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Actor and comedian Alistair Barrie has been performing professionally for nearly an entire century (this one). Much in demand as both a headline act and MC across the international circuit, he has played all over the UK and Ireland, as well as further afield in the States, Australia, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Prague, Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Norway, Hong Kong, Macau, Malta, Singapore, Bahrain, Indonesia, Athens (during riot season) and the middle of the North Sea.
Alistair has performed three solo shows at the Edinburgh Festival which have all received critical acclaim/opprobrium/delight/maulings/riotous ovations/silence/sell out audiences/cavernous awkwardness/rapture/delete where applicable (it is Edinburgh after all.) They were called The Uncertainty Principle, Choice, and Obviously. In his opinion, they were all great, but the first was probably most successful because he was quite the hot young property then (a status he truly failed to deliver on, thus opening up the way for the entire cast of Mock The Week/8 out of 10 Cats/Live at the Apollo and so on and so forth to have careers/DVD releases etc. that he isn't remotely jealous of), and the third was probably the best (despite what Julian Hall said in the Independent,) and therefore clearly the one that cost him the most money. He retains a soft spot for his underperforming second show, Choice, which was not the most reliable of theatrical extravaganzas (he was trying to make a point, which unfortunately somewhat undercut the laughs per minute quotient,) 'cos on one of the nights it really worked, some delightful middle-aged woman took him to one side and simply said - 'Exquisite.' And she'd definitely been in the show. When the critical history of early twentieth century comedy is written, 'Choice' will of course be recognised as his difficult second album. Ultimately terribly rewarding, even if he can't remember a lot of it any more. In August, Alistair will be returning to the festival with a brand new show 'Happiness'.
In 2007 he also appeared in Breaker Morant opposite triple Perrier nominee Adam Hills and if.comeddie winner Brendon Burns. He then flew straight to South Africa to compare the Main Arena and Best of the Fest at The Capetown Comedy Festival. Alistair also regularly appears at Reading, Leeds, Guilfest, The Big Chill and Latitude Festivals amongst many others, and has headlined James Campbell's Comedy Club 4 Kids at both The Arts Theatre in London's West End and The Soho Theatre where he additionally appeared alongside Andy Zaltzman in Political Animal.
In tandem with his frequent and frankly ostentatious globetrotting, Alistair is also a regular team member of The Cutting Edge - the weekly satirical and topical show at London's Comedy Store, as well as having appeared frequently on both television and radio. Recent credits include The World Stands Up (Paramount / BBC America), Champagne Comedy (Channel 12 Australia) Richard and Judy (Ch 4), The Blame Game (BBC Ulster & Radio Ulster), Loose Ends (Radio 4), Spanking New on 7 with Robin Ince (BBC 7), The Sandi Toksvig Show (LBC), No Signal (Sky 1), Good Morning South Africa (SABC1), Nuts TV, Flipside TV and some E4 idents he's never seen. In addition, Alistair appears regularly as a pundit type thing on BBC and Sky News and has also worked as warm up for Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Shoot The Messenger.
He also spent two years training at the highly respected Poor School, where he once played a "Slow Loris" (a type of lemury type thing that moves in much the same way that Cliff Thorburn played snooker) and "Laertes". So he can act too. So there. That's why he was in Breaker Morant. As well as directing a number of plays on the London Fringe, Alistair has appeared in The Knock (BBC2) Green Wing (Channel 4) Absolutely True (Channel 4) Spindrift (Indica Films/BFI) and A Little Rain Must Fall (Mynfel Films). All of these pales into insignificance in comparison to the fact that he was also in the Queen Vic in East Enders when Tiffany found out Grant was shagging her mum.
Throughout 2002/3 Alistair was the face of telecom giant Avaya throughout Europe and Asia, but he doesn't like to talk about that any more since the cheques stopped. Despite this hiccup, Alistair continues to be in great demand on the corporate circuit as both an MC and comedian. Recent highlights include his first ever performance at a rugby club (he survived) and a trip to Norway to perform in front of a huge screen with him on it, which was nice.
Recent highlights include organising and compering BYE GEORGE, the comedians farewell to George Dubya Bush in the QEH at the Southbank Centre alongside Rory Bremner, Mark Thomas and Marcus Brigstocke amongst others, performing for International Alert at the Bloomsbury Theatre with Simon Amstell, Stephen Merchant and Stewart Lee and in OrangAid at the Lyceum Theatre with Bill Bailey and Tim Minchin.
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