The Nimmo Twins
Encyclopedia
The Nimmo Twins are a sketch comedy
duo from Norfolk
, UK
comprising Owen Evans and Karl Minns. Formed in 1996 in Norwich
, they first came to national attention after their show Posh Spice Nude was a sell-out success at the 1997 Edinburgh Festival
. Appearances on BBC One
's Stand Up Show followed and they became regulars on Radio 4
's Loose Ends programme with Ned Sherrin
. They returned to Edinburgh in 1998 and 1999, selling out in critically acclaimed shows both years. They toured Britain, played Paris, New York and two sell-out years at the Singapore Comedy Festival.
Owen Evans was raised in Cromer and attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) where he studied with the Moscow Arts Theatre school. As an actor he has appeared in innumerable plays and theatre productions. He has also appeared in television adverts for Daewoo Cars, Nat-West, Ikea and Flora.
As a stand-up comedian, Karl Minns won the Daily Telegraph Open Mic Award in 2001 and played the Montreal and Melbourne Comedy Festivals before returning to Edinburgh in 2002 in Comedy Clone with Nina Conti and Patrick Monaghan. The Nimmo Twins then became the face of Adnams Beer in Norfolk in TV radio and billboard adverts for two years.
The Twins got their start with the Crude Apache Theatre Company. Karl Minns has written plays, comedies and musicals for both stage and radio. As a television writer he has written for Karen Taylor, Laura Solon and Phil Nichol. He wrote the TV sitcom pilot Moonmonkeys starring Karl Theobald and Dan Antopoloski. He also wrote a weekly column for the Norwich Evening News
from 2002 to 2007. He was awarded the EDF Regional Columnist of The Year in January 2007. He was also nominated for the Press Gazette Media Awards Regional Columnist of the year in the same year.
The Nimmo Twins briefly expanded to a trio in 1999 with the introduction of Andrew McGibbon, who performed with them during the spring and summer of that year.
The first Radio 4 comedy series The Nimmo Twins in... was broadcast in 2000 and, as of 2007, is still being repeated on BBC 7
, a BBC digital radio
station devoted to comedy and drama. Episodes included: A Stiff Upper Lip - a tale of a Victorian era
gentleman without a beard; and Lord of the Onion Rings - the tale of a Tolkien
-obsessed man who works in a petrol station. Their second series, The Rapid Eye Movement, about the troupe of actors performing a man's nightly dreams, starred Martin Freeman
, Chris Langham
and Kevin Eldon. The show ran for three series until 2005 and was a huge critical success. The second series was nominated for the Douglas Adams Award for Radio Comedy in 2003.
In their native Norfolk, they are best known for their yearly sketch show, Normal for Norfolk, which over the last ten years has grown from a pub show to break box office records at the Norwich Playhouse, playing to over 4500 people over Christmas 2005.
In the early hours of 14 December 2007, Karl Minns was attacked while walking home after a performance at the city's Playhouse. He was badly injured, suffering a broken arm and fractured skull. The duo were forced to cancel the remainder of their shows for the year.
Minns wrote the pilot show Mouth to Mouth, for BBC3 in January 2008. The pilot was well-received garnering good reviews and was commissioned as a 6 part series and broadcast in November 2009. The show consisted of six interlinking monologues, whose stories intersected until the whole overall story was told. The series was largely critically well-received. The Stage described it as an "intricately-plotted love hexagon...superb and understated". The Times called it 'brave and thought provoking telly, that is also very funny". The Radio Times called it "superbly written and beautifully acted". The Independent however described the show as "appalling" and "the worst programme on television". Fans of the show contacted the reviewer, pointing out that as his review had missed five major plot points, it appeared he had only watched the first five minutes of the show before committing his opinion.
As a writer/performer Minns has also contributed to two series of Russell Howard's Good News on BBC3, credited as Programme Associate alongside Dan Atkinson and Steve Williams. The first series aired in winter 2009, the second series ran from March to May 2010. A third series is expected in the Autumn.
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
duo from Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comprising Owen Evans and Karl Minns. Formed in 1996 in Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
, they first came to national attention after their show Posh Spice Nude was a sell-out success at the 1997 Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
. Appearances on 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...
's Stand Up Show followed and they became regulars on Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's Loose Ends programme with Ned Sherrin
Ned Sherrin
Edward George "Ned" Sherrin CBE was an English broadcaster, author and stage director. He qualified as a barrister and then worked in independent television before joining the BBC...
. They returned to Edinburgh in 1998 and 1999, selling out in critically acclaimed shows both years. They toured Britain, played Paris, New York and two sell-out years at the Singapore Comedy Festival.
