James "Jim" Roderick Moir, more commonly known by the pseudonym Vic Reeves, (born January 24, 1959) is an English comedian, best known for his double act with Bob Mortimer (see Vic and Bob).
He supposedly derived the name Vic Reeves from two of his favourite singers Vic Damone and Jim Reeves. He, his father and grandfather are all called Jim Moir, and nearly all shared the same birthday (Vic was born one day earlier). Whilst at the BBC, he also shared a name with James/Jim Moir a senior BBC executive.
In 2003, he and Bob Mortimer were listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he and Bob were voted the 9th greatest comedy act ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
Jim Moir (known to his family as "Rod") was born in Leeds. At the age of five, he moved to Darlington with his mother, father and younger sister Lois. In his youth he was a fan of Monty Python. He attended Heathfield Nursery and Primary, and then went on to the nearby secondary school. He left Eastbourne Comprehensive in the town without any qualifications. Having wished to attend art school but unable to afford this, in his autobiography, he admitted to sneaking into the various classrooms and workspaces in order to work on his ideas.
Moir has two children, Alice Vincent Moir and Louis Vincent Moir of York, by his first wife Sarah Vincent, whom he married in 1990. They split in 1999 when Vincent left him to begin a relationship with her fitness instructor, Julia Jones. In a final twist, he then moved in with the couple, sleeping in the spare room. He was later briefly engaged to actress Emilia Fox, whom he met when they were both filming Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased).
He met his second wife, Nancy Sorrell, in 2001, and the couple married on 25 January 2003. Sorrell gave birth to twin girls Elizabeth and Nell at the William Harvey Hospital in Kent on 25 May 2006. The babies were conceived after the couple received IVF treatment.
Every now and then he appears in the British tabloids for bizarre acts with seemingly little intention to attract media attention. One such act included burying his vintage car in his back garden (which the BBC's 1997 Omnibus documentary - A Film Of Reeves & Mortimer - revolved around).
He is a keen amateur birdwatcher.
In August 2006 he attended the National Crabbing Competition at Walberswick in Suffolk along with Nancy and their twin children.
Before moving to London to pursue a career in the civil service, Moir had worked as a pig farmer, a cabbage farmer, in cancer research and as a factory inspector.
He also formed the Fashionable Five, a group of five friends (including Jack Dent, who ran the original Fan Club) who would follow bands like The Enid and Free onto stage and perform pranks, (including Moir pretending to have a brass hand, and following a Terry Scott lookalike around Darlington town centre in single file formation). Eventually, they formed their own band. Vic had an early breakthrough with the help of comedian Malcolm Hardee.
In 1983 he began a part-time course at a local art college, developed his love of painting and eventually persuaded a local art gallery to stage an exhibition of his unique work. Although still primarily known as a comedian, he is also gaining a reputation as an artist. His drawings and paintings have been used in his television shows and forms a major part of his 1999 book, Sun Boiled Onions. Moir has had at least two exhibitions of his art work, the first to display work from Sun Boiled Onions in 2000, and the second, entitled Doings in 2002 at Whitechapel Art Gallery in which works were priced from £500 to £5000.
As well as working and performing in bands, in London, Moir also joined the alternative comedy circuit under many different guises. These included a loudmouth American called Jim Bell, a beat poet called Mister Mystery and, eventually, "The North-East’s Top Light Entertainer" - Vic Reeves. His stage show Vic Reeves Big Night Out began life as a regular Thursday night gig at Goldsmith’s Tavern, New Cross. Here he met Bob Mortimer, a solicitor who jumped up on stage one night and ended up joining the show. His television debut came in 1989 on the short lived chat/comedy show One Hour with Jonathan Ross in the game show segment known as knock down ginger. His growing TV profile led to the Big Night Out being given a slot on Channel 4 the following year.
Reeves continued to work alongside Bob Mortimer (see Vic and Bob) as a comedy duo in The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, Shooting Stars, and Bang Bang, It's Reeves and Mortimer, some of which also featured future cast members of The Fast Show and Little Britain.
Reeves is one of the few comedians to have had a number one hit in the UK chart, which he did in company with The Wonder Stuff, singing Dizzy (previously a number one hit for Tommy Roe). The single's B-side was the original composition Oh! Mr. Hairdresser, recorded with The Images of Cream and supposedly featuring Bob Mortimer on the mandolin. He had also released a version of Born Free, which was critically acclaimed and also reached the top ten. A third single during the same period, Abide With Me, had little success. All three tracks appeared on his album, I Will Cure You, released in 1991. In 1995, Reeves collaborated with EMF, covering The Monkees hit I'm a Believer. Reeves (as Jim Moir) also sang backing vocals on Morrissey's cover of The Jam's classic song That's Entertainment.
A 1994 pilot written by Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson entitled The Honeymoon's Over was due to feature Chris Bell, a character from The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer. However, the series was never commissioned.
Between August 1998 and May 1999, Reeves and Mortimer presented the Channel X produced BBC Saturday night family game show Families At War alongside Alice Beer.
Reeves played Marty Hopkirk in the BBC's 1990s revival of the comedy thriller, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), with Mortimer as Randall, Emilia Fox as Jeannie and Tom Baker as Wyvern.
In 2000, he presented a series entitled, Vic Reeves Examines on UK Play. The programme featured celebrities such as Ricky Gervais, Johnny Vegas, Lauren Laverne and Emma Kennedy discussing a topic of their choice.
In 2004 he and Sorrell were both contestants in the fourth series of I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here.
In September 2005 Reeves hosted a show for Virgin Radio called Vic Reeves Big Night In, for a short period on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 7.00pm.
In May 2006 he presented a programme on ITV Tyne Tees about Northeast comedy culture, It's funny up North with...Vic Reeves.
He is the new main presenter of Brainiac: Science Abuse, replacing Richard Hammond, who quit the show. The series will begin on May 8th 2007.
He sang the theme tune to the BBC One children's programme Shaun the Sheep.
Moir presented a historical six-part series, entitled Rogues Gallery, which was shown on the Discovery Channel (UK) in 2005. In the series, he spoke about, and portrayed Rob Roy, Colonel Blood, George Ransley, Deacon Brodie, Blackbeard and Dick Turpin. Continuing in this vein, Vic Reeves' Pirates is currently being shown on ITV West, and will be shown on The History Channel (UK) later this year.
Reeves is also due to present a BBC Radio 2 panel game called Does The Team Think… some time later in the year.
In 2007, Vic Reeves also hosted a show called Vic Reeves Investigates: Jack the Ripper. Vic, with the help of historians and leading experts, tried to discover who Jack the ripper was. At the end of the show, he came to the conclusion that Jack the Ripper was Fracnis Tumblety.
Moir has appeared on a number of British TV shows, primarily game shows, poll programs and charity telethons. These include:
Moir's contract with Churchill was terminated in March 2005 after he was embarrassingly arrested for a drink-driving offence in which he ploughed his vintage Jaguar into a stationary vehicle in Maidstone before careering into a bank and hitting a fence. For this offence he was disqualified from driving for thirty-six months as of 21 April 2005 and ordered to do 100 hours community service. However, it is believed that Reeves' voice-over for the adverts was replaced by another voice artist - albeit in the same style - long before this incident (2004 at the latest), as now has Mortimer's.
