Stephen Frost | |
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![]() Glastonbury Festival, 2019, with the Stephen Frost Improv All Stars | |
Born | Stephen Frederick Eustace Frost 28 December 1955 |
Nationality | British |
Occupation(s) | Actor and comedian |
Years active | 1980–present |
Stephen Frederick Eustace Frost (born 28 December 1955) is an English actor and comedian, best known for his work on Whose Line Is It Anyway? as well as several projects with comedy partner Mark Arden.
Early life[edit]
Frost was born in Redruth, Cornwall, and is the son of the abstract artist Terry Frost and brother of painter Anthony Frost.
Career[edit]
Work with Mark Arden[edit]
Frost is known for his work in the 1980s with Mark Arden as part of the double act The Oblivion Boys on Saturday Live. Veterans of the alternative comedy scene, he and Arden appeared in The Young Ones, and later had their own TV series Lazarus and Dingwall on BBC2. They played the lead roles in the 1987 revival of Tom Stoppard's play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Piccadilly Theatre. They also played two robbers in 'Big Deal' series 2, in the episode 'Popping Across The Pond'.
In 1994 the Oblivion Boys starred opposite the comedy duo Raw Sex (Simon Brint and Rowland Rivron) in the partially-improvised comedy film There's No Business....
The duo appeared in a series of British TV advertisements ending with the catchphrase "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label". One spoofed the "launderette" commercial for Levi's in which Nick Kamen stripped to his underwear; in their pastiche, Arden and Frost played launderette customers who were stripped entirely, with just strategically placed books maintaining their modesty.[1]
Solo work[edit]
Without Arden, Frost has appeared on BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute, and the improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway?. He has appeared on three episodes of Have I Got News for You (there was a 13-year gap between his second and third appearance) and on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. He also appeared as Dirk in Tony Bagley's series Married.
He played two small roles in Blackadder: a prison guard in the first-series episode "Witchsmeller Pursuivant", and the overly cheerful head of a firing squad in the episode "Corporal Punishment" of Blackadder Goes Forth. He also appeared in the comedy series Mr. Bean, starring Rowan Atkinson, in the episode entitled "Mr. Bean Rides Again" in one of the skits where Mr. Bean is on a train.
In 2003 he appeared in a production of 12 Angry Men alongside Bill Bailey.
Frost appeared alongside Tony Hawks and Angus Deayton in the 2012 feature film Playing the Moldovans at Tennis.
Currently[edit]
Frost is a regular on the London comedy circuit. He is also a veteran of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Glastonbury Festival.
Frost still appears regularly with The Comedy Store Players in The Comedy Store, London.
Filmography[edit]
Film[edit]
Film | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
1987 | The Love Child | Tough Policeman | |
1994 | There's No Business | Reg Prince | |
1995 | Savage Hearts | Concierge | |
Feast of July | Man in Restaurant | ||
Spot's Magical Christmas | Deer 1 | Voice Video short United Kingdom version Credited as Steve Frost | |
1998 | Wind | Policeman | Short film |
2000 | The Suicidal Dog | Philip the Test Your Strength Man | Short film |
2012 | Playing the Moldovans at Tennis | Steve | |
2014 | The Squeakies | Compere | |
2021 | Phase | Dad |
Television[edit]
Television | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