Owen Evans was raised in Cromer and attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) where he studied with the Moscow Arts Theatre school. As an actor he has appeared in innumerable plays and theatre productions. He has also appeared in television adverts for Daewoo Cars, Nat-West, Ikea and Flora.
As a stand-up comedian, Karl Minns won the Daily Telegraph Open Mic Award in 2001 and played the Montreal and Melbourne Comedy Festivals before returning to Edinburgh in 2002 in Comedy Clone with Nina Conti and Patrick Monaghan. The Nimmo Twins then became the face of Adnams Beer in Norfolk in TV radio and billboard adverts for two years.
The Twins got their start with the Crude Apache Theatre Company. Karl Minns has written plays, comedies and musicals for both stage and radio. As a television writer he has written for Karen Taylor, Laura Solon and Phil Nichol. He wrote the TV sitcom pilot Moonmonkeys starring Karl Theobald and Dan Antopoloski. He also wrote a weekly column for the Norwich Evening News
Norwich Evening News
The Norwich Evening News is a daily local newspaper published in Norwich, Norfolk, England. It covers the city and the surrounding suburbs, and is published by Archant. It is the best-selling newspaper in Norwich. As of 28 February 2011 this paper will be out for 6 am, as the stories are written...
from 2002 to 2007. He was awarded the EDF Regional Columnist of The Year in January 2007. He was also nominated for the Press Gazette Media Awards Regional Columnist of the year in the same year.
The Nimmo Twins briefly expanded to a trio in 1999 with the introduction of Andrew McGibbon, who performed with them during the spring and summer of that year.
The first Radio 4 comedy series The Nimmo Twins in... was broadcast in 2000 and, as of 2007, is still being repeated on BBC 7
BBC 7
BBC Radio 4 Extra, formerly known as BBC 7 and BBC Radio 7, is a British digital radio station broadcasting comedy, drama, and children's programming nationally 24 hours a day. It is the principal broadcasting outlet for the BBC's archive of spoken-word entertainment...
, a BBC digital radio
Digital radio
Digital radio has several meanings:1. Today the most common meaning is digital radio broadcasting technologies, such as the digital audio broadcasting system, also known as Eureka 147. In these systems, the analog audio signal is digitized into zeros and ones, compressed using formats such as...
station devoted to comedy and drama. Episodes included: A Stiff Upper Lip - a tale of a Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
gentleman without a beard; and Lord of the Onion Rings - the tale of a Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
-obsessed man who works in a petrol station. Their second series, The Rapid Eye Movement, about the troupe of actors performing a man's nightly dreams, starred Martin Freeman
Martin Freeman
Martin John C. Freeman is an English actor. He is known for his roles as John in Love Actually, Tim Canterbury in the BBC's Golden Globe-winning comedy The Office, Arthur Dent in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dr. John Watson in Sherlock and Mr. Madden...
, Chris Langham
Chris Langham
Christopher "Chris" Langham is an English writer, actor and comedian. He is most famous for playing MP Hugh Abbot in BBC Four sitcom The Thick of It and as presenter Roy Mallard in People Like Us, first on BBC Radio 4 and later on its transfer to television on BBC Two, where Mallard is almost...
and Kevin Eldon. The show ran for three series until 2005 and was a huge critical success. The second series was nominated for the Douglas Adams Award for Radio Comedy in 2003.
In their native Norfolk, they are best known for their yearly sketch show, Normal for Norfolk, which over the last ten years has grown from a pub show to break box office records at the Norwich Playhouse, playing to over 4500 people over Christmas 2005.
In the early hours of 14 December 2007, Karl Minns was attacked while walking home after a performance at the city's Playhouse. He was badly injured, suffering a broken arm and fractured skull. The duo were forced to cancel the remainder of their shows for the year.
Minns wrote the pilot show Mouth to Mouth, for BBC3 in January 2008. The pilot was well-received garnering good reviews and was commissioned as a 6 part series and broadcast in November 2009. The show consisted of six interlinking monologues, whose stories intersected until the whole overall story was told. The series was largely critically well-received. The Stage described it as an "intricately-plotted love hexagon...superb and understated". The Times called it 'brave and thought provoking telly, that is also very funny". The Radio Times called it "superbly written and beautifully acted". The Independent however described the show as "appalling" and "the worst programme on television". Fans of the show contacted the reviewer, pointing out that as his review had missed five major plot points, it appeared he had only watched the first five minutes of the show before committing his opinion.
As a writer/performer Minns has also contributed to two series of Russell Howard's Good News on BBC3, credited as Programme Associate alongside Dan Atkinson and Steve Williams. The first series aired in winter 2009, the second series ran from March to May 2010. A third series is expected in the Autumn.
External links
- Nimmo Twins page at the Crude Apache Theatre Company
- Nimmo Twins - official website