Simon Donald is a co-founder and was co-editor of the Britishcomic magazineViz until 2003. He set up the magazine in 1979 with his brother Chris from a bedroom in Newcastle. His most famous creation for the magazine is probably Sid the Sexist. When Chris quit as editor in 1999, Simon took up the role of co-editor along with Graham Dury, Simon Thorp, Davey Jones and Alex Collier. He and Alex left the magazine in 2003.
Biography
Simon Donald was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1964. He attended West Jesmond Infant School 1969–1973, West Jesmond Junior School 1973–1975, Heaton School 1975–1980, and Newcastle College of Arts & Technology 1981–1983. In 1976 Donald joined Newcastle’s People’s Theatre, training in theatre skills. He acted in several of the theatre’s ground breaking Young People’s Theatre productions He worked as assistant stage manager for the RSC on their People's Theatre visit in 1977. He also performed at the Gulbenkian Theatre. He left the People's in 1980. Between 1981 and 1983 S Donald was singer and lyricist with comedy rock band Johnny Shiloe’s Movement Machine. The band comprised Dave Rose, Paul Rose and Gary Shaw. In 1981 he appeared in an episode of BBC2’s Something Else programme. In 1983 he co-wrote and appeared in an episode Sparks, also on BBC2. He specialised as an antagonist on Carlton Television's live debate programmes in the early 1990s, and moved on to play important roles in the BBC’s I Love series and Channel 4’s 100 Greatest. He presented a self-penned film at the launch of BBC Choice, and did the same for a project by Carlton ‘The Great London Debate’. In 2004 he presented The Regionnaires, a six-part north-east regional panel show broadcast on ITV Tyne Tees, which he co-wrote with his former Viz partner Alex Collier. In 2005 he met Hungover Stuntmen and in 2006 joined their management team. He became their sole manager in 2007. The band recorded an album in Ibiza, played the Ibiza Rocks Festival two years running and appeared at Newcastle Arena with Paul Weller. His work with the band stopped when Simon became full-time carer for his eldest brother Steve, who was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2008 and died the following November.
Standup comedy
In 2005 Donald started performing stand-up comedy. Initially working the circuit on Tyneside and Wearside where he compered both The Horse’s Mouth in Newcastle and Mack’em Laugh in Sunderland. After taking a break to care for his terminally ill brother Donald returned to stand-up comedy, beginning to appear on stage as the characters he had previously talked about in his routine. He soon picked up representation by "Off The Kerb" one of the largest producers and managers of comedy in the UK. In the summer of 2009 he moved to London to work the comedy circuit in the capital, as well as gigs around the United Kingdom, which included runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2009 and 2010. He has performed his Sold Outsolo show in Newcastle. In 2012–13, he hosted spoof-panel show Fuckwits at The Stand Comedy Club in Newcastle.
