Dave Gorman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dave Gorman
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Gorman in 2008
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| Born |
David James Gorman
2 March 1971 Stafford, England
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| Years active | 1993–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Beth Gorman
(m. 2010) |
| Children | 1 |
David James Gorman (born 2 March 1971) is a well-known English comedian, TV presenter, and writer. He is famous for his unique shows that often involve funny quests and experiments.
Gorman started his career writing for popular comedy shows like The Mrs Merton Show and The Fast Show. He later became famous for his stand-up comedy. His show Are You Dave Gorman? became very popular after it started at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2000. It was even made into a TV series called The Dave Gorman Collection.
He continued to create more successful shows that became TV series. These include Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure, Genius, and Dave Gorman: Modern Life Is Goodish. He has also appeared as a guest on many other TV shows, such as Have I Got News for You and Taskmaster.
Early Life and Education
David James Gorman was born in Stafford, England, on 2 March 1971. He has a twin brother named Nicholas. He went to Walton High School in Stafford. Later, he studied mathematics at the University of Manchester, but he left after two years.
Comedy Career Highlights
Starting as a Writer
Before becoming a solo star, Dave Gorman was a popular writer for TV. He helped write three series of The Mrs Merton Show. He also wrote for other UK TV shows, including The Fast Show. In 2003, The Observer newspaper named him one of the 50 funniest people in British comedy. He also produced shows for comedian Jenny Eclair. He wrote jokes for other famous comedians like Harry Hill and Steve Coogan.
Gorman's first solo show was called Reasons to be Cheerful. It was based on a pop song by Ian Dury and the Blockheads. He explored each line of the song to see if it truly was a reason to be cheerful. He used old slides to show each "reason." This show was first performed in 1998 at the 1998 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
His next show, Dave Gorman's Better World, started in 1999. For this show, he wrote anonymous letters to newspapers. He asked people to suggest ways one person could make the world better. Then, he tried to do their suggestions to see if they worked.
The "Are You Dave Gorman?" Quest
Dave Gorman became widely known after a funny bet with his flatmate, Danny Wallace. Gorman claimed he shared his name with the assistant manager of a football team. He thought there must be "loads" of other Dave Gormans. Wallace disagreed.
So, they traveled to Methil, Scotland, to meet the football assistant manager. His name was indeed Dave Gorman. The bet grew bigger. Wallace challenged Gorman to meet a Dave Gorman for every card in a deck, including the jokers.
Gorman's journey to meet 54 Dave Gormans was full of funny moments. Five people even legally changed their names to Dave Gorman for the project. Two of these were women! He traveled to New York, but one trip failed because the person was B. David Gorman, not just Dave Gorman. He even met an actor who played a character named David Gorman.
The Astrology Experiment
Gorman's second TV series was called Dave Gorman's Important Astrology Experiment. It aired on BBC Two in 2002. The show was a funny "scientific experiment" to test if astrology really worked.
For 40 days, Dave tried to follow all the advice in his horoscope. His twin brother, Nick, was the "control." Nick ignored his horoscopes. Both brothers wrote down what happened each day. They also rated their luck in love, health, and money.
In each episode, Gorman showed funny videos of himself following his horoscope. He then asked experts how he did in love, health, and money. An audience vote decided if astrology had a positive, negative, or no effect.
The experiment showed that Dave's happiness, love, and money went down over time. He had many adventures. He traveled to New York City just to meet a friend for a few hours. He also shared pizza in a park while wearing a rubber suit.
One very strange task was standing in Covent Garden on one leg. He had his foot in a bucket of water, a tangerine in one hand, and cereal in the other. He sang the national anthem backwards and balanced three books on his head! This came from a very odd horoscope.
By the end, Dave's money was very low. He used his last money to travel to Dubai. He bet on a golfer who shared his birthday, hoping for good luck. Gambling was illegal there, so his mother placed the bet for him. Amazingly, the bet paid off! He ended up with twice as much money as he started. This "proved" that astrology worked for him, making him happier than his brother.
The Googlewhack Adventure
In 2003, Dave Gorman toured with his show Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure. He also published a book with the same name. This was another true story. A Googlewhack is when you search for two words on Google and only get one result.
Gorman became obsessed with Googlewhacks. He traveled around the world to find the people who created them. One of them was even a Dave Gorman he had met before! He spent all the money his publisher gave him for a novel on this quest. So, he had to create the Googlewhack Adventure show to earn the money back.
The show was a huge success. It sold out at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Sydney Opera House. It also won an award for Best One Person Show at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. His book became a number one best-seller. During this adventure, Gorman had a difficult time, which he talked about openly in his show.
In 2004, a DVD of the Googlewhack Adventure was released. In 2005, Gorman toured the U.S. with the show. He appeared on The Tonight Show to talk about his travels. This trip inspired his next project, America Unchained.
America Unchained Road Trip
Between October and December 2006, Gorman took a road trip across the United States. He wrote a book about it called America Unchained: A Freewheeling Roadtrip in Search of Non-Corporate USA, released in 2008. The goal was to see if he could travel across the U.S. without using any big chain businesses.
Gorman only ate, slept, and filled his car at independently owned restaurants, hotels, and gas stations. A documentary film of this adventure was also made. It won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Austin Film Festival in 2007.
His journey started in Coronado, California, and ended in Savannah, Georgia. It was a challenge to find independent gas stations. His car, despite being old, held up surprisingly well.
The "Genius" Show
Radio Series
Dave Gorman hosted a BBC Radio 4 show called Genius. On this show, people sent in ideas to make the world better. Dave and a guest would then decide if the idea was truly "genius." The show ran for three series between 2005 and 2007.
TV Series
A TV version of Genius was made. The first series started on BBC2 in March 2009. A second series was made in 2010.
Modern Life Is Goodish
In September 2013, Dave Gorman returned to TV with a new show called Modern Life Is Goodish on the Dave channel. The show was very popular and was renewed for more series. The fifth series ended in December 2017. The show attracted many viewers, sometimes as many as 1.5 million. A new, sixth series of the show was released on 24 February 2025. This series has three episodes.
Recent Stage Shows
In 2017, Gorman announced a new stage show called With Great PowerPoint Comes Great ResponsibilityPoint. The show started touring in September 2018 and was very popular. He continued touring it until November 2019. Gorman asked people not to spoil the show's content, but he did want them to talk about his "giraffe joke," which he called the best in the world.
In 2022, Dave Gorman announced another live stage show tour called PowerPoint to the People. It started in autumn 2022 and continued with extra dates into 2023. The tour was extended again until December 2023.
Other TV Appearances
Dave Gorman has appeared on many other TV shows. He was in an episode of Absolutely Fabulous in 2001. He was also a team captain on the BBC Three show Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive from 2006 to 2007.
He appeared on Have I Got News for You twice. He also appeared on the sports comedy quiz They Think It's All Over. Gorman won two episodes of the quiz show QI in 2004 and 2011. He was also a regular guest on The Geoff Show on Virgin Radio and later hosted his own show on Absolute Radio.
In 2019, Gorman hosted a new TV series on Dave called Terms and Conditions Apply. In this show, he was joined by guest stars who played games based on different topics.
Personal Life
Dave Gorman married his wife, Beth, on 8 October 2010. They live in Bournemouth and have a son named Eric.
Gorman has said he is an atheist but grew up in a Christian family. He has sometimes been mistaken for being Jewish. He is a pescatarian, meaning he eats fish but no other meat.
Dave Gorman also started creating cryptic crossword puzzles in 2020. He creates them for three British newspapers: The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, and The Guardian.
