Comedians who are secret millionaires from ads/corporate

[Average Comedy Enjoyer]

https://www.gordonpoole.com/uk/comedians/ .

Fascinating to see the Voice of God category, get that lottery/Xfactor mood at your Christmas coke-up.

Disappointed you can't get George Lamb to sarcastically slag off your sales team though.

[Icehaven]

^  Sorry! It's an old one from the Baddiel thread that gets mentioned from time to time.
But in case you do want to book him:

I am throwing a work do which I want to go really badly so I'll bear him in mind 😹.

[oggyraiding]

Nina Conti costs more than Martin from Homes Under The Hammer. What a topsy turvy world we live in.

[Average Comedy Enjoyer]

But what about monkey?

It's a bit different but I like it

[Cuellar]

Ross Kemp is less than Phil Spencer or Paul Hollywood. This country.

[Icehaven]

Ross Kemp is less than Phil Spencer or Paul Hollywood. This country.

None of them are exactly known for being raconteurs so what do they actually do, give a speech that someone else wrote?

[George White]

Also what does Bob 'the Cat' Bevan, a man whose entire career is after dinner speaking talk about?

[Joe Oakes]

Also what does Bob 'the Cat' Bevan, a man whose entire career is after dinner speaking talk about?

He used to do a lot of corporate work doing dinners for Crystal Palace FC.

Until Political Correctness went maaaaad about 20 years ago and acts consisting entirely of racist jokes fell out of fashion.

Possibly still currently doing corporates for Millwall.

[George White]

Awww, I guessed he was one of those, considering praise from Jim 'Nick Nick' Davidson

[Jake Thingray]

Honestly thought this was a character comedian, at first.

https://www.gordonpoole.com/talent/andy-hanselman/

[Maureen Brontë]

Not a comedian but on the subject of advertising done for other countries mentioned elsewhere in this thread, straight-talking Michael Parkinson in pre-Parker pen days did this promotional shoot for his Australian audience only 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siW9Fnw9QPk&t=204s

Him in his boat on the Thames showing off where he lives in Bray, pointing out Billy Connolly's house, Rolf Harris's ("your very own") and his own gaff. Segues majestically to him driving his Rover Vitesse to persuade Aussies to buy it.

Definite air of Partridge but I bet he got paid a fortune.

[Average Comedy Enjoyer]

Only doxxed himself to people who'd be at risk of DVT if they tried to visit

[PlanktonSideburns]

Buckley has done incredibly well with voice messages and often cited in stories as being one of someone particularly popular with punters. Part of reason it's been said is that people are less interested in having messages from A-listers compared to performers that they have an affinity with. Another reason is that he puts effort into it.

This is an example story - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/feb/27/the-inbetweeners-james-buckley-becomes-the-unlikely-king-of-cameo - 10,000 messages in one year with an estimated income for him of £300,000.

In discussions about VMs, there's inevitably snooty comments (which definitely has been happened in the past here) but I don't see the problem myself. During Covid, this was a much needed potential income stream for performers - and a lot actually seem to really like doing them. John Challis was one, certainly.

I know people who have received them and absolutely loved - I recently got one for a mate from Simon Day, which was brill (natch).

Mate of mine got an amazing one from the guitarist from anvil, who wished him happy birthday and then said he was going to play the opening riff to one of their songs

He ends up playing the whole thing, does a bit of noodling, big blissful grin on his face, then he suddenly looks back at the camera, remembering that he was recording a cameo, and turns the recording off

[Blinder Data]

i'm not suggesting for one moment he's a millionaire, but i was slightly surprised to hear prince of alternative comedy liam williams doing the in-store announcements (and radio ads?) for B&Q

if it means he does more alternative comedy, i don't see much harm. i think it's different when you're literally being hired for your voice rather than because people recognise you and buy whatever you endorse

(unless i'm mistaken and they've deliberately employed a blokey yorkshireman soundalike, in which case mr williams should sue)

[dead-ced-dead]

i'm not suggesting for one moment he's a millionaire, but i was slightly surprised to hear prince of alternative comedy liam williams doing the in-store announcements (and radio ads?) for B&Q

if it means he does more alternative comedy, i don't see much harm. i think it's different when you're literally being hired for your voice rather than because people recognise you and buy whatever you endorse

(unless i'm mistaken and they've deliberately employed a blokey yorkshireman soundalike, in which case mr williams should sue)

That's certainly true of a lot of actors who are known for having nice or distinctive voices. Often northern actors as people tend to find the accent pleasant on the ear. So Sean Bean and David Morrisey get a lot of work, and known distinctive-voice-haver Ralph Ineson is in a lot of ads.

