MATT LUCAS
ONE OF BRITAIN’S BEST-LOVED FUNNYMEN, MATT LUCAS IS KNOWN FOR
HIS SUCCESS IN LITTLE BRITAIN AND HIS RECENT TURN IN DOCTOR WHO. BUT HIS NEW AUTOBIOGRAPHY DRAWS BACK THE CURTAIN ON BOTH THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF A TURBULENT LIFE
WORDS: TIM HEAP // PHOTOGRAPHY: ELIAS TAHAN
Not many comic personalities from the past few decades cut as recognisable a figure as Matt Lucas. There’s the obvious physical features, most notably his baldness (a result of the alopecia he developed suddenly at the age of six), but there’s also the fact that he’s one half of a comedy duo that enthralled the British public throughout much of the Nought ies.
“MY MUM’S RESPONSE WAS, ‘ WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME, ARE YOU ILL?’, REFERRING TO H I V. AND THAT’S WHAT MY LAT E PARTNER’S MOTHER HAD SAID TO HIM AS WELL”
Having worked together since the early Nineties, Matt Lucas and David Walliams now sit alongside Vic and Bob, Morecambe and Wise and French and Saunders as one of our bestloved double acts. Of course, they were propelled to this lofty position largely thanks to three seasons of their sketch show Little Britain, which introduced the nation to catchphraseready characters such as fat-shaming slimming club leader Marjorie Dawes, “disabled” Andy Pipkin and his carer Lou Todd, and gobby, track-suited teenager Vicky Pollard.