Richard Ayoade
Biography
Life Story
Richard Ellef Ayoade was born in Hammersmith, and grew up in Suffolk, in England, the son of a Norwegian mother, Dagny Amalie (Baassuik), and a Nigerian father, Layide Ade Laditi Ayoade. He studied Law at Cambridge university, and followed in the footsteps of British Comedy legends like Monty Python's Eric Idle, Hugh Laurie and Graeme Garden when he became the president of the Cambridge Footlights club.
Ayoade's first real TV break was directing, co-writing and starring with Matthew Holness in the cult classic Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (2004) a parody of shlocky 1980's science fiction television shows, and noticed for it's "so bad it's good!" aesthetic. Notably shy and self-effacing in interviews, his performance as the debauched, self-assured publisher/pornographer/nightclub owner 'Dean Learner' showcased the young comedian's acting talent.
After cameos in another cult series The Mighty Boosh (2003) as the shaman "Saboo", his position in the popular consciousness was cemented in the series The IT Crowd (2006) where Ayoade played the social oblivious, dweebish savant known as "Moss".
All the while Ayoade continued to direct music videos for Vampire Weekend, Kasabian, and the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs before finally getting his chance to direct a feature film, Submarine (2010), based on the novel by Joe Dunthorne.
Submarine was followed by The Double (2013) co-written by Avi Korine and based on a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Family
Trivia
Starred in many stand up comedy shows.
Was a member of Cambridge Footlights, a contemporary of David Mitchell, Robert Webb and Matthew Holness.
Of Norwegian-Nigerian parentage.
His surname is pronounced "eye-oh-WA-dee".
Close friends with the lead singer of the Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner. He has directed 3 of their music videos. Alex did the soundtrack music for Ayoade's film, Submarine.
Personal Quotes
The act of seeing any film generally is you knowing more than the characters, even if it's the classic Hitchcock shot of two people talking and a bomb being under the table. Part of the pleasure of it is seeing where people go wrong, and the irony of situations.
I've only ever really been in shows of friends, so I don't know exactly what happened. I think I'm incredibly cheap to hire. That can buy some traction. I'm as cheap as it's possible for an actor to be legally.
I like Roy Orbison's video for 'I Drove All Night' because it's so literal. It is just a man driving throughout the night. I like that silliness. To be in a video is a ridiculous thing. It's almost impossible to do it without any humour.
I find performing very difficult. It's difficult to be a good actor. I get very nervous, even though it sounds disingenuous, because you could legitimately go, 'Well, why do it?'
As in, I think 'Badlands' is one of the funniest films of all time: 'Every day I wish I was carried off to a magical land, but that never happened' is one of the funniest lines in any film.
A lot of comedies are based on the reaction shot. You have one person doing something stupid and one person is generally the straight man, and the laughs generally come on the reaction of the straight man to the funny thing the other person has done.
No. I really don't think I'm cool. I'm not.
My parents didn't go to university and weren't brought up in England. They hadn't heard of any other universities other than 'Cambridge' or 'Oxford.'
Louis Malle is maybe one of my favourite directors, but I love Tarantino.
I'm not sure I'd hire myself in anything. I certainly couldn't be an actor. That would be terrible. For everyone.
I'm not good at watching myself.
I'm just terrible. At talking. With words.
I don't really know what my personality is anyway. I don't really have one.
I actually prefer night shoots to days. I prefer being up. It's easier for me. I'm more of a night person.
I was directing before I started doing 'The IT Crowd.' It wasn't something that led on after acting I guess. I was sort of doing this stuff before acting.
