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Possessed with a fabulously manic energy, Phil Ellis has firmly established a reputation as a unique and exciting stand up. This year he takes his debut solo show Phil Ellis - Unplanned Orphan to this years festival at the Underbelly Wee Coo.

His life was going great. He'd lost everything in a break-up, moved into a shared house in Manchester, been asked to leave his full-time employment and had just turned 30. It was at this point that his parents felt that the time was right to tell him that he was adopted. It wasn't, but it did answer the question that had been bothering him for years, 'Why am I a foot taller than the rest of my family?'

In this show Phil will explain how he had coped with losing his girlfriend, his home, his job and his pet rabbit within a matter of months. We will learn of how the stress had lead him to drinking to excess resulting in various disputes with the police and finally a trip to the theatre. It was an operating theatre, after a particularly excessive night Phil had an accident. He broke his nose, lost most of his teeth and had damaged his face to the point that he required reconstructive surgery. This incident finally made Phil realise that if he was ever going to be happy again, he had to make some serious changes to his lifestyle. He quit drinking, joined a gym, bought a blender and started to focus on his career for the first time in his life.

Unplanned Orphan will have audiences crying, with both laughter and sadness as they go on a journey of discovery with Phil as he retraces his 'real' parents and reveals the dark secret behind his father's absence and the tragedy that befell his birth mother....

Since his he first took to the stage in 2008, Phil has been entertaining audiences with his surreal, madcap meanderings, drawing crowds into his off kilter world. Phil has a unique ability to turn an audience from quiet and uninvolved to fully engaged and desperate to be one of the lucky ones chosen to take part in his latest bizarre scheme. Phil regularly performs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as a resident MC for variety showcases as well as guest spots at high profile gigs. He had a particularly noteworthy year in 2011, when he MC'd Gag Reflex's COMX late night variety show.

He has co-written 3 short comedy films called Phil's ill for the Dave Channel, which was critically acclaimed, receiving 'pick of the day' status in such publications as The Times, The Guardian and the Daily Mail. He continues to write sketches and has written for and appeared in The Tapeface Tapes for BBC Three.