Micky Zany’s Update and Review to 2020

Wow! Lots has happened since Micky's last review so here goes! Early 2016 saw him cruising from Ponta Delgarda in the Azores back to Southampton on three separate occasions, once on Oriana and twice on Oceana. Micky has worked with many wonderful and interesting lecturers over the years on cruises but none more fascinating than Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards! What an experience he endured to represent Great Britain in the 1988 Olympics and the film told it all. He is a lovely, warm guy full of humour and humility.

More cruises followed on Balmoral, Oceana and Black Watch and Micky was also asked to perform at the Leiston Theatre in Suffolk in 'The Good Old Days' which was a great production. He held his annual comedy night at The Orwell Hotel, Felixstowe, with favourite funny man, Mick Miller topping the bill and a great night was had by all with Mick performing his famous Noddy routine to finish!

Once again, the year turned out to be another very busy one for cruising including, specials to the Northern Lights in Alta on the Balmoral and a Caribbean cruise which also went up to New Orleans during 'Mardi Gras' which was a brilliant, colourful, party experience.

A stand out cruise for me this year was on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth in August. It was a Big band themed cruise, incorporating a 'Strictly' type Ballroom dancing competition in which Micky was asked to be a judge! Eat your heart out Craig Revel Horwood!

The last few months of another busy year saw work on Braemar, Boudicca, Azura, Oriana and Ventura. Welcome relief in between these cruises were gigs at Frinton Golf Club, Lords Cricket Ground, the Bobby Davro Golf Day at Langdon Hills, in Essex, and another Comedy Dinner and Dance at the Orwell Hotel with the fabulous Triple Cream Comedy Show Band.

At the start of 2018 Micky began working for Warner Leisure Hotels again, it had been a number of years since he had last performed at these prestigious venues. There are many Warner hotels across the country and he worked in most of them throughout the year. Warners have a cruising type audience on land and are adults only - what a result!

The month of January saw Micky do a Caribbean cruise on the Braemar working alongside the comedy magician, Mandy Muden, a great act who went on to do very well in Britain's Got Talent that year.

A stand out cruise had to be on Fred Olsen's Black Watch to Easter Island. This was certainly a 'bucket list' place to go and he sailed from Peru to Auckland over three weeks with only three ports along the way as we had to avoid a cyclone! Easter Island is famous for the very large Moai statues, 96 in total sticking out of the ground and facing away from the ocean spread out all over the island. They were carved out of rock in the National Park but no one seems to know how they moved them. Fascinating. We also had a visit from the people of Pitcairn Island, forty-seven in total, who came aboard Black Watch and set up their market stalls to sell the products they produce on the island, which is one of the most isolated and remotest inhabited islands in the world.

In April Micky was asked to perform at the Ipswich Hotel, Copdock in Ipswich, for Care After Combat, Jim Davidson's special charity which helps military veterans transition to civilian life. It was a fun packed evening with the Wattisham Military Wives Choir and music by the Austin Beats. Jim was on fine form and Micky was more than happy to do his bit for this very worthwhile cause and it was great to work with Jim again.

After the summer it was back to Fred Olsen's Braemar for a Captains in Cadiz cruise where all four ships in the fleet docked together for a festival and celebration day in Spain, another special, nostalgic occasion. Micky did further shows for Warners at Thorsby Hall, Nottingham; Littlecote House, Hungerford; Nidd Hall, Harrogate, Holme Lacy, Hereford, Gunton and Corton in Lowestoft. All fabulous venues with excellent facilities and he is very happy to be gigging for Warners again regularly.

There were more cruises on Azura, Ventura, Black Watch, Oceana and Oriana before the year was out and Micky felt very wistful to be on one of the last cruises of the great Oriana before she sailed off to the China seas! A wonderful ship holding many happy memories for him.

