Daniel Frederick Wallace (born 16 November 1976) is a British filmmaker, comedian, writer, and presenter of radio and television. His notable works include the books Join Me, Yes Man, and the TV series How to Start Your Own Country.
He lives in London, with his wife, an Australian publicist. Throughout Danny's books, his wife is referred to as "Lizzie", at her request.
Wallace was born in Dundee, Scotland and attended Park Place Primary School but also grew up in Loughborough and Bath, England. He began writing reviews for video game magazines at the age of 13 for school work experience: a reviewer had become ill and so Wallace was given the opportunity to review a game. At 18 he started writing comedy, mainly through the magazine Comedy Review. He specialised in radio production at the University of Westminster.
Early career and journalism
At 22, he became a BBC producer. He was part of the production team behind British Comedy Award-winning Dead Ringers, the critically-acclaimed cult hit The Mighty Boosh, and Ross Noble Goes Global.
As a journalist, Wallace has worked for The Guardian, The Independent and other publications.
Wallace currently has a column in the free weekly publication Shortlist. In September 2009 it was announced in this column that he and his wife were expecting their first child together. Their son was born on 30 December 2009.
In 1999, Wallace challenged comedian Dave Gorman, who at the time was his flatmate, to find 54 other people called Dave Gorman ("one for every card in the deck, including the Jokers"). Wallace accompanied Gorman on his quest and the men created Are You Dave Gorman?, an award-winning comedy stage show about what happened during their journey. A BBC series, also co-written and co-produced by Wallace, followed, as did a book, written by both men.
Join Me
In 2003, Wallace's book Join Me was published. The book explains how he "accidentally started a 'cult'" (or rather, a "collective") called Join Me. The movement is now generally referred to as the "Karma Army", although members are still typically "Joinees". He became a minor celebrity in Belgium whilst on his quest for Joinees. While on a book tour through America, Wallace was dubbed a "Generation X legend" by the Wisconsin State Journal .
Random Acts of Kindness: 365 Ways To Make the World A Nicer Place
Wallace next wrote a short book called Random Acts of Kindness: 365 Ways To Make the World A Better Place, with the help of submissions from Joinees. It includes many humorous Random Acts of Kindness (RAoK) ideas, such as "Contradict Demeaning Graffiti", and "Hide a surprise under someone's pillow. (Horses' heads are discouraged.)"
Yes Man
Wallace's second solo book, Yes Man was published in July 2005. In it, he describes how he spent six months "saying Yes where one would have said No", to make his life more interesting and positive. In this book he shows the tribulations and mischief that he got up to while he said yes to any question or proposal.
A film adaptation of Yes Man was developed with Warner Bros. and stars Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel. It was released on 19 December 2008 in the US and 26 December 2008 in the UK. Wallace appeared on screen as an extra.
A film tie-in edition of the book Yes Man was published by Ebury Press on 4 December 2008.
The DVD of Yes Man was released in April 2009 and received a 1 out of 5 star review from The Independent. Two days later, it received 4 out of 5 from The Independent on Sunday.
Danny Wallace and the Centre of the Universe
Danny Wallace and the Centre of the Universe was published in 2006. It is linked with World Book Day which in 2006 was on Thursday 2 March. It tells the story of Wallace's trip to Idaho, to visit a manhole cover in a small town, whose residents have proclaimed it the centre of the universe. The cover identifies it as a "Quick Read"; the price and length of the book have been curbed in order to encourage people who may not often read books to purchase it.
Friends Like These
Wallace's book, Friends Like These, was released on the 3 July 2008, and tells the story of how he spent a summer trying to track down his old school friends..
Awkward Situations for Men
Danny's latest book Awkward Situations for Men was released on 3 June 2010. Danny recently filmed a pilot episode based on the book for an ABC TV-show based around a British man (Danny) trying to cope with American life, only to end up in Awkward Situations.
Wallace began television presenting in 2004. In 2005, Wallace presented a documentary comedy, How to Start Your Own Country, in which he started his own micronation — "Lovely" — in his London flat. Beginning late August 2005 he co-presented on BBC One's Saturday night show He's Having a Baby with Davina McCall, which ran at the same time as his BBC Two series, How to Start Your Own Country. The latter won two BAFTAs in early 2006.
Other work
Wallace contributed ideas to and appeared in the hidden camera show World Shut Your Mouth. He has presented a few shows for Sky including the first series of Conspiracies..., Secrets of the CIA and Danny Wallace's Hoax Files.
In 2006 he made a short foray into acting with a small non-speaking role in The IT Crowd, a Channel 4 sitcom. He presented a new entertainment quiz for the BBC called School's Out, in which celebrities are quizzed on topics they learned at school. It first aired on BBC One (except in Scotland) on 5 April 2006, and a second series followed in 2007. The second series has been promoted to prime time Saturday night. Guests include Graham Norton, Jo Brand, Adrian Edmondson, Patrick Kielty, Duncan James, and Dominic Wood.
On 2 September 2006 Wallace became co-presenter of Test the Nation with Anne Robinson, replacing Phillip Schofield.
He also presented an episode of Horizon that aired on the 10 October 2006, in which Wallace tried to prove that chimps are people too. He was the first person in 43 years to be asked to front an edition of BBC2's flagship science programme. However, the programme was criticised for its superficial and simplistic treatment of the subject matter.
On 16 December 2008 he presented his second episode of Horizon on BBC 2. Where's My Robot? features Wallace travelling the world to meet roboticists and ask "Where's my robot?". The documentary is based on the belief in the 1980s that by the next century personal robots would be available and be an accepted part of society. Wallace investigates why it did not become a reality and whether it will in the future.
Wallace presented the new series of reality show Castaway on BBC One. The series was live from Great Barrier Island in New Zealand for three months, beginning 9 March 2007.
In 4 January 2008 Danny appeared on a celebrity spin-off episode of the BBC's Mastermind. His specialist subject was the Ghostbusters films, he didn't get a single question wrong on the subject. He came third with 27 points.
From 9 February 2008 to October 2008 Wallace presented a weekly show at 10am-2pm on Saturday Mornings at the radio station, Xfm London. They left after they were asked to pre-record their show instead of broadcast live, which would have taken away from the interactive nature of the show.
He appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 20 June 2008.
In 2009, he emerged as the voice of Classic fm, introducing new shows, regular competitions and features which have all been recorded previously.
On 31 Jan 2009, he stood in for Adam and Joe on 6Music. He followed this up by another stint on 6Music, standing in for Shaun Keaveny's breakfast show for two weeks in May 2009. He stood in for Adam and Joe again for seven weeks over the summer of 2009 with XFM DJ Pete Donaldson.
He regularly presents the National Lottery live draw on BBC 1.
He lent his face and voice to one of the most successful 2009 video games' sequels Assassin's Creed II, released in November 2009. He was contacted by Ubisoft when he went to the BAFTA video game awards with a friend. He voiced a historian named Shaun Hastings.On Christmas 2009 Danny Wallace and Richard Bacon hosted a radio show called Wallace and Bacon- Make Christmas Better
