Bob Mortimer previously admitted he and Jim Moir were no longer than close after ‘drifting apart’ years after working as a comedy partnership.
Despite only living mere miles apart in Kent, the comedians no longer spend much time together and Bob admitted he wished they’d ‘done more together’.
Jim – who is known by his stage name Vic Reeves – shot to stardom in the early nineties alongside Bob with their surreal comedy and became household names.
However, after their stint on Vic and Bob’s Big Night Out in 2019, the pair soon drifted apart as they got older and only occasionally meet to catch up.
Fuelling hopes of a professional reconciliation, Bob did recently say he wants to work with Jim again, describing the idea as ‘a lovely thought’.
They have famously appeared on Vic Reeves Big Night Out, The Smell Of Reeves And Mortimer and Shooting Stars together throughout their careers.
Bob Mortimer previously admitted he and Jim Moir were no longer than close after ‘drifting apart’ years after working as a comedy partnership (pictured together in 2018)
Speaking on BBC Breakfast in December, Bob said: ‘It’s a lovely thought, I don’t know whether we’re up to it any more, I would be up for it, of course I would, he said he is.
‘Jim’s up for anything, I’m a bit more difficult to persuade, but yeah, that would be nice, it would be fun. You know, we started together, so it’d be quite nice if we finished together.’
While Jim is enjoying a low-life in the country with his wife Nancy Sorrell, Bob has suffered health woes and a recent TV resurgence on the Last One Laughing.
MailOnline takes a look at the differing lives of the comics since they ‘drifted’ after the end of their last project…Â
Differing work livesÂ
Bob’s most recent TV appearance was on Amazon Prime Video’s Last One Laughing, which saw a house full of comedians compete to be the laugh one not to laugh.
The funnyman went head-to-head with fellow comedian Richard Ayoade in the final two, but it was Bob who came out victorious after Richard eventually cracked.
Aside from this, Bob also appears on the popular Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing alongside his friend Paul Whitehouse.
The show features Bob and Paul reflecting on life after their shared major heart problems, while on a fishing trip to various locations around Britain.
Jim has made a few acting appearances since 2019, featuring in Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators (2020) and All Creatures Great and Small (2022).
Bob’s most recent TV appearance was on Amazon Prime Video’s Last One Laughing, which saw a house full of comedians compete to be the laugh one not to laugh
The actor and presenter has also hosted Back to the 1990s with Vic Reeves (2020) and Walking With… (2021).
Away from television, Jim is focusing on his art work, particularly his mixed-media paintings and other creative projects.
He has recently released a capsule collection called Newcastle Bridges, featuring vibrant watercolours painted with water from the River Tyne.
His art can be found on his official website, Jim Moir Art.
Speaking to Richard Herring on his RHLSTP podcast last year, he confessed that he wished he did more with his former co-star.
Bob said: ‘I got on great with Jim, but no, we’re both doing our own little things at the moment. We had a lovely time, but you get older.
‘I wish I’d done more with Jim, you know, when we were younger, because now, we have drifted apart.
‘As I get older, I think of all the lovely people I’ve known and don’t see them anymore – it just seems to happen.’
Aside from this, Bob also appears on the popular Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing alongside his friend Paul Whitehouse (pictured in 2023)
Jim also previously revealed the pair weren’t as close friends any more after he revealed they rarely speak.
Jim told The Times in 2023: ‘We never really speak much. Bob and I have never been ones for talking on the phone.
He added: ‘We’ll see him now and then and have a chat about things.’
Bob’s quiet life in Tumbridge Wells
Bob lives in Kent’s Tumbridge Wells with his wife of 10 years Lisa Matthews, who he has been in a relationship with since they met in 1993.
Before moving to the west Kent area, the married couple previously lived at the Grad I listed Pett Place near Charing, Ashford.
The couple, who have two sons, Harry and Tom, prefer to stay in at home now as Bob discussed how they navigate life in the public eye.
Speaking on Rob Brydon’s podcast, he pondered whether the ‘greatest thing’ about being famous is that fans will approach them on the street to say hello.
Rob, 58, joked: ‘We’re always laughing because if we go out, people will say nice things to me and when it is in front of your family who don’t live with the smiley, cheery guy, they must be going, ‘Oh God, not again’.
Bob and his wife married in 2015, just 30 minutes before undergoing triple bypass heart surgery when he discovered 95 per cent of his arteries were blocked (pictured with his wife)
Rob asked the Gone Fishing star if women say to his wife: ‘Oh, it must be brilliant, it must be a laugh, it must be so much fun.’
