Matt Morgan

Matt Morgan
Photo of Morgan at the BBC Original Victim
Date of Birth	10 August 1977
Place of Birth	Dartford, England
Education	Dartford Grammar School
Occupation	Comedy writer and radio presenter
Partner	Katie Morgan
Parents	Bob Morgan, Sue Morgan

Matthew "Matt" Morgan is an English comedian, writer and presenter. He is best known for co-hosting The Russell Brand Show on BBC Radio 6 Music (2006), BBC Radio 2 (2006 - 2008) and Radio X (2017-), as well as a number of other audio projects. His exploits and observations garnered him a strong social media following, which took the name 'The Matt Morgan Appreciation Society'. As of November 2017, the Facebook group has over five thousand members.

Matt in the April 2009 edition of Q magazine, reviewing an Oasis gig.

Early life

Morgan was born on 10 August 1977, in Dartford, Kent to Bob and Sue Morgan. He attended Dartford Grammar School, but was expelled shortly before taking his final exams. He maintains that this was an conspiracy on the school's part to raise their aggregate marks. A number of unusual incidents mark Morgan's childhood. On a school trip to a farm, he pushed a chicken into a sow's enclosure, before admitting his actions to the farmer. In addition to this, a crow lived in his wall, which resulted in a lasting phobia.

Work with Russell Brand

Morgan first came into contact with Russell Brand when working as an intern at MTV. Although Morgan was initially skeptical of the extent of Brand's talents, they bonded over Brand's giant African snails on a promotional trip across the United Kingdom and Ireland. The pair soon became an inseparable comedic duo. During Brand's escalating drug dependency, Morgan often provided the inspiration behind their programs. It is from this period that Dancefloor Charts,RE:Brand and other, smaller programs emerged.

BBC radio career

In 2005, Brand teamed with Karl Pilkington to host four stand-in radio broadcasts for BBC 6 Music. This led to The Russell Brand Show, a permanent program that debuted on the station in April 2006, with Morgan, Brand and collaborator Trevor Lock as the primary hosts. This show ran until November of that year, at which time the team received a promotion to BBC Radio 2. When Lock left the show at the end of March 2007, the combination between Brand and Morgan became more prominent.

On the radio show, Morgan featured as the straight man to Brand's usually outrageous and wacky persona, often mimicking Brand's Dot Cotton-esque accent and singing timbre. He also was the foil of such stories as "Apocalyto with the director's commentary on" and the infamous "Pin-Pinning incident" for which he was given the moniker of "The Original Victim". He was also present during Ricky, Steve and Karl's respective interviews on the show, and was the announcer during Steve's appearance on 1 Leicester Square.

Tensions appeared to emerge towards the end of the show's Radio 2 run. Morgan was on a holiday absence for the final few weeks, including the episode that contained the infamous Sachsgate phone calls.

Writing career

Despite his presenting roles, Morgan primarily works as a writer. His early work is not entirely credited, given the unprofessional nature of the production. In RE: Brand, he is cited as "Matt", a researcher but, as he later noted in an interview with Brand and Lock, he often worked in a number of areas due to lack of crew.

He has also been credited as a writer for other Brand works, notably "Russell Brand's Ponderland", for which he was also named as a "Creative Director". Morgan also worked on Brand's award-winning standup.

Following the temporary dissolution of their writing partnership, Morgan began work on other projects. From 2008, he has worked on such TV shows as The Mimic and Hospital People. He received a shared BAFTA TV Award nomination in 2008 for Ponderland.

Return to radio and podcasts

After the collapse of their BBC Radio 2 show, Morgan and Brand collaborated on a number of audio programs but their major return was in February 2015 when audioBoom signed them up to produce a series of 24 episodes. Following the success of these podcasts, the pair made their return to live radio on 2 April 2017, signing a six month contract with London station Radio X.

Morgan has gained a much invigorated profile from the new shows. As of November 2017, he has just under fifteen thousand Instagram followers. The Matt Morgan Appreciation Society receives regular mentions and often plays a fundamental role in generating content for the show. A meetup was organised for August 2017, at which Morgan, Brand and a host of lovably-degenerate appreciators were in attendance.

Personal life

Morgan married his American wife Katie in Las Vegas in 2008. She is mentioned in a number of podcasts and is present in a video recording from a Radio 2 show. The pair have two children: Coen and Winter. in his spare time, Morgan enjoys 'survivalism' and his obsession with such things has led to a pseudo-romantic relationship with Ed Stafford.