Lee Mack is one of the UK’s fastest and beloved comedies, known for his panel shows Would I Lie To You? and Duck Quacks Don’t Echo. The latest series of his hit sitcom Not Going Out is arriving on our TV screens this Friday, March 25.
And while he is a household name thanks to those primetime shows, Lee 'Mack' isn't his real name - it's his stage name. The Southport-born comic, who first came to prominence at the 1995 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, was born Lee McKillop.
He also had an interesting first job before hitting the comedy circuit - mucking out for the famous racehorse Red Rum, the three-time Grand National winner. Mack got the job after being in a desperate situation after dropping out of his college due to failing his O-Levels.
Without anything better to do Mack managed to wrangle his way into this role, despite him never even riding a horse prior to the job. The first horse Mack ever rode was indeed Red Rum himself. All this experience at working in the stables might have informed one of Mack’s first TV appearances in a sketch about a rapid talking jockey on The Sketch Show.
In addition to his racehorse antics, 53-year-old Mack is also an extremely keen darts player who regularly plays with former Not Going Out star Tim Vine. He once held two darts world records, which he achieved on the same day while filming TV competition, Let's Play Darts back in 2015. The first was the most darts hitting the number two section in one minute and the second being the most inner and outer bullseyes in a minute. Disappointingly, Mack’s two world records were beaten by Ricky Evans and James Wade in 2020 and 2016, respectively.
Mack was born in Southport in 1968 and grew up in Southport and Blackburn, as his parents separated when he was 12. He dropped out of school after he failed his O-Levels which resulted in Mack also working in a Bingo Hall and later as a Blue Coat entertainer at Pontins, which he was sacked from after a drunken attempt at stand-up comedy.
The Not Going Out star then went on to study and graduate from Brunel University, where he started his own comedy club. From this, he wrote and acted in the UK and American versions of The Sketch Show and since has had an illustrious career in comedy.
Mack has had three stand-up tours around the country, with his 2010 show Going Out Live selling out well in advance. As well this he has been a team captain on Would I Lie To You? for 15 years and made another sitcom in 2020, Semi-Detached, on top of the 16 year long Not Going Out series.
Mack is married to his university sweetheart, Tara Mckillop, who he married privately in 2005. They had their first child together in 2004 called Arlo and they have had two children since then called Louie and Millie. The family of five now live together in Surrey
The twelfth series of Not Going Out will run to the end of April on BBC One, and you can see it every Friday at 9:30pm.
