Rowan Atkinson



"No, well I don't tend to find things funny."

- After being asked if he ever laughed at his own work.

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 1955) is an English comedian, actor and writer, famous for his work on the classic sitcoms Blackadder, The Thin Blue Line and Mr. Bean, as well as doing the voice-over for Zazu in The Lion King and sketch comedy in Not the Nine O'Clock News. He is a master of the deadpan snark and has a filmography that would make most other actors go green in envy with most of the things on it a major success. A perfectionist to the point of frustration, he is infamous for stopping partway through a take and apologising because he wants to try again.

Behind the scenes, he's a car enthusiast and minorly takes part in autoracing. In Top Gear he is currently the second fastest "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car".


 * Blackadder
 * Doctor Who: The Curse of Fatal Death! (A parody)
 * Four Weddings and a Funeral
 * Hot Shots! Part Deux
 * Johnny English
 * The Lion King
 * Love Actually
 * The Mr. Bean movies and series
 * Never Say Never Again
 * Rat Race
 * Scooby Doo the live-action movie
 * The Thin Blue Line
 * The Witches

"Mr. Perkins: Are you mad? Headmaster: I'm furious!"
 * Bearer of Bad News: In "Pink Tights and Plenty of Props", along with the Bearer Of Indifferent News, the Bearer Of Bad News That The Messenger Thought Would Be Good News But Didn't Read In Advance And Consequently Got Quite A Shock, and the Bearer Of Really Really Bad News.
 * Bitter Wedding Speech
 * Brick Joke: The frothing mug of ale in "Pink Tights and Plenty of Props"
 * Comically Missing the Point: In "Fatal Beatings"

"Satan: You're all here for eternity, which I hardly need tell you is a heck of a long time."
 * The Comically Serious: It must be seen to be believed.
 * Corporal Punishment: "Fatal Beatings"
 * Deadpan Snarker: As seen most prominently in Blackadder.
 * Dean Bitterman: "Fatal Beatings"; "Roll Call"
 * Don't Fear the Reaper: Played with in "The Devil's Welcome".
 * Evil Twin: In "Pink Tights and Plenty of Props"
 * Gonk
 * Gosh Dang It to Heck: In "First Day of Hell"

"Schoolmaster: Anus. Arse-bandit. Bottom. Clitoris."
 * Inherently Funny Words: His schoolmaster sketch employs this trope heavily and to hilarious effect. Atkinson's pronunciation of the (increasingly ridiculous) names is reminiscent of his use of the name "Bob" in the various Blackadder series.
 * Turned Up to Eleven in the version of this sketch from Rowan Atkinson Live (it's called "No One Called Jones"), where the names are simply filthy. Can be found here.

"Vicar: He then took out a saw and cleft her in twain."
 * In the Back: Subverted in "Pink Tights and Plenty of Props" (the guy he's about to stab in the back gets him first)
 * Large Ham
 * Left It In: On one of his comedy albums, he suggests putting his 'Madonna' song in to fill up spare time on the album. Angus Deayton asks to hear it. After Atkinson has sung it, Deayton mutters "No way are we including that".
 * Lost in Transmission
 * Punny Name: "Roll Call"
 * Saw a Woman In Half: Mentioned in the "Wedding in Cana" routine, in which Atkinson as a vicar gives a Bible reading that starts out as the traditional water-into-wine story, then takes a left turn after the servants beg Jesus to show them another trick.


 * Shoot the Messenger: In "Pink Tights and Plenty of Props"
 * Take a Moment to Catch Your Death: In "Pink Tights and Plenty of Props"