1981 | Doctor Who | Tharil | Uncredited Series 18: "Warriors' Gate: Part Four" |
1982-1983 | Carrott's Lib | 8 episodes, 1 special Writer – "Best of Carrott's Lib" | |
1982-1984 | The Young Ones | Various | 7 episodes – 3 credited as Steve Frost |
1983 | Blackadder | Soft, A Guard | 2 episodes – 1 uncredited |
Dramarama | Rev. Bell | Series 1, episode 2: "Rip It Up" | |
Reilly, Ace of Spies | Styrne | Episode 11: "The Last Journey" | |
Rebellious Jukebox | The Oblivion Boys | Episode #1.2 | |
1983-1984 | The Entertainers | The Oblivion Boys | 2 episodes |
1984 | The Comic Strip Presents... | Bula | Series 2, episode 7: "Slags" |
1985 | Big Deal | Tony | Series 2, episode 14: "Popping Across the Pond" |
Dempsey and Makepeace | Big Mall | Series 2, episode 5: "Tequila Sunrise" | |
Happy Families | Village Gendarme | Episode 3: "Madeleine" | |
Girls on Top | Disco Dancer | Series 1, episode 3: "C.O.D." | |
1986 | Kit Curran | Pates | Series 2, episode 4: "A Sick Society" |
1986-1996 | Saturday Live | Himself / Oblivion Boys / Various | 10 episodes Writer – 1 episode |
1988 | Bust | Mike Benson | 2 episodes |
1989 | Blackadder Goes Forth | Corporal Jones | Series 4, episode 2: "Corporal Punishment" |
Close to Home | Frank DeAngelo | 4 episodes | |
1991 | Lazarus & Dingwall | Steve Lazarus | 6 episodes Writer |
Murder Most Horrid | Sgt. Dawkins | Series 1, episode 1: "The Case of the Missing" | |
1991-2005 | Have I Got News for You | Himself / Panelist | 3 episodes |
1992 | Mr. Bean | The Laughing Man | Episode 6: "Mr. Bean Rides Again" |
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | Huge Man | Series 2, episode 4: "Barcelona, May 1917" | |
Fool's Gold: The Story of the Brink's-Mat Robbery | Bernie Clarke | TV movie | |
1992-1998 | Whose Line Is It Anyway? | Himself / Performer | 33 episodes |
1993 | The Almost Complete History of the 20th Century | Narrator | Voice 13 episodes |
1993-1994 | Brighton Belles | Gilbert | 2 episodes |
1994 | The All New Alexei Sayle Show | Various | Episode 6 |
What's Up Doc? | Steve the Security Guard / Walter Flume | 16 episodes Credited as Steve Frost | |
Blue Heaven | Big Larry | Episode 1 | |
Frank Stubbs Promotes | Big Eddie | Series 2, episode 5: "Mr. Chairman" | |
Harry Enfield & Chums | Man Painting | Episode #1.5 | |
1994-1995 | The Bill | Duggan / Colin Glover | 2 episodes |
1995 | Jack and Jeremy's Police 4 | Various | TV movie |
1996 | Jack and Jeremy's Real Lives | Steve / Stephen / Farmer | 3 episodes |
Drop the Dead Donkey | Tom | Series 5, episode 7: "Charnley in Love" | |
The Famous Five | Dirty Dick | Series 2, episode 6: "Five on a Hike Together" | |
1997 | Gobble | Gun shop assistant | TV movie |
Pie in the Sky | Trubb | Series 5, episode 3: "Pork Pies" | |
1998 | Vanity Fair | Bute Crawley | Miniseries 4 episodes |
1999 | Just a Minute | Himself / Panelist | 4 episodes |
French and Saunders | Special – "French and Saunders: The Phantom Millennium" | ||
2001 | Mr. Charity | Cab Driver | Episode 6: "The Big W" |
2002 | Spheriks | Match Narrator | Voice Credited as Steve Frost |
2002-2005 | Never Mind the Buzzcocks | Himself | |
2004 | Working the Thames | Himself / Presenter | Documentary |
2011 | Paul Merton's Adventures | Himself | Episode 4: "Caravan" |
2013 | Poirot | Chief Inspector | Series 13, episode 4: "The Labours of Hercules" |
2015 | Boomers | German John | Episode: "Christmas Special" |
2018 | Holby City | Peter Mosley | Series 20, episode 49: "Love Is" |
2023 | Ted Lasso | Bruce | Series 3, episode 2: "(I don't want to go to) Chelsea" |
Books[edit]
- Sit-Down Comedy (contributor to anthology, ed Malcolm Hardee & John Fleming) Ebury Press/Random House, 2003. ISBN 0-09-188924-3; ISBN 978-0-09-188924-1