Steve Pemberton

Steve Pemberton, honestly, he's one of those names you keep running into if you’re a fan of dark British comedy. Born in Blackburn (which, let’s be real, isn’t exactly the showbiz capital), he somehow ended up snagging a BAFTA and a cult following. He did his time at Bretton Hall in Yorkshire, came out with a Theatre Arts degree in '89, and then bounced around London’s fringe theatre scene—probably surviving off dodgy pub gigs and even dodgier coffee. Oh, and he squeezed in a part-time gig at Variety, editing some film guide. Because who doesn’t need a side hustle in London, right? The real game-changer was 1996, when Pemberton and his uni mates—Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith, and Jeremy Dyson—dragged their weird little comedy act, The League of Gentlemen, up to Edinburgh. Overnight, they went from unknowns to Perrier Comedy Award winners. Suddenly, the BBC was all over them: radio, TV, live tours, even a movie. If you’ve ever seen the show, you know it’s the kind of deeply strange, hilarious stuff only a bunch of theatre nerds could dream up. He didn’t stop there, obviously. In 2009, he and Shearsmith cooked up Psychoville, which was basically a fever dream in sitcom form—two series and a Halloween special, all loaded with twisted humor. Then came Inside No 9. If you haven’t watched it, you’re missing out. Anthology format, pitch-black comedy, total genius. In 2019, the BAFTA folks finally caught up and handed him Best Male Comedy Performance. These days, he’s holed up in North London with his partner and three kids, probably plotting something even stranger.