[4][5] He attended King's Manor School in Middlesbrough,[1] where his schoolmates included future sports presenter Ali Brownlee.

[1] Mortimer was impressed by the performance, particularly the character Tappy Lappy, which was Reeves attempting to tap dance while wearing a Bryan Ferry mask and planks on his feet.

Mortimer began to perform on the show, which was christened Vic Reeves Big Night Out, creating characters such as the Singing Lawyer, Graham Lister, Judge Nutmeg and the Man With the Stick.

The show became successful in South London and eventually outgrew Goldsmiths Tavern, moving in 1988 to the Albany Empire in Deptford.

Mortimer soon became an integral part of the performance, providing him with a weekly break from his legal work, which had begun to disillusion him.

Cast included Reece Shearsmith, Matt Lucas, Morwenna Banks, Tim Healy, Mark Benton and Charlie Higson.

[14] In November 2013, Reeves and Mortimer filmed episodes of a new BBC sitcom, House of Fools, also featuring Matt Berry (as Beef), Morgana Robinson (as Julie) and Dan Skinner (as Bosh).

The episode remained true to the classic Big Night Out formula and was composed of various comedy songs, skits, characters and sketches.

[36] On the day of his hospital admission, he married Lisa Matthews, his girlfriend of 22 years, under a special marriage licence express from London.

During his appearance on Desert Island Discs, he revealed that he dealt with crippling shyness until the age of 30, which only began to improve after his initial television success; he also reflected on how his father's early death had shaped his personality, despite not realising how much this event had affected him as a child.