Chris Morris has been a powerful force in comedy for twenty years. His parody of radio news, On the Hour, was so sharp that some listeners thought it was the real thing. In 1994 it came to television as The Day Today, a classic deconstruction of the inanity of news programs and personalities. The show launched Morris’ career, earning him the Best TV Comedy Newcomer Award from the British Comedy Awards. It also launched talents like Armando Ianucci (The Thick of It, In the Loop), Steve Coogan (I’m Alan Partridge, 24 Hour Party People) and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Patrick Marber.

In 1997 Morris returned to television with the groundbreaking and massively influential Brass Eye. Taking target at the media’s tendencies to sensationalize and exploit crime and tragedy, Brass Eye went one step further than The Day Today by tricking prominent lawmakers and media personalities into supporting impossible causes. In one episode members of Parliament threw their uninformed outrage at fake drugs like Cake; in another deluded celebrities came to the aid of a made-up elephant with her trunk stuck in her own anus. Brass Eye‘s proudest moment, though, may have been the Paedogeddon! special in 2001; the episode’s almost clinical dissection of media fear mongering about pedophiles made not just for brilliant comedy but also brought in an at-the-time record number of viewer complaints.

Morris turned away from news satire with his next series, the dark and surreal Jam. A sketch show unlike any that had ever aired, Jam alternated between hilarious and disconcerting; edgy, strange and unsettling, Jam actually made #26 on Channel 4′s 100 Greatest Scary Moments list. Out of Jam spun My Wrongs #8245-8249 & 117, which won Morris the 2003 BAFTA for Best Short Film.

Recently Morris has been seen on the popular sitcom The IT Crowd, and co-wrote and produced the cult sensation Nathan Barley. FOUR LIONS is Morris’ debut feature.