Daniel Kitson
| Daniel Kitson | |
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File:DanielKitson.jpg
A picture of Daniel Kitson
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| Born | 2 July 1977 Denby Dale, West Yorkshire |
| Medium | comedian, actor, playwright |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Website | danielkitson.com |
Daniel Kitson (born 2 July 1977) is an English comedian.
Career
Kitson was born in Denby Dale, West Yorkshire,[1][2] to a lecturer father and primary school headteacher mother,[2] and began performing comedy at the age of 16.[2] He was a pupil at Scissett Middle School and Shelley College in Yorkshire, England. Kitson subsequently studied drama at Roehampton Institute, now known as Roehampton University.[2][3] He has a stutter.[4]
He was nominated for the 2001 Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for his show Love, Innocence and the Word Cock before winning it in 2002 for the show Something.[5][6]
As well as stand up, Kitson has written and performed "story shows". The first was A Made Up Story at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe,[7] followed by Stories For the Wobbly-Hearted at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2005. The latter show opened at the Traverse Theatre for the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won a Scotsman Fringe First Award. In 2006, Kitson took Stories for the Wobbly Hearted to the Brits Off Broadway Festival in New York.[8] In June 2006 the story show made up one half of his Regents Park Open Air Theatre appearance, where Kitson's stories were accompanied by songs from Gavin Osborn. His story show, C-90, opened at the Traverse for the 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It was awarded both a Fringe First and The Stage Acting Award for Best Solo Show.
In 2007, Kitson toured It's The Fireworks Talking and the story show C-90 in the UK, Australia, New York and Paris. There was a second Open Air Theatre show in June 2007. Kitson also complemented his Australian tour of C-90 with a loosely structured stand up show titled At 10 pm, Daniel Kitson Will Be Drinking Tea and Blowing Minds, a reference to a line from the movie Dazed and Confused.
It's The Fireworks Talking won Kitson the Barry Award – named after veteran Australian comedian Barry Humphries – at the 2007 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. C90 was awarded an Argus Angel Award at the 2007 Brighton Festival.
In the first half of 2008 Kitson toured his show The Impotent Fury of the Privileged. He played work-in progress gigs in January and early February before presenting the show at 28 dates during May & June. In July 2008 he began previews of his Edinburgh Festival show, 66A Church Road: A Lament, Made Of Memories And Kept In Suitcases. [9]
In 2009 Kitson performed two new shows: 'We Are Gathered Here' & 'The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church', the latter of which was toured in late 2010 and the first half of 2011. Prior to this in early 2010, Kitson also did a short UK tour of '66a Church Road – A Lament Made of Memories and Kept in Suitcases' that he initially performed in Edinburgh in 2008 (and then took to Australia.)
In January 2012, his show "It’s Always Right Now, Until it’s Later" played at the St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, NY.
In March 2012, Kitson took a brand new stand-up show, Where Once Was Wonder, on a work-in-progress tour around the UK before touring it in Australia and returning for the Edinburgh Fringe in August. The new show comprises all new material and is made up of three stories about "the impossible".[10]
In 2013 he took his new stand-up show entitled 'After the Beginning. Before the End' on a UK tour and also played a few European dates.
Television
Kitson has a reputation within the comedy industry for shunning television work due to the perceived lack of control over the final product in comparison to stand up. He did appear in an episode of That Peter Kay Thing, The Arena, and as the recurring character Spencer in Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights, a move that Peter Kay said "of all the great things he's done, this is what he's least proud of, the bastard." on the show's DVD commentary. He then said, "the bastard" each time Kitson appeared.[11] The rift is such that when Phoenix Nights out-takes were screened in April 2006, Kitson's face was pixellated out in some scenes.[11] Kitson himself has been quite outspoken in his dislike of Kay and his experiences on Phoenix Nights, calling Kay "comedically lazy and overrated", and an "obnoxious bully of a man".[12] According to Chortle, it is a show Kitson considers "lazy and racist".[13] He has vowed to eschew future television projects of this nature, and any future work with Kay.
In 2007 clips of Daniel Kitson's standup were shown on the one-off Channel 4 show 100 Greatest Stand-Ups where he came 27th.[14] In an updated version of the poll in 2010, he was voted 23rd. Chris Addison commented that 'Kitson is the finest comedian of his generation'. Stewart Lee also commented, after seeing a stand-up set by Kitson, that he saw stand-up 'about as good as it could get'.
