Jim Sweeney

Comedian, actor, and writer, Jim Sweeney, was born in February 1955 in sunny Bournemouth. He is perhaps best known for his talents in improvisational comedy, featuring in regular appearances on Channel 4′s Whose Line Is It Anyway? and The Comedy Store Players at the Comedy Store in London.

Jim has occasionally been criticised for taking improvisation too seriously; a long-time fan of BBC TV’s Ready Steady Cook, Sweeney regularly hosts “surprise” dinner parties with his Comedy Store buddies, where he has to concoct an improvised meal against the clock from a series of surprise ingredients bought by his improvisational partner in crime, Steve Steen.

In 1990, Sweeney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which has unfortunately restricted him to a wheelchair in recent years. However, this has by no means prevented his genius and charm from excelling; in 2006, Sweeney took his fourth play, Cabin Fever, to the Edinburgh Festival, and since 2007 has starred in two series of Radio 4’s improvisation comedy sketch show The Lawrence Sweeney Mix, with fellow Comedy Store Player, Josie Lawrence.

The NHA therefore hereby pay tribute to the legend that is Jim Sweeney, as we crown him the first Unsung Hero of 2009!