Neil Bratchpiece

Bratchpiece was born in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland on 24 October 1983, into a family of Jewish descent[2] and attended Dalziel High School. His father Mark, and brother David were both stand-up comedians. Bratchpiece started his involvement in comedy whilst at school, winning the Glasgow heat of the Fanta Teen Comedy Awards with a friend, then performing in the finals at the Comedy Store in London.[3][4] He studied English, Film and Television Studies at the University of Glasgow.[5][6]

The Wee Man character first rose to prominence when he appeared in the viral YouTube video "Here You (That'll Be Right)" by NEDS Kru which had a million views by the start of August 2007.[7][8] By 2021, the video had garnered over 4.5 million views[9] and featured the character fulfilling the role of a stereotypical Scottish "ned", drinking Buckfast Tonic Wine.[10]

Bratchpiece continued to perform regular shows with family members.[11][12] A later regular show was styled around a pub quiz.[13] By 2012 they had performed at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival for ten consecutive years.[4] They were booked as a comedy act for the RockNess 2012 festival.[14] In 2014 he performed in Keir McAllister's dark comedic play Hindsight.[15]

He was involved with "Comedian Rap Battle" performances, which brought a Scottish take on rap battling. Performing in Glasgow initially, the rhythm was different to normal comedy performances,[16] but with Ro Campbell he took the concept to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2013,[17] and gained some praise.[18] He performed at the T in the Park in 2014.[19]

Bratchpiece had entered sketch writing through an unusual route,[20] however he established himself as a regular performer on the Scottish stand-up comedy circuit.[21] At the Scottish Comedy Awards, he won the category of best writer in 2017[22] and made the shortlist in 2019.[23]

Since 2010, The Wee Man character has appeared as a manager, occasional commentator and occasional wrestler for Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), a Scottish-based professional wrestling promotion.[24][25][26] In ICW, he managed a tag team called 'The Bucky Boys', consisting of Davey Boy and Stevie Boy, using a boisterous ned gimmick for the stable.[27] The team were featured prominently in a documentary produced by Vice magazine called 'The British Wrestler'.[28] The company has since risen to prominence through the BBC Scotland documentary Insane Fight Club.[29]

Bratchpiece has made several television appearances, including BBC Scotland sitcom Scot Squad,[8] Episode 1.5 in 2014), and Channel 4 show Scotland in a Day.[30] He has also performed on radio, most notably as part of sketch group Endemic on BBC Radio 4 show Sketchorama.[20]

• Neil Bratchpiece at IMDb