Terry Alderton

You see something rare when you go and see Terry Alderton. Many comedians gripe about life and how it gets them down, but Terry just looks like he's having fun.

After stints playing football for Southend United - he claims he was let go after conceding a free kick for doing a moon walk following an important save, from which the opposition scored - and working at Ever Ready Batteries, Terry Alderton did an open mic spot at a comedy club in Southend.

Terry then decided to audition for Sky's Star Search. He won the competition, beating Chesney Hawkes along the way. He jacked in his work at a holiday camp and decided to make a go of it on the London Comedy circuit. Terry was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy (then Perrier) award in 1999 and continues to take shows to the festival.

The first you thing you ask yourself when you see Terry Alderton is: Is he making all this up as he goes along? The most likely answer to this is 'Yes'. Terry bundles on to the stage in a ball of energy and will continue to entertain the audience with a series of impressions, sound bites, dance moves and sound effects for a good 5 minutes before he even says anything that sounds like material.

He will do impressions of audience members and then turn his back on them and have an inner dialogue with himself about the audience. It's all at 90 miles per hour and you struggle to get your breath. And so will he when he decides to start doubling numbers at an impressive speed. As he says himself, you'll never see the same show twice.

Terry's work outside comedy is astounding to say the least. He has presented Joy Of Text and Bleeding Thumbs on the BBC, Winning World Cup Tickets and Game Stars on ITV and It Shouldn't Be On TV on Sky. That is of course without mentioning his own radio show Terry's Turnstiles on Capital FM and hosting the National Lottery Red Alert alongside Lulu.

He is an accomplished actor too having been a regular in ITV's London's Burning. He has also acted in Channel 4's TV spin off of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Holby City and Waking The Dead on BBC1 and on legendary ITV police series The Bill. He has graced the silver screen as well with performances in Keeping Mum and Paul Kaye's Blackball, directed by Mel Smith.

Terry Alderton is a joy to behold. He is never plodding through the old routines, never making clever observations about life or resorting to blue material to get laughs. He flies by the seat of his pants, taking risks and then commenting to himself as to whether something was funny. To put it bluntly, if he wasn't on stage, he'd probably be locked up.

Did You Know?:
Football club Southend United re-signed Terry Alderton after an impressive display in goal in a charity match for Sky One's The Match. No moon walks in that game then.