Putner was born in March 1966 in
East Grinstead,
West Sussex. He studied at
LAMDA where he won the
Kenneth More prize for comedy acting. His first significant TV role saw Putner as numerous characters in
The Glam Metal Detectives shown on BBC2. His real break in comedy came after he set up the club
The Regency Rooms with fellow performers
Steve Furst and Oliver Darly. The club developed a cult following and was attended by many comics.
Richard Herring saw Paul performing there and cast him in his play ''Punk's Not Dead'' at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This role led to many others including TV roles in
Lee and Herring's shows. In 2001, Putner wrote and performed in the comedic stage show
Earl Stevens at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He has appeared in numerous British TV and radio shows, including
This Morning with Richard Not Judy (1998), ''
Sir Bernard's Stately Homes (1999), Spaced (1999), Rock Profile (2000), The Day the Music Died (2004–2007), Look Around You (2004) and Little Britain'' (2003–2005). Putner appeared in a minor role as a zombie in the comedy film
Shaun of the Dead in 2004, and could also be heard on the zombies' 'commentary' track on the DVD release. More recently he has appeared in the
BBC Radio 4 science fiction comedy
Nebulous (2005),
Peacefully in their Sleeps on
Radio 4 in 2007,
The Peter Serafinowicz Show in 2007 and ''
Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle'' in 2009 and 2014. He has also contributed material to programmes including
The Impressionable Jon Culshaw,
Little Britain,
The Peter Serafinowicz Show and is a co-creator of the website "TV Dregs". In 2005, Putner took the starring role (as a
mime) in the 7th district section of the film ''
Paris, je t'aime written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. The film opened the "Un Certain Regard" section of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. From late 2005 until early 2007 Putner toured in the Little Britain Live'' show, and later appeared in
Matt Lucas and
David Walliams' TV follow-up,
Come Fly with Me. In 2010 and 2011, Putner played the ill-fated Gerald "Jelly" Kelly in the
Only Fools and Horses prequel trilogy,
Rock & Chips, written by
John Sullivan. In 2013, he appeared in
Kevin Eldon's sketch show, ''
It's Kevin and an episode of the second series of Wizards vs Aliens'' as a troll called Mervyn. Since then, Paul Putner has also appeared in many other TV/radio productions including:
Kevin Eldon Will See You Now,
Cabin Pressure,
Up the Women,
Pompidou,
The Borgias,
Downton Abbey,
Urban Myths,
The Nightmare Worlds of H. G. Wells,
Call the Midwife and
Miss Scarlet and The Duke. ==References==