Dom Joly: Difference between revisions

'''Dominic John Romulus Joly''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|ɒ|l|i}}; born 15 November 1967) is an English comedian and writer. He is best known as the star of ''[[Trigger Happy TV]]'' (2000–2003), a hidden camera [[Prank Show|prank show]] that was broadcast in over 70 countries worldwide.

Dominic John Romulus Joly was born in [[Beirut]] on 15 November 1967, to British parents John Joly and his second wife, Yvonne.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/amphtml/dom-joly-reveals-horror-classmate-bought-severed-head-school-growing-lebanon-113953802.html | title=Dom Joly reveals horror when classmate bought severed head into school growing up in Lebanon | date=29 October 2018 }}</ref> John Joly, a pilot with the [[Fleet Air Arm]] during the [[Second World War]], owned banking, insurance, and shipping agency Henry Heald & Co., which was managed, and later bought, by Joly's great-grandfather.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/not-as-joly-as-he-seems-7280506.html|title = Not as Joly as he seems|date = 10 April 2012}}</ref><ref>The Downhill Hiking Club: A Short Walk Across the Lebanon, Dom Joly, Hachette UK, 2019</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.charlottereather.com/DomJoly.pdf |title=Dom Joly : TV's prankster and star of ''The Complainers'' has taken to country life like a duck to water. Hunting, shooting, polo? Bring It On, he says |author=Charlotte Reather |access-date=30 May 2015 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233847/http://www.charlottereather.com/DomJoly.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Dom Joly Biography|url=http://celebirthdays.net/profile/dom-joly|website=Celebrity Birthdays|access-date=23 December 2016|archive-date=24 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224101233/http://celebirthdays.net/profile/dom-joly|url-status=dead}}</ref> The family business is now run by Joly's sister.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/columnists/dom-joly/dom-joly-a-sad-homecoming-to-bury-my-brave-father-2309785.html|title = Dom Joly: A sad homecoming, to bury my brave father|website = [[Independent.co.uk]]|date = 9 July 2011}}</ref> Joly's parents were "quite detached" and he was raised with a nanny; his parents separated when Joly was 18, and for 20 years he had little contact with his father, reconciling in his old age prior to the latter's death in 2011. He has a half-brother and two half-sisters resident in [[Lebanon]] and England, to whom he is not close.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/sep/10/dom-joly-my-family-values|title=Dom Joly: My family values|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=9 September 2011}}</ref><ref name="auto"/>

Joly attended [[Brummana High School]] in Lebanon.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/jun/09/dom-joly-foodie-tour-of-lebanon|title=Dom Joly's foodie tour of Lebanon|author=Dom Joly|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=9 June 2019|access-date=10 June 2019}}</ref><ref name="Child Genius 2017"/><ref>Also on television comedy panel show ''[[Would I Lie to You? (TVBritish seriesgame show)|Would I Lie to You?]]'', and radio show ''[[Loose Ends (radio programme)|Loose Ends]]'' 8 June 2019.</ref> He then moved to England, where he was educated at [[Dragon School]] in [[Oxford]] and [[Haileybury and Imperial Service College|Haileybury College]] near [[Hertford]]. He later attended the [[SOAS University of London|School of Oriental and African Studies]] at the [[University of London]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/article-3183026-not-as-joly-as-he-seems.do |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505063148/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/article-3183026-not-as-joly-as-he-seems.do|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 May 2013|title=Not as Joly as he seems|work=[[Evening Standard]]|location=London|date=31 January 2003|access-date=30 May 2015}}</ref> He studied for a degree in politics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/feb/24/dom-joly-how-we-made-trigger-happy-tv|title=Dom Joly: How we made Trigger Happy TV|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=24 February 2020}}</ref> Joly speaks [[Arabic]], [[Czech language|Czech]], and French in addition to English.<ref name="Child Genius 2017">{{cite AV media |url=http://www.channel4.com/programmes/child-genius-vs-celebrities-christmas-special |title=''Child Genius vs Celebrities'' Christmas Special |publisher=[[Channel 4 Television]] |date=24 December 2017 |access-date=26 December 2017 |archive-date=26 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226235328/http://www.channel4.com/programmes/child-genius-vs-celebrities-christmas-special |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2018, Joly told the ''[[The Sunday People]]'' that when he was at school in Beirut in the 1970s a fellow pupil brought a severed head to show his class.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McKelvie |first=Geraldine |date=2018-10-27 |title=Dom Joly revisits trauma of childhood after meeting Ukrainian landmine victim |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dom-joly-revisits-trauma-childhood-13488246 |access-date=2022-06-09 |website=mirror |language=en}}</ref>

