Richard Ellef Ayoade ( , born 12 June 1977) is an English actor, writer, TV presenter, and director. He is best known as
Maurice Moss in
The IT Crowd — for which he won the 2014
BAFTA for Best Male Comedy Performance — and as
Dean Learner in
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. He has directed films such as
Submarine,
The Double, starring
Jesse Eisenberg, and various music videos for bands such as
Arctic Monkeys,
Vampire Weekend,
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and
Kasabian. Ayoade has often worked alongside
Noel Fielding,
Julian Barratt,
Matt Berry, and
Rich Fulcher in shows such as
The Mighty Boosh and
Nathan Barley, is a team captain on panel show
Was It Something I Said? and presents the factual show
Gadget Man.