Moira Quirk
London, England, United Kingdom | AFTRA
Music
Press
"Quirk suggests something remarkable in her stand-up act which immediately presents itself to the audience as more than a stand-up act... Her biggest struggle she explains, in her delicate and almost hypnotic tone, is trying to be a good girl. She's trying, but she keeps slipping up and doing naughty things. One of them is slipping little "nasty" words into her act. By doing so, she manages what would seem to be the impossible act of reviving the sense of shock that "blue" comedy triggered in the 1950s before Lenny Bruce broke the walls down. Quirk does not launch into a raunch routine. Her act is a sly, brilliant take on the American perception of British reserve, concealing a capacity for outrageousness. She knows what we think we know, and even tells us she knows, and nevertheless surprises us every step of the way. She makes it all go down with precision delivery and crisp timing. Some bits about apartment neighbors, narrating tapes for the Braille Institute and strip-teasing to the post-modernized Baroque music of Michael Nyman may just become classics." LA Times
- LA TIMES
Moira Quirk is aptly named, playing a prim and proper British accent against a wicked sense of humor and a touch of gleeful malice. She describes the disadvantages of being a "good girl," delivers a feminist revision of the Book of Genesis, and traces her travails as a reader of books for the blind: Given a tome filled with Ebonics, she says she's "Julie Andrews as Scatman Crothers." Further episodes include an encounter with a special-effects maven who creates a flame spouting vagina, and a spirited send up of British and American folkways."
- LA WEEKLY
"Moira Quirk, an exquisite English rose seriously resembling Charlie Chaplin, reenacts a fantasy soft -shoe while queued up for a restroom at the Getty, singing in German, French and English to tourist ladies. Bewildered by her own "boobies," she defines birth as "squeezing a life out of a very small aperture," and vaunts her munificence in having given her husband a child since, "He's very nearly gay." LA WEEKLY Pick of the Week
"Moira Quirk takes language on a roller-coaster ride." Backstage West/Dramalogue
"Quirk, in particular, is a terrific performer- deadpan, soft-spoken, and amusingly vehement." Orlando Sentinel
"She is a born comic." Backstage West/Dramalogue
- LA Weekly, Backstage West
Do you have it? GUTS
Teams tackle the Aggro Crag for a piece of radical rock at Kent GUTS
Katelyn Luysterborg
Issue date: 11/5/07 Section: News
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Forty-five teams tested their abilities in the ultimate action sports challenge, "GUTS: Rec Services Style," Friday night.
The Student Recreation and Wellness Center transformed into the Extreme Arena, and the event featured former GUTS referee, Moira Quirk, also known as Mo.
"Kent State — go bust ass!" Quirk said in the opening ceremony. "Go bust ass!"
The teams, each consisting of six players, battled it out in six different events for the trophy, a piece of the Aggro Crag.
The events had competitors climbing through the elastic jungle, riding tricycles and doing the crab walk around the track, throwing footballs through tires — all leading up to the infamous Aggro Crag. The competitors climbed the rock-climbing wall while dodging Styrofoam boulders and trying to retrieve flags attached to the wall.
During halftime, Quirk performed part of her comedy show and took questions from the audience. Quirk joked with students while she answered questions about her stint on GUTS and her personal life.
"I knew nothing about American sports — or sports at home," Quirk said of getting the job on GUTS. "(It's) a job that I had no right to get."
Quirk lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two daughters. She still talks to Mike O'Malley, and their kids have play dates. She thinks it's awesome that people still remember the show.
"It's amazing to me how popular the show was," said Quirk, who still gets recognized by college students. "I had no idea at the time."
In the end, team Vendetta won the glowing piece of the radical rock.
"It's a lot more than I was expecting," said Kim McDonald, a freshman exploratory major and member of the Silver Snakes. "They should continue doing it."
Jason Hawk, interim director for the rec center, agreed.
"It went extremely well," Hawk said. "Everyone was excited about having Mo here."
Contact Student Recreation and Wellness Center reporter Katelyn Luysterborg at kluyster@kent.edu.
- KENT STATE-
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
Moira grew up in idyllic England where everyone is polite and says charming little phrases such as pip pip (goodbye) and Blimey! (my goodness!) She moved to the Smoke (London) to go to University where she studied English and Drama (Reading and Prancing). On graduating she paid a trip to her grandmother (aged relative) in Florida (swamp) and stayed. For four seasons she was the co-host and referee (authority figure in striped shirt) on the Ace and Emmy award nominated show GUTS (Do you have it?) for Nickelodeon (Childrens network, likes orange and reruns).
She has guest-starred on such shows as Hyperion Bay, Fudge and Figure it Out and played Daria in MV24, a Brillstein/Grey pilot (funny TV sitcom, therefore un-aired). As a stand-up comic she has performed at The Ice House, The Comedy Store, The Laugh Factory and Luna Park/Moomba/Club Dorscia. The LA Times said, Quirk suggests something remarkable in her stand-up act, which immediately presents itself to the audience as more than a stand-up act.
LA WEEKLY said, Moira Quirk is aptly named playing a prim and proper British accent against a wicked sense of humor and a touch of gleeful malice.
She has been an essayist (uses words to be pert and opinionated) on KPFK and is a regular contributor and performer at Story Salon held every Wednesday evening at Jennifers in Studio City. She has provided voices (comes to work with no make-up on) for characters on several cartoons including Johnny Bravo, Hey Arnold! Whats New Scooby Doo?, Oh Yeah! Cartoons!, The Wild Thornberrys and U2U. Currently she is the voice of Brit Krust on Nicktoons My Life as a Teenage Robot and Jane in The Wild Thornberrys Movie. She has enjoyed performing her solo shows (plenty of room in the dressing room.) Her last show Domestic Bliss and Vaudeville- performed as a double-bill with husband Michael Rayner- was an LA WEEKLY Pick of the Week. (Blimey!)
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