Bob said: ‘I mean, I don’t go out… I go out two, three times a year, something like that. That’s all.’
Bob and his wife married in 2015, just 30 minutes before undergoing triple bypass heart surgery when he discovered 95 per cent of his arteries were blocked.Â
The surgery, which resulted in the cancellation of the first leg of Reeves and Mortimer 25 years tour, saved Bob’s life when he discovered he was very unwell.
After discovering his arteries were almost fully blocked up, Bob wrote a will but found out he couldn’t marry Lisa without giving 21 days notice.
Explaining how they managed to tie the knot just in time, Bob told Teeside Live: ‘I found out on the Thursday that I needed surgery, so I made a will on the Friday.
‘I found out I couldn’t get married to Lisa because you have to give 21 days’ notice or something.’
Bob lives in Kent’s Tumbridge Wells with his wife of 10 years Lisa Matthews, who he has been in a relationship with since they met in 1993Â
‘My consultant said I was incredibly ill, so the registrar in London gave me permission to get married on the Monday. So I got married at 9.30am on the Monday, and went to hospital at 10am to have my operation.’
Following the surgery, Bob revealed he no longer felt the extreme fatigue that caused him to be continually napping in his car around his hometown.
Bob previously told the Mirror that the car park near the Tunbridge Wells Cineworld was his favourite place to park up for a nap.
Revealing he used to park his Mercedes and stop for a nap, Bob said: ‘I had a duvet in there for the winter months – a big soppy white one, that got a bit stained and wasn’t suitable for home use any more.
‘The biggest problem with car sleep is light – I used to have a snood I put over my head.’
Later revealing it was down to his blocked arteries on the Jools Holland and Jim Moir podcast, he said: ‘My afternoon terrible malaise was partly to do with my heart.’
Jim lives in nearby CharingÂ
Bob’s long-time comedy partner Jim also lives in Kent with his wife, Nancy Sorrell, with the two regularly sharing a look at the life in the countryside online.
Jim’s glamorous wife Nancy, 50, is a model, actress and TV presenter and was born in Chigwell, Essex, lives with him in leafy Charing near Ashford.
The couple have been married for more than two decades since 2003 but seem more loved up than ever judging by their sweet Instagram uploads.
Jim and Nancy live in a converted Georgian schoolhouse, which they have added a quirky twist to with a coat of pale mint green paint. Â
Bob’s long-time comedy partner Jim also lives in Kent with his wife, Nancy Sorrell, with the two regularly sharing a look at the life in the countryside online
The couple have been married for more than two decades since 2003 but seem more loved up than ever judging by their sweet Instagram uploads
Jim and Nancy are parents to twin daughters Nell and Elizabeth, aged 18, while Nancy is also stepmother to Reeves’ children Alice, 31, and Louis, 27 (pictured in 2022)
Speaking about the house to The Independent, Nancy said: ‘It’s such a great location, and we got away from a place which is getting very built up – there are property developments everywhere.
‘We know our neighbours but they’re not that near. We’ve got the scenery, everything is amazing.’Â
Jim and Nancy are parents to twin daughters Nell and Elizabeth, aged 18, while Nancy is also stepmother to Reeves’ children Alice, 31, and Louis, 27.
Jim previously claimed the secret to their happy relationship was ‘marrying his best friend’, because their marriage is full of laughter and friendship.
He said: ‘Nancy and I have never had a cross word, we both enjoy the same things and we both make each other laugh. It’s great being with your best friend all the time. It makes me not want to leave the house.’
Nancy and Jim have previously shared a look at their local trips to Oare Marshes Nature Reserve, the Zetland Arms pub, Canterbury and Stodmarsh Nature Reserve.
Bob’s ill healthÂ
Something that has previously kept Bob out of the spotlight for a short period was when he had to have open heart surgery due to his blocked arteries.
He underwent bypass surgery in 2015 when his heart was stopped for 32 minutes after discovering that 95 per cent of his arteries were blocked.
And last summer, he was left unable to walk for half of the newest series of his show Gone Fishing after he contracted shingles.
He said: ‘I had shingles last year, and it knocked me for six, I got it really (bad). Kind of lost the, I’d say one of my legs is gone, and one of my knees has gone because of this shingles.
Something that has previously kept Bob out of the spotlight for a short period was when he had to have open heart surgery due to his blocked arteriesÂ
‘And once your mobility goes, I think that’s when you start to feel old.’
‘And back in the day with Jim, with Vic Reeves, I was just on his coattails, as it were, he was doing the show, and I somehow crept into it.