Whilst in his teens, he appeared as a contestant on the ITV quiz show Blockbusters.[6]
Kitson voices an "alley rat" in the pilot episode of the Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler comedy "Penelope: Princess of Pets" which was aired in 2010 by Channel 4.[15][16]
Radio
In 2006, Kitson began presenting his own weekly music-based radio show called The Listening Club. The show, broadcast live 1 am to 4 am on Monday nights / Tuesday mornings from London's community arts radio station Resonance FM, mainly involves music from his own collection (some played directly from his iPod), and occasional clips of comedy. In between tracks he talks about the music, tells anecdotes, and responds to the SMS text messages and e-mails that are sent in throughout the show. There were six shows in the original January / February 2006 run, with further instalments in October 2006 and February 2007. Kitson returned to Resonance FM in early 2013 on Tuesdays from midnight to 2:30 am. The show is only broadcast once with no repeat or accompanying podcast to ensure that audiences hear the show only once to make it more special, he also requests that no one record the show
Kitson had originally begun doing radio shows in Australia during the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, on Melbourne-based community station 3RRR. These continued, twice weekly, in 2006 and 2007. The Australian programmes are usually co-hosted with a comedian friend. Co-hosts have included Courteney Hocking, David O'Doherty, Andrew McClelland and Steve Hall of We Are Klang.
He has appeared on the BBC Radio 4 show Loose Ends.[17]
Kitson also appears in Episode 2 of the Flight of the Conchords radio series.[18]
Live shows
| Year | Venue | Show | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Love, Innocence and the Word Cock | Stand-up | |
| 2002 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Something | Stand-up | Won Perrier Comedy Award |
| Tartan Ribbon Comedy Benefit | Benefit | In aid of Waverley Care | ||
| The Stonewall Gala | Benefit | In aid of Stonewall | ||
| 2003 | UK Tour | Over-rated and on Tour | Stand-up | |
| 2003 | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Something | Stand-up | |
| 2003 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | A Made Up Story | Story show | |
| Stand Up for Freedom | Benefit | In aid of Amnesty International | ||
| 2004 | UK Tour | Lover, Thinker, Artist and Prophet | Stand-up | |
| 2004 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Dancing | Stand-up | |
| 2005 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Daniel Kitson 11:30 pm at The Stand | Stand-up | |
| Stories for the Wobbly-Hearted | Story show | Won Scotsman Fringe First Award | ||
| 2006 | UK and Australian tours | Weltanschauung | Stand-up | |
| 2006 | Regents Park Open Air Theatre | Weltanschauung | Stand-up | |
| Stories for the Wobbly Hearted | Story show | With Gavin Osborn | ||
| 2006 | Brits Off Broadway Festival | Stories for the Wobbly-Hearted | Story show | |
| 2006 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe and UK tour | C-90 | Story show | Won Scotsman Fringe First Award and The Stage Acting Award for Best Solo Show |
| The Honourable Men of Art | Stand-up | With Andy Zaltzman, Alun Cochrane, Demetri Martin and David O'Doherty | ||
| 2007 | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | It's the Fireworks Talking | Stand-up | Won MICF Barry Award |
| 2007 | Regents Park Open Air Theatre | It's the Fireworks Talking | Stand-up | |
| The Ballad of Rodger and Grace | Story show | With Gavin Osborn | ||
| 2007 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | It's the Fireworks Talking | Stand-up | |
| 2008 | Melbourne International Comedy Festival; Australian and UK tours | The Impotent Fury of the Privileged | Stand-up | |
| 2008 | Regents Park Open Air Theatre | The Impotent Fury of the Privileged | Stand-up | |
| The Revenge of Heckmondwyke | Story show | With Gavin Osborn | ||
| 2008 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | 66a Church Road: A Lament, Made Of Memories And Kept In Suitcases, By Daniel Kitson | Story show | Won Scotsman Fringe First Award |
| The Honourable Men of Art | Stand-up | With Andy Zaltzman, Alun Cochrane and David O'Doherty | ||
| 2008 | Melbourne International Arts Festival and Australian tour | The Ballad of Roger and Grace | Story show | with Gavin Osborn |
| 2009 | Regents Park Open Air Theatre | Stories for the Starlit Sky | Story show | Three interlinked stories with music by Gavin Osborn |
| 2009 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church | Story show | Won Scotsman Fringe First Award |
| We Are Gathered Here | Stand-up | Plus UK tour | ||
| 2009 | Sydney Opera House | 66a Church Road: A Lament, Made of Memories and Kept in Suitcases | Story show | Showing 24 November – 13 December[19] |
| 2010 | UK tour | 66a Church Road – A Lament Made of Memories and Kept in Suitcases | Story show | |
| 2010 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | It's Always Right Now Until It's Later | Story show | |
| 2010 | Latitude Festival | Stories for the Starlit Sky | Story show | With Gavin Osborn |
| 2011 | St. Ann's Warehouse | The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church | Story show | |
| 2011 | UK & Australia tour | The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church | Story show | |
| 2011 | Royal National Theatre | It's Always Right Now, Until it's Later | Story show | |
| 2012 | St. Ann's Warehouse | It's Always Right Now, Until It's Later | Story show | |
| 2012 | