Elections 1918–1945:-Notes and references:...
under that name, and had a programme on BBC Choice
BBC Choice
BBC Choice was a BBC TV station which launched on 23 September 1998 and closed on 9 February 2003. It was the first British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in digital format, and was the first new channel from the BBC since BBC Two launched in 1964...
.
Furst often performed (as Lenny Beige) at Club Montepulciano
Club Montepulciano
Club Montepulciano was a critically acclaimed lounge and cabaret club-night institution that ran themed events across a number of venues in London, with guest appearances in the South of England and across Europe, from 1993 to 2004...
; the band Hooverphonic
Hooverphonic
Hooverphonic are a Belgian rock/pop group, formed in 1995. Though early on categorized as a trip hop group, they quickly expanded their sound to the point where they could no longer be described as a lone genre, but rather encompass alternative, electronica, electropop, rock, and mixture of others...
sing about this in their song of the same name (Lenny Beige is performing spinning wheel/Club Montepulciano is what you need).
He is now back working live as Lenny Beige performing a residency at London's Pigalle Club.
Appearances
He appeared on The Johnny VaughanJohnny Vaughan
Jonathan Randall Vaughan is an English broadcaster and journalist. Vaughan has become well known as a television and radio personality and has also built a reputation as a film critic. He co-presented Capital Breakfast alongside Lisa Snowdon on 95.8 Capital FM between 2004 and 2011...
Tonight show on BBC Choice and BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
, and has appeared on The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff is a British television chat show, hosted by Matthew Wright, and currently airing on Channel 5 each weekday morning from 9:15 to 11:10am....
on Five. He also appears in The Late Edition
The Late Edition
The Late Edition was a British television programme broadcast on BBC Four. It took the form of a topical chat show in the vein of The Daily Show, presented by comedian Marcus Brigstocke...
with Marcus Brigstocke
Marcus Brigstocke
Marcus Alexander Brigstocke is an English comedian, actor and satirist who has worked extensively in stand-up comedy, television, radio and in 2010-2011 musical theatre. He is particularly associated with the 6.30pm comedy slot on BBC Radio 4, having frequently appeared on several of its shows...
and features as the host on the British Hit Singles & Albums No.1 Music Quiz DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
He has also appeared in a CBBC sitcom called The Legend of Dick and Dom
The Legend of Dick and Dom
The Legend of Dick and Dom is a sitcom that stars Dick and Dom as two budding young princes who are on a quest to find the antidote to a terrible plague that consumed Fyredor because Dick dropped the cure. The all star cast also includes Mannitol , a wizard who is really bad at doing magic, and...
in which he starred alongside Dominic Wood
Dominic Wood
Dominic Simon "Dom" Wood is an English entertainer, magician and presenter of radio and television, best known as one half of the double act Dick and Dom, with the other being Richard McCourt....
, Richard McCourt
Richard McCourt
Richard "Dick" McCourt is an English actor and presenter of radio and television, best known as one half of the comic duo Dick and Dom, with the other being Dominic Wood...
and Chloe Bale. He is in 'Combat Kids', another CBBC show.
Furst also starred in the Catterick series with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. Furst played an assistant Police Officer called Sergeant Mingemungington.
He has appeared in nearly 30 commercials in the cinema for Orange as the sidekick of the main male character played by Brennan Brown
For Beatles Day 10 in Hastings, Furst made an appearance by being a host and announcer for bands.
He has appeared in numerous other programmes; Bodies, Born and Bred, all three series of Little Britain
Little Britain
Little Britain is a British character-based comedy sketch show which was first broadcast on BBC radio and then turned into a television show. It was written by comic duo David Walliams and Matt Lucas...
and The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
As Lenny Beige Furst made many TV appearances including The Lenny Beige Show for C4 and two series of The Lenny Beige Variety Pack for the BBC starring alongside Matt Lucas
Matt Lucas
Matthew Richard "Matt" Lucas is an English comedian, screenwriter and actor best known for his acclaimed work with David Walliams in the television show Little Britain; as well as for his portrayals of the scorekeeping baby George Dawes in the comedy panel game Shooting Stars, Tweedledee and...
, David Walliams
David Walliams
David Edward Walliams is an English comedian, writer and actor, known for his partnership with Matt Lucas on the TV sketch show Little Britain and its predecessor Rock Profile...
, Terry Wogan
Terry Wogan
Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...
, Chas n Dave, Davina McCall
Davina McCall
Davina McCall is an English television presenter and actress, most notable as the presenter of the UK version of Big Brother up until its move to Channel 5.- Early life :...
, Claudia Winkleman
Claudia Winkleman
Claudia Anne I. Winkleman is an English television presenter, film critic, radio personality and journalist.- Early life and family :...
, Tony Hadley
Tony Hadley
Tony Hadley is an English pop singer-songwriter, occasional stage actor and radio presenter who gained celebrity as the lead vocalist for the 1980s band Spandau Ballet.-Early life:...
and many more. He also duetted with Robbie Williams at Wicked Women in Hyde Park in 1997.
He has appeared on Dick and Dom's Funny Business
Dick and Dom's Funny Business
Dick and Dom's Funny Business is a British comedy television series for children, hosted by comic presenting duo Richard McCourt and Dominic Wood...
.
Publications
- Radio Comedy 1938-68: A Guide to 30 Years of Wonderful Wireless, Virgin BooksVirgin BooksVirgin Books is a United Kingdom book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Enterprises, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company.-History:...
, 1996