After university, Joly was a diplomat, based in [[Prague]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/columnists/dom-joly/dom-joly-taming-my-inner-political-animal-435740.html|title = Dom Joly: Taming my inner political animal|website = [[Independent.co.uk]]|date = 11 February 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite tweet|number=1416332940859084803|user=domjoly|title=@vivajohnyates I speak four languages, am a former diplomat and a former producer for ITN in Parliament with a degr…|date=17 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://english.radio.cz/accidental-diplomat-dom-joly-his-magical-year-early-90s-prague-8690688|title=The accidental diplomat: Dom Joly on his "magical" year in early '90s Prague|date=31 August 2020 }}</ref>

In 2003, a new series of ''Trigger Happy TV'' was made for an American audience with an altered format that featured a band of different comedians who performed skits without Joly although he cameoed. Joly was not happy with the US version.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article405378.ece | work=The Times | location=London | title=Television The return of the king | date=2 January 2005 | access-date=1 May 2010}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

Following the success of ''Trigger Happy TV'' on [[Channel 4]], Joly was secured by the [[BBC]] for a rumoured £5&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/d/33180/dom_joly|title=Dom Joly Biography|publisher=Chortle.co.uk|access-date=30 May 2015}}</ref> failed comedian after links to Jimmy Saville come out.He wrote a book on my time with Jimmy Saville a love story.

{{main|This isIs Dom Joly}}

In 2016, Joly was marooned on a desert island for two weeks for ''[[Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls]]''.

In 2020, Joly walked the [[Sultans Trail]] from Belgrade to Istanbul for the BBC One series ''[[Pilgrimage (TV series)|Pilgrimage]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Here's all you need to know about Pilgrimage Road To Istanbul |url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/pilgrimage-the-road-to-istanbul-line-up-cast-when-time-tonight-bbc-one-route-411154 |work=inews.co.uk |date=10 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Pilgrimage: Road to Istanbul was more Duke of Edinburgh than RE |url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/pilgrimage-road-to-istanbul-bbc2-review-413133 |work=inews.co.uk |date=27 March 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

He was thought to be the writer of a spoof column in ''[[The Independent]]'' and then ''[[i (newspaper)|i]]'' called "Cooper Brown: He's out there",<ref name="cooper brown column">{{cite news|title=The Londoner's Diary |work=[[Evening Standard]]|location=London |date=25 October 2008 }}</ref> and later confirmed in his autobiography that this was the case.<ref>Joly, Dom, [https://books.google.com/books?id=1ZSdBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT141 ''Here Comes The Clown: A Stumble Through Show Business''], p. 141, Simon and Schuster, 2015, {{ISBN|0857207695}}, 9780857207692</ref> The column iswas publishedpresented as the work of an American character named Cooper Brown and revolves around his putative adventures as "a garrulous American showbiz type".<ref name="cooper brown">{{cite news |last=Spanier |first=Gideon |title=In the air |work=[[Evening Standard]]|location=London|date=10 January 2007 }}</ref>

In 2019, Joly published the travel book ''[[The Hezbollah Hiking Club]]'', in which he documented his walk across Lebanon with two friends.

In the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 UK general election]], Joly stood in [[Kensington and Chelsea (UK Parliament constituency)|Kensington and Chelsea]] against [[Alan Clark]]. Hiring out hundreds of [[teddy bear]] costumes, he staged mock protests at [[Palace of Westminster|Westminster]] and came fifth out of nine candidates, receiving 218 votes (0.6%).<ref name=Guardian>{{cite news |url=http://politics.guardian.co.uk/hoc/constituency/history/0,,-1052,00.html |title=Guardian Unlimited Politics, Kensington and Chelsea |access-date=27 September 2007 |work=The Guardian |location=London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060625041945/http://politics.guardian.co.uk/hoc/constituency/history/0%2C%2C-1052%2C00.html |archive-date=25 June 2006 }}</ref>

Joly is married to Canadian graphic designer [[Stacey McDougall|Stacey MacDougall]]. Having lived in the [[Notting Hill]] area of London, the two later sold their apartment to novelist [[Salman Rushdie]] and bought a property in [[Gloucestershire]] to raise their children there.<ref>Dom Joly, ''The Dark Tourist'' (Chatham, 2010), p. 11.</ref>

* [https://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20210924170559/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bc18c8385 Joly] at the [[British Film Institute]]