Matthew Holness

Born in Whitstable Kent in 1975 Matthew Holness is an English comedian actor writer and director He is best known for his comic creation the fictional horror novelist Garth Marenghi He read English at Trinity College Cambridge and was vicepresident of the Cambridge Footlights His contemporaries included Footlights president David Mitchell Robert Webb Olivia Colman and his Marenghi cowriter Richard Ayoade Holness first appeared on television as a castmember of the 2000 BBC Choice TV series Bruiser which starred Mitchell Webb Colman and Martin Freeman In that same year he won the Perrier at the Edinburgh Fringe for Garty Marenghis Fright Night which was transferred to UK television in the guise of the 2004 Channel 4 horror comedy Garth Marenghis Darkplace Other credits include 2006s Man to Man with Dean Learner several productions with Ricky Gervais such as The Office Lifes Too Short and Cemetery Junction and the 2017 Channel 4 sitcom Back which starred Mitchell and Webb In 2018 he made his feature length directorial debut with the film Possum having previously helmed short films The Snipist and A Gun For George