Waen Shepherd

Waen Shepherd
Waen Shepherd as Gary le Strange
Born	Waen Origen Shepherd (1971-10-23) 23 October 1971 (age 45) Castleford, Yorkshire, England, UK
Occupation	Comic actor, musical/character comedian, writer, electronic music composer
Years active	1992–present
Spouse(s)	Katy Darby

Waen Shepherd (born 1971) is an English actor and comedian. Originally from Yorkshire, England, he now lives in London.

Following his days as a stand-up poet and fringe actor, Shepherd started out performing bizarre experimental monologues at the early Cluub Zarathustra, touring with spoof techno band and Edinburgh sell-out The Pod, which the Guardian called "the future of techno comedy" and the NME "the musical comedy event of the festival". He hosted the underground cabaret Gritty Fingers and smashed up Cornish pasties in the guise of ranting Northern madman William Whicker.

He graduated from Oxford University in 1993, with a degree in Philosophy and Psychology.

He went on to co-write and narrate award-winning animation The Wolfman (screened on Channel 4 and subsequently worked into an advertisement for the Sony Playstation), before writing, directing and starring in his own animation Origen's Wake for Channel 4's Comedy Lab series.

Since then, Shepherd concentrated on developing a number of comedy characters on stage, partly through his work as one half of Shepherd & Farnaby in their shows Animal Pie and Peterford Golf Club, and partly through his solo work on the comedy circuit. He has appeared at clubs such as The Comedy Store, Jongleurs, The Stand Comedy Club (Edinburgh), The Comedy Box (Bristol) and The Stoke Pub in Guildford.

In 2003 Shepherd created a deluded monster in the form of Gary Le Strange, melding his love of composing with that of creating original comedy characters. He went on to win the Perrier Award Best Newcomer (2003) for that debut performance. He achieved cult success, hosting a "Club Le Strange" comedy evening at The Albany in London.