Alex Horne | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Horne in 2024 | |
| Born | Alexander James Jeffery Horne (1978-09-10)10 September 1978 (age 46)[1] Chichester,West Sussex, England |
| Other names | Little Alex Horne[2] |
| Alma mater | Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Comedian, writer |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Website | alexhorne |
Alexander James Jeffery Horne (born 10 September 1978)[1] is an Englishcomedian. Horne is the creator ofBAFTA award-winning TV seriesTaskmaster, in which he takes the role of assistant to the TaskmasterGreg Davies.[3] He is the host and bandleader of comedic bandThe Horne Section. Horne hosts the band's eponymous podcast and television series, and has appeared with them onBBC Radio 4, TV channelDave, and8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.[3]
Alexander James Jeffery Horne[4] was born inChichester,West Sussex, England[5] on 10 September 1978.[1][6] He was educated at independentLancing College (1991–1996)[7] and atSidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he studiedclassics (specifically Latin and Greek) and graduated in 2001.[8][9][10][11] While at Cambridge, he was a member of theFootlights,[12] and he wrote for student newspaperVarsity as a sports journalist and satirist.[11] Horne went on to complete a graduate degree inbroadcast journalism atGoldsmiths, University of London.[13][14][15]
Horne began his stand-up comedy career atopen mic nights in Cambridge and London while he was still a student, and performed in the semi-final ofSo You Think You're Funny in 1999.[13] He made his first of many appearances at theEdinburgh Festival Fringe in 2000 in the show "How to Avoid Huge Ships".[16] Early in his career, Horne also worked as a journalist for local newspapers inSussex,[15] and as arunner on television sets.[17]
Horne's 2003 Edinburgh show "Making Fish Laugh", was nominated for aPerrier Award for Best Newcomer.[18] In 2004, he won aChortle Award for Best Breakthrough Act. In 2004 and 2005, he performed "Every Body Talks" and "When in Rome", in whichTim Key played his personal assistant and he usedMicrosoft PowerPoint for presentation.[19][20][21] In early 2006, Horne performed "When in Rome" on a tour exclusively visitingRoman towns in Britain.[22][23]
As a solo performer, Horne wrote and performed "Birdwatching" at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival[24] and "Wordwatching" at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival.[25] He wrote a book entitledBirdwatchingwatching in 2009 as well asWordwatching in early 2010.[26][27]
On 18 January 2007, Horne became the first comedian to perform inSecond Life for a feature onSky News. Between 24 October 2006 and 24 October 2007, he worked alongside fellow comedian Owen Powell in an attempt to find a person from every nationality living in London. After a year's search, they finally managed to meet people from 189 of the UN's 192 countries, and hence suggested there is nobody in the city fromTuvalu,Palau, or theMarshall Islands.[28]
Since 2010, Horne has been performing with his bandThe Horne Section as the compere of comedy variety shows.[29]Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section (2012–14) ran for three series onBBC Radio 4,[30] andThe Horne Section Podcast launched in 2018.[31]
Horne, along withTim Key andMark Watson, created the YouTube seriesNo More Jockeys during the2020 coronavirus lockdown in the UK,[32] itself based upon their earlier BBC web seriesNo More Women. Horne also hosts theYouTube channelBad Golf withJohn Robins.[33]
 | This section of abiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Alex Horne" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Horne appeared as a contestant onCountdown in August 2008, winning three matches before being defeated.[34]
