Micky Flanagan

Flanagan was born on 7 October 1962 in Whitechapel, East London,^{[citation needed]} and grew up in Bethnal Green.^[3] His father, Jim, who worked as a welder and latterly as a fish porter, came from County Donegal in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland.^[4] His father was involved in petty crime, and served a short prison sentence as a result.^[4]

Flanagan was a sensitive and thoughtful child, and keen to leave the East End of London.^[4] At the age of thirteen, he joined the Young Socialists.^[4] Flanagan was a bright student, but became disengaged with schoolwork, and began to truant.^[4] He left school at the age of fifteen with no qualifications.^[5]

Through his father, he got his first job as a fish porter at Billingsgate Fish Market.^[4] In 1981, he spent the summer on Fire Island, New York, where he worked as a kitchen porter.^[4]

Flanagan returned to London and worked as a furniture maker for several years.^[6][7] His business failed and he returned to Fire Island for another summer.^[4]

He resumed education at the age of 25, beginning with a GCSE in English^[8] and going on to a foundation course in Arts and Social Sciences and a degree at City University, which he began aged 29.^[6][7]

Flanagan went on to train as a teacher by taking the Postgraduate Certificate in Education,^[when?][9] but decided not to pursue teaching as a career, later describing the experience as "the unhappiest year of my life ... everything that was wrong about the school system when I was young was still the same".^[6]

Flanagan became a professional comedian in 1997^[10] after attending a comedy course at Jacksons Lane, north London, in 1996.^[6]

In 2001, he performed in the Big Value Comedy Show at the Edinburgh Fringe as one of four headline acts,^[11] and in 2003 co-headlined a show with Nina Conti.^[12] In January 2003 he was performing at Balham's Banana Cabaret, alongside Jimmy Carr,^[13] and The Bearcat Comedy Club, alongside Stephen K. Amos.^[14]

He performed his first full-length solo show, What Chance Change? in 2006,^[6] and in 2007 was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards.^[15] He toured Great Britain with The Out Out Tour in 2010/2011.^[16][17]

Flanagan was a regular performer on Out to Lunch on Radio 2 in 2008,^[18] and appeared on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow in 2009.^[19] In 2010 he presented a four-part series for Radio 4 entitled Micky Flanagan: What Chance Change?,^[20] and performed on Live at the Apollo,^[21] Stand Up for the Week^[22] and the Royal Variety Performance.^[23] He appeared on Mock the Week in 2010^[24] and made further appearances in 2011.^[25][26] He was a panellist on the BBC1 game show Epic Win, which was broadcast in August and September 2011.^[27]

In 2009, Flanagan's agent lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority claiming that a television commercial for directory enquiries service 118 118 was using his "out out" catchphrase and skit.^[19] The skit, performed on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, is based on the idea that people have different levels of going out, with "out out" referring to a big night out. The commercial featured an animated character using the phrase in a nightclub setting. The ASA acknowledged the similarity but said it was beyond its remit to take action.^[19]

In 2011, he signed a deal with Ebury Publishing to write his autobiography.^[28] He appeared in a celebrity version of The Chase, hosted by Bradley Walsh.

In 2012, Flanagan starred alongside Mark Watson and host Mark Dolan as a captain on the Channel 4 advertising-based comedy panel programme The Mad Bad Ad Show.^[29] On 7 June 2013, he appeared on The Graham Norton Show alongside Dan Stevens, Hayden Panettiere, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams. He was a team captain, alongside Frank Skinner on the BBC One comedy series I Love My Country, which is hosted by Gabby Logan.^{[citation needed]} Additionally, he was a team captain on Channel 4 comedy panel show Was It Something I Said?.

In 2015, he took a year's sabbatical, citing work-related stress and a need to relax.^[4]

Flanagan and his wife, Cathy, have one son.^[30]

He retains a London base in East Dulwich but lives primarily in the Hampshire countryside.^[31][32]