[Small Man Big Horse]

My Uncle and his Keep It In The Family co-star Pauline Yates did some adverts for Qualcast lawn mowers and he's put one online - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBCg_9nuRw4 - I have no idea how much he got paid for them but I do know the advertising company decided that there was nowhere in England with the right colour grass, and so they were flown out to South Africa, and what was supposed to be a day and a half long shoot took seven days to complete.

[midfielder]

I am not sure, but I think Rob Brydon used to be the voice of The National Lottery

[monkfromhavana]

My Uncle and his Keep It In The Family co-star Pauline Yates did some adverts for Qualcast lawn mowers and he's put one online - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBCg_9nuRw4 - I have no idea how much he got paid for them but I do know the advertising company decided that there was nowhere in England with the right colour grass, and so they were flown out to South Africa, and what was supposed to be a day and a half long shoot took seven days to complete.

The no.1 Bobby Gillespie!

[Milo]

i'm not suggesting for one moment he's a millionaire, but i was slightly surprised to hear prince of alternative comedy liam williams doing the in-store announcements (and radio ads?) for B&Q

There's an advert for a company that makes flies for fishing that I'm sure is Liam Williams. It goes out on channels like Cardiff TV.

[Brundle-Fly]

if it means he does more alternative comedy, i don't see much harm. i think it's different when you're literally being hired for your voice rather than because people recognise you and buy whatever you endorse

That was always Alexei "I won't appear in adverts" Sayle's get out clause when he used to do tons of commercial voiceovers in the 80s/ 90s.

[Small Man Big Horse]

The no.1 Bobby Gillespie!

Ha, and funnily enough I realised about a month ago that they had the same name. I've got a feeling my Uncle's completely unaware of him though!

[Thomas]

None of them are exactly known for being raconteurs so what do they actually do, give a speech that someone else wrote?

ROSS KEMP: Alright Fireplace World UK sales force. In a way you are like a gang. I've held a big gun in Brazil.

[dissolute ocelot]

ROSS KEMP: Alright Fireplace World UK sales force. In a way you are like a gang. I've held a big gun in Brazil.

I'd like to think that Ross Kemp will turn your reception suite or corporate HQ into a mini episode of The World's Most Stupidly Dangerous Places and leave Sally from HR fighting a rocket-propelled grenade duel with Facilities while Goods Received launch a drone strike on an army of child soldiers, as Ross bemoans the stupidity in a flak jacket and pious tones. But according to his agencies he shares his experiences from his travels around the world. So I imagine it is a largely pre-written speech read out in the inimitable Kemp tones, but if you enjoy his documentaries, why not? "Be prepared to laugh, cry, and rethink who and what we are."

[Sebastian Cobb]

And the reality is 90% of the people there aren't interested and would prefer if he just did the kung fu fighting dance from Eastenders then fucked off.

[mippy]

My Uncle and his Keep It In The Family co-star Pauline Yates did some adverts for Qualcast lawn mowers and he's put one online - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBCg_9nuRw4 - I have no idea how much he got paid for them but I do know the advertising company decided that there was nowhere in England with the right colour grass, and so they were flown out to South Africa, and what was supposed to be a day and a half long shoot took seven days to complete.

It's actually quite common for ads to be shot there as it's cheaper to run a shoot, the weather is more reliable and the pool of available extras etc has the same ethnic diversity as the UK, which you can't count on so much in somewhere like Slovenia.

My mum is a huge fan of this guy https://www.gordonpoole.com/talent/alfie-moore/

[Small Man Big Horse]

It's actually quite common for ads to be shot there as it's cheaper to run a shoot, the weather is more reliable and the pool of available extras etc has the same ethnic diversity as the UK, which you can't count on so much in somewhere like Slovenia.

Huh, I guess that makes sense, and along the same lines it's probably why so many low budget horror films are made in Eastern Europe.