He performed at two local Rotary Christmas Dinners which were a refreshing change. There were a number of local dignitaries and friends in attendance which made these intimate, corporate evenings exciting and rewarding for him. Whether it be the Theatre Royal on Cunard or Dagenham Working Men's Club performers have to be ready for anything. He then sailed to New York on Cunard's Queen Mary II and had a three night stay in the Big Apple!

As we are now in another decade Micky cannot believe that it is twenty years since the Millennium and 2020 began with a transatlantic crossing on Cunard's Queen Victoria. He has an amazing passion for what he does and loves adding and writing new material and making people laugh, either on land or at sea. Micky says that continuing to do what he does best brings him real joy and as they say, laughter is the best medicine! Keep smiling throughout the next decade!


Following on from his brainstorming appearance on the BBC’s ‘Celebrity Eggheads’ with his great buddy Steve ‘The Vent’ Hewlett and friends, 2015 was yet another eventful and successful year for Micky.

There were a number of cruises scattered throughout the year for Fred Olsen, one of his favourite cruise lines. Since he started on the Black Prince in 1999 he always looks forward to sailing with Olsen on Braemar, Balmoral, Black Watch and Boudicca. After a Caribbean cruise on the stylish Braemar in January, one highlight of the year was sailing to Nova Scotia in September and cruising down the east coast of America and flying back from Nassau, Bahamas in October. It was a fabulous three weeks taking in many wonderful ports including overnight stays in Charleston, New York and Miami.

P&O Cruise Lines also played a major part in 2015. Having begun his cruising career in 1989 on the Canberra he performed once again for them on Aurora, Azura, Oriana, Oceana and Arcadia. Another highlight was on Aurora on the Auckland to Sydney leg of the World cruise in February and March which included stopovers in Singapore on the way to New Zealand and back from Australia.

April was a very busy month for Micky when he performed on the ‘Elvis’ anniversary cruise on Braemar visiting a full scale ‘Gracelands’ replica in Aarhus, Denmark!

Also this month he was honoured to be asked to perform on the inaugural cruise on the new Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas and subsequently sailed twice more on this luxury state of the art cruise liner over the summer – Disneyworld at sea!

May saw the publication of Micky’s life story, ‘Taking the Micky – Being Micky Zany by Michael Lander’. The idea to write the book came in 2005 and took ten years to complete. It is a fascinating insight into the career of a successful ‘almost famous’ comedian who has established himself as one of the funniest comedy entertainers in show business today.

It was a very busy summer, what with cruising and the ‘one-nighters’ and Micky was invited on to Radio Suffolk’s Mark Murphy show to promote the launch of his new autobiography.

October saw the introduction of the ‘Village Idiots’ East Anglian leg of their World tour extravaganza with his good buddies Leo Shavers and Andy Leach. This is a fun packed three hour variety show, a full night’s entertainment of comedy and musical mayhem and a welcome addition to their individual work commitments.

Also this month Micky performed once again at the Grand Hotel, Llandudno, at the annual comedy weekend for his very good friends John and Jo Martin. A great time was had by all, even though the fire alarm went off half way through Micky’s set! Luckily it turned out to be a false alarm and added to the hilarity as Micky got the situation back under control and went on to finish his set in his own inimitable style!

Micky held his own annual comedy gala in November at his favourite hotel ‘The Orwell’ in Felixstowe, Suffolk. Headlining this year was ‘Mick Miller’ one of Micky’s all-time favourite funny men. Another special night in November was the Fireworks Extravaganza at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton, when Micky took part in an all-day spectacular of entertainment.

In December Micky performed at the Regent Theatre, Ipswich with ‘Paul Zerdin’, the recent winner of ‘America’s Got Talent’, to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support, a wonderful cause. He also starred in the Clacton Christmas show at the lovely Westcliffe Theatre with a wonderful cast and crew. It was a super recipe for the festive season and full of Christmas spirit.

The year ended with a Canaries cruise on P&O’s Oceana with New Year’s Eve in Madeira enjoying their magnificent fireworks display in Funchal. It was a grand way to see out 2015 and bring in 2016 in style. Micky is looking forward to many more happy times to come in 2016!