Day was born in
Blackheath, London, and rose to fame as a stand-up comic, winning the
Time Out new act of the year in 1991 with his music hall character Tommy Cockles. He then appeared on the
BBC One show
Paramount City as a weekly guest. He continued working live all over England before joining up with
Vic Reeves and
Bob Mortimer for two tours and two series of
Big Night Out. He continued to work with Vic Reeves throughout the 1990s.
Channel 4's Saturday night extravaganza, in which he appeared as groundbreaking white rapper Ice Pick. His other TV credits include
Heartbeat,
Jonathan Creek,
Sensitive Skin,
Love Soup,
Driving School, and
Skins. His film credits include
Shakespeare in Love, as a ferryman on the Thames. In 2006, he collaborated with
ambient house band
The Transit Kings on their song "The Last Lighthouse Keeper" which appears on their debut album
Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God. In 2008, Day embarked on his first solo UK stand-up tour, titled 'What a Fool Believes', which saw him play 36 dates during the period 30 October – 15 December, including
Dundee,
Edinburgh and
Glasgow. In 2009, Day collaborated again with
Rhys Thomas and wrote and starred in a web series of six videos as the character Brian Pern for the
BBC. In 2010, Day appeared in the long-running BBC TV series
Hustle, playing Luke Baincross, a wannabe playboy with a huge country mansion. In May 2010, Day played a hospital porter in BBC TV series
Holby City on his last day at work following his resignation having won the National Lottery. He had an altercation with a patient's relative and received a bang on the head, and he became increasingly lairy during the episode, at one point making a pass at
Connie Beauchamp; some people assumed he was drunk, but it transpired that he had developed a
Subdural hematoma as a result of the knock on the head. Day has appeared as a pundit on the long-running
BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Pundit Quiz
Fighting Talk on a number of occasions, and is most notable for swearing during a live broadcast during a show in 2009. This was later edited out on the podcast version of the show. Day appeared in an online-only version of
The Fast Show sponsored by Lager brand Fosters on 10 November 2011 along with original cast save for Mark Williams. In 2012, he published his autobiography,
Comedy and Error: They Really Were Marvellous Times. Day has presented his own series,
The Simon Day Show on
BBC Radio 4 in May to June 2012. From 2014 to 2017, he co-wrote and starred in the spoof-documentary series
Brian Pern, a
BBC Four comedy which parodied the life and career of former
Genesis singer
Peter Gabriel. In 2015 Day appeared as Charlie Beckett in the BBC TV series
Death in Paradise episode 4.2. In 2019 he appeared as Sid Onslow, a pub landlord, in
Pennyworth. Day starred as Big Gary King, father of
Tom Davis' titular character in the
BBC One sitcom
King Gary, appearing in the 2018 pilot episode and the full series broadcast in 2020. Day reprised his
Fast Show character 'Dave Angel, Eco Warrior' in 2023 in energy usage advertising. ==Personal life==