Garth Marenghi

Garth Marenghi
Matthew Holness as Garth Marenghi
Created by	Matthew Holness Richard Ayoade
Portrayed by	Matthew Holness
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Horror Author, self-described dream-weaver and visionary, plus actor
Spouse(s)	Pam
Children	Meredith, Jocasta, Katrina, and one daughter that has yet to be named.
Nationality	British

Garth Marenghi (born 1950) is a fictional horror author and actor, created by English comedians Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade, and played by Holness. To date, the character has appeared in two stage shows, the Perrier Award-nominated Garth Marenghi's Fright Knight and Perrier Award-winning Garth Marenghi's Netherhead, and the Channel 4 TV series Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and Man to Man with Dean Learner.

After winning the Perrier Award, the creators confounded media sources by refusing to speak out of character, or give real names or backgrounds. As such, early reports speak of Garth Marenghi, and his publisher, Dean Learner, in character.

Garth Marenghi is a spoof pulp horror author; his act, and his works are considered a parody of the horror genre. The name "Garth Marenghi" is an anagram of the phrase "argh nightmare."

The character is highly conceited and narcissistic, often describing himself through epithets such as "the dream weaver", "shaman", "titan of terror", "The One Man Fear Factory" and "master of the macabre." In interviews, he compares himself positively with James Joyce, Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci and Jesus.

Despite this, Marenghi displays a general ignorance of many subjects of which he claims knowledge. He claims to be self-taught, having left school young ("I knew by the age of eight that my education had finished"), and despite his claims to being a literary genius he rarely reads books. When he needs to learn about a subject, he will "hire someone to go and find out about it." In both stage shows, in the official website, and in numerous interviews he claims to have written more books than he has read.