‘A bit like the hash browns crept into the English breakfast, nobody asked for it.’
Bob suffered wasted muscles after a six-month bout of the virus and had to be taken by wheelchair to several of the locations
The comic arranged to wed his long-term partner on the day of his operation after being warned he was ‘incredibly ill’.
Speaking at a press conference the following year, he recalled: ‘I found out I needed heart surgery on the Thursday, so I made a will on the Friday.
‘Found out I couldn’t get married to Lisa because you have to give 21 days notice.
Bob seen for the first time since his triple heart bypass operation (with Lisa in 2015)
‘But my consultant said I was incredibly ill, so the registrar in London – I don’t live in London – gave me permission to get married on the Monday.’
Bob continued: ‘I got married at half 9 on the Monday then went into hospital for the operation at 10.’
The ceremony was very intimate, with just Bob, Lisa and their two sons in attendance.
Speaking to The Express this month, Bob said that while he isn’t afraid of death, he is  ‘frustrated and sad’ that he’ll ‘miss the end’ of his family’s story.Â
After undergoing a triple heart bypass, he claimed he saw a ‘white light’ but thankfully lived to tell the tale.Â
In a candid admission, he said: ‘I don’t feel scared about death, I just feel so frustrated and sad to think I won’t see how stories end.
‘My children’s story. My wife’s. The football. All the stories going on in the world that you’re going to miss the end of.’
In 2023 the star suffered heart trouble, rheumatoid arthritis and shingles
He admitted: ‘I did see the light at the end of the tunnel. I experienced going towards the light and feeling happier than I have ever felt, ever. It was quite extraordinary, and then I woke up a day later and I was OK. I thought, ‘This is great. I no longer fear death and everything’.’
But he admitted afterwards: ‘Loads of people wrote to me and said, ‘It’s because your body gives out loads of PCT, some chemical to get you through that and it gives you these hallucinations’. I was a bit sad about that.’
Describing what he saw, Bob said: ‘It was absolutely wonderful. I was in the tunnel – it was a hedge, you know, beautifully shaped – and there was the light at the end and I could not wait to get there. Wow, this is going to… the feeling is going to be amazing.’
Tumour made Jim deaf
Jim has also had his own share of health woes, as he revealed in 2021 he went ‘completely deaf’ in his left ear after developing a benign tumour.
He told how he has developed a vestibular schwannoma, a non-cancerous brain tumour that grows slowly over many years and does not spread.
Speaking to The Adam Buxton Podcast, he said: ‘I’ve got what’s called a vestibular schwannoma. It’s a tumour in my head. I’ve gone completely deaf, one hundred percent deaf, in my left ear. It will never come back.
‘It’s the size of a grape. They just have to keep an eye on it. It’s benign. They can’t remove it. They can shrink it or just keep an eye on it, and that’s what they are doing.
‘I’d rather hear than not, but it’s happened so you just get on with it don’t you. I’ve got used to it.’
Describing his hearing loss,Jim said if a car approaches, he can’t tell exactly where it’s coming from. ‘I like to go out bird watching and I never know where the birds are.Â
Jim has also had his own share of health woes, as he revealed in 2021 he went ‘completely deaf’ in his left ear after developing a benign tumour
‘I can hear them but I don’t know what direction they are. If an aeroplane flies over, or a car approaches, I don’t know where it is.
‘I had to throw away all my stereo LPs. It’s absolutely dead. Gone.
‘Between your ear drum and your brain is a nerve. And that takes all the information from your ear to your brain. And the tumour is right in between.
‘So it’s gone ping and snapped. And you can’t re-attach nerves. Not at this stage in medical science anyway. But in the future? Probably the week after I perish there will be great news.’
Jim also said: ‘My dad died of prostate cancer. And about a year later he would have lived. I’m living with deafness. Can you imagine a life without stereo records?
‘No more will I hear Jimi Hendrix doing If Six Was Nine. It goes all over the place. I thought it was great when stereo first happened.
‘Like we had a new toy and put it all over every record. All I’ve got left now is Frank Ifield on mono.’
As a comedy duo Reeves and Mortimer were known for their absurd humour, a mix of slapstick, rapid-fire jokes and silly banter.
On their best known programme, game show Shooting Stars, the pair regularly embarrassed team captains Ulrika Jonsson and Jack Dee, and performed sketches mocking the likes of Roxy Music, Peter Kay and The Who.
The pair last worked together on TV with Vic And Bob’s Big Night Out for the BBC in 2019.
