Paul Shearer is an English actor, best known for his roles in The Fast Show and The Russ Abbot Show. Together with Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson, and Hugh Laurie, Shearer was a member of the Cambridge University's Footlights ensemble which won the first ever Perrier Comedy Award in 1981. , Shearer works as a property journalist.
Shearer attended Lancing College between 1973 and 1978. He graduated from St John's College, Cambridge in 1981 with a degree in computer science. After graduating he lived in a flat with Peter Cook and Hugh Laurie. He married actor Vicky Licorish in 1994. On 30 October 2024, their 25-year-old child Cal Shearer, who was transgender, non-binary and autistic, was found dead in their dorm room at St John's College, Oxford, in an apparent suicide by hanging.
On the Footlights committee, Shearer held the position of "Club Falconer", which, according to Fry, "went back to the days when the Footlights were quartered in Falcon Yard." He partnered with Nick Hytner in a sketch Graffiti on the Wall. He also wrote for A Sense of Nonsense and The Cellar Tapes.
A selection of television appearances include:
Also, Les Dennis Laughter Show, Abracadabra â children's comedy, CHBC, The Max Headroom Show and Who Dares Wins.
Shearer was a writer on the following shows:
As a property journalist Shearer has written for The Financial Times, The Times and France Magazine.