In 2011, Horne appeared on BBC One'sCelebrity Mastermind; his specialist subject was the comedianKen Dodd and he finished in 2nd place with a score of 25. During Comic Relief 2011's24 Hour Panel People marathon, Horne appeared on theCall My Bluff segment, on a team withTim Key andRoisin Conaty. Horne also appeared in the TV show on BBC Three calledBritain in Bed in 2011. He appeared as a guest onThe Matt Lucas Awards on 16 April 2013 where he won "The Bravest Guest" Award. He has appeared eight times on8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, seven as a Dictionary Corner guest, and once as a replacement forJoe Wilkinson. He has appeared twice as a contestant onThe Chase on ITV.[35]
Since 2015, Horne has served as co-host alongsideGreg Davies in the seriesTaskmaster, which he created. The series was originally broadcast onDave and transferred toChannel 4 in 2020. In 2018, Horne co-hosted theAmerican remake of the show, which carried a shorter but similar format to the British series. Versions of the programme have also been made in Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Finland and New Zealand. The show was awarded with a BAFTA.[36] Arunning joke in the show is that Davies introduces Horne as "Little Alex Horne".[2]
In April 2018, Horne voiced a talking Button in theBBC One's game showThe Button.[37]
In May 2018, Horne presentedThe Horne Section Television Programme, a one-off musical comedy stage show based on his BBC Radio 4 show,The Horne Section. The show was recorded forUKTV in front of a live audience at theLondon Palladium and aired onDave on 24 May. The show featured his band, The Horne Section, as well as performances from comediansSue Perkins,Sara Pascoe andJoe Wilkinson, drag act and opera singer Le Gateau Chocolat, andGirls Aloud singerNadine Coyle.[38]
A six-episodeChannel 4 seriesThe Horne Section TV Show was released on 3 November 2022.[39] It is scripted and combines elements of musical comedy, talk show and sitcom.[40][41] A second six-episode series was ordered and is scheduled for production in 2023.[42]
Horne is married to former BBC business journalistRachel Horne,[12] whom he met at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.[14] The couple have three sons.[43][12]
He is abirdwatcher, which he describes as the perfect activity "for someone who likes sport but is getting too old to play, likes the outdoors and is slightly anal".[44] He is a supporter ofLiverpool F.C.[45] and is a director of his local teamChesham United F.C.[46]
In January 2024, Horne was awarded anhonorary doctorate by theUniversity of Warwick.[47]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Brain Candy | Himself | Four episodes: "Families", "Shopping", "Exercise", "Surreal" |
| 2008 | Countdown | Himself, contestant | Four episodes |
| 2009–2010 | We Need Answers | Host | Also creator, writer |
| No More Women | Commentator, contestant | ||
| 2010 | The Games That Time Forgot | Presenter | TV movie documentary |
| 2011 | Celebrity Mastermind | Self | 1 episode |
| Call My Bluff | Self | Comic Relief Special | |
| 2012–2013 | Dara Ó Briain: School of Hard Sums | Self, special guest | 4 episodes |
| 2013–present | 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown | Self, guest | |
| 2014 | Live at the Electric | Himself | 1 episode |
| 2015 | Drunk History | Self, drunk storyteller | 1 episode |
| 2015–present | Taskmaster | Self, host,The Taskmaster's assistant | Also producer, creator, writer |
| 2018 | The Button | The Button | Also producer |
| Taskmaster (US) | Self,The Taskmaster's assistant, umpire | American adaptation ofTaskmaster | |
| 2018–present | The Last Leg | Self, house band | WithThe Horne Section |
| 2019 | Richard Osman's House of Games | Self, contestant | 5 episodes |
| 2019–present | Bad Golf | Self, presenter | Web series |
| 2020 | Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer | Self, host | |
| 2020–present | No More Jockeys | Self, presenter, contestant | Web series, started in lockdown |
| 2021 | Crouchy's Year-Late Euros: Live | Self, host | |
| 2022 | The Great Celebrity Bake Off for SU2C | Self | 1 episode |
| 2022–present | The Horne Section TV Show | Self, host | 6 episodes[39] |
| 2024 | Have I Got News for You | Guest host | 1 episode |
| 2024 | Taskmaster Australia | Cameo, Concetta Caristo's Heavenly Voice | Season 3, 1 episode |
But Alexander James Jeffery Horne is who I am.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
