John Bird, an actor, and comedian passed away at the age of 86, according to his agents.
In the satirical series Bremner, Bird, and Fortune on Channel 4, Bird rose to fame for skits he performed with Rory Bremner and John Fortune. Between 1999 and 2008, the program aired for 16 seasons as well as occasional one-off specials.
In a statement announcing his passing, the West Sussex care facility Pendean claimed that Bird had passed away “peacefully.” A celebration of his life will take place in the new year after a family funeral, it continued.
Bird and Fortune achieved recognition with their comic routines based on The Long Johns. In the set pieces, which were mostly improvised, one of the two actors would always play a senior member of public life being interviewed by the other.
The interviewer would try to grill George Parr, a made-up businessman, government advisor, or clueless politician.
The comedians received four Bafta nominations and a TV award in 1997 for their work on Channel 4’s Rory Bremner, Who Else? Bird, Bremner, and Fortune also collaborated on the BBC drama Now Something Else.
Bird, who was raised in Nottingham, attended a grammar school before moving to Cambridge, where he met Fortune, his comedy partner.
While there, he also served as the show’s director for the 1959 Cambridge Footlights Revue, a yearly production of the university comedy club that has also featured David Mitchell, Richard Ayoade, and Eric Idle.
John Bird funeral, burial service, pictures, date, time, venue
A family funeral will be followed by a celebration of John Bird’s life in the New Year. We’ll give you all the details when the family announces.
