Matthew Holness grew up in Whitstable, Kent, and studied English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. In 2000 he created the character Garth Marenghi and, along with Richard Ayoade, wrote the Perrier Comedy Award-nominated stage show Garth Meregnhi's Fright Night. His follow-up show, Garth Marenghi's Fright Night Netherhead, won the Perrier Comedy Award in 2001 and ran at the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. In 2002, Holness appeared as Simon the computer nerd in Ricky Gervais' The Office. In 2004 Holness created and starred in Channel 4's spoof horror comedy series Garth Marenghi's Dark Place. In ...
Full Biography
Matthew Holness grew up in Whitstable, Kent, and studied English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. In 2000 he created the character Garth Marenghi and, along with Richard Ayoade, wrote the Perrier Comedy Award-nominated stage show Garth Meregnhi's Fright Night.
His follow-up show, Garth Marenghi's Fright Night Netherhead, won the Perrier Comedy Award in 2001 and ran at the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen.
In 2002, Holness appeared as Simon the computer nerd in Ricky Gervais' The Office.
In 2004 Holness created and starred in Channel 4's spoof horror comedy series Garth Marenghi's Dark Place. In 2006 he returned to television with Channel 4's Man to Man With Dean Learner, in which he created and played five new characters including a Martyn inspired folk singer and a truly boring former Formula 1 racing driver.
More recently he wrote an original screenplay for Film Four and a comedy for BBC Radio 4, while in 2008 he resurrected Garth Marenghi at The Royal Albert Hall as part of The Teenage Cancer Trust fundraiser.
A keen writer for print his short fiction regularly appears in anthologies and magazines.