TV & Satellite Week – 17 August 2019

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The Londoner began his career

on the stand-up circuit

as a teenager and

started presenting

for Nickelodeon,

before moving^

to C4 in 2001 to

front Popworld. In

2006, he replaced

host Mark Lamarr on

BBC2’s Never Mind the Buzzcocks

(inset). He’s since written/starred

in BBC2’s Grandma’s House. Other

projects have included mockumentary

Carnage, set in a Britain where

everyone is vegan, and 2018’s semi-

autobiographical film Benjamin.

HIS NEW SHOW

This week, the 39-year-old returns

to his stand-up roots with a Netflix

comedy special, filmed in Hackney,

London. The show is a deeply

personal exploration of ‘mental

health, masculinity, sexuality and

the journey to finding peace as

oneself’ and sees Amstell talk

about his childhood, relationships

and depression. ‘The reason I write

anything is so I can figure out what’s

wrong with me,’ he says. ‘If you do

stand-up, you kind of have a rhythm,

a sense for what’s funny and also

something personal and truthful.’

A familiar face

appearing in a new

show this week

Look

Who’s

Back...

Simon Amstell: Set Free

From Tuesday 20 August, Netflix

Simon Amstell

This week on TV

2006

Amstell gets

candid in his set

NE

W

FROM

Marlon

Wayans plays

six siblings in

a new Netflix

comedy

Comedian and actor Marlon

Wayans has certainly got his work

cut out in his latest project. The

47-year-old New Yorker plays not

one, not two, but six characters in

his new Netflix movie Sextuplets.

‘It takes a crazy person to play

this many characters and I am that

crazy person. I finally found my

place. This is perfect for me,’ grins

Wayans, who’s on a roll with the

streaming service after starring

in 2017’s Naked and last year’s

stand-up special Woke-ish.

Sextuplets tells the story

of Alan (Wayans), a man

embarking on a personal

journey to meet his birth

mother before the arrival

of his first child.

‘Alan meets his brother Russell

and finds out he’s one of six – he’s a

sextuplet,’ explains Wayans. ‘So he

goes on a journey to discover more

about his siblings. I play all six

characters, so it’s me with me with

me with me with me and me...’

Audiences are

familiar with

actors playing multiple roles –

think Eddie Murphy in Coming to

America and The Nutty Professor

films, as well as Mike Myers’ Austin

Powers franchise – and Wayans says

comedy is a ‘brilliant genre’ for

multiple roles requiring extreme

make-up and digital special effects.

NO PAIN, NO GAIN

Among the characters he plays are

overweight Russell (who becomes

his road-trip buddy), Baby Pete

(whose name matches his

stature), Jaspar (the seemingly

intellectual sibling) and the

hilariously flamboyant Dawn

(an exotic dancer about to

be released from prison).

Inevitably, the various

roles required hundreds of

hours in the make-up chair,

with Wayans admitting,

‘I slept three hours a night

for 50 days. I killed myself

NEW COMEDY

Sextuplets

From Friday 16 August, Netflix

personality

Bresha Webb

co-stars as Alan’s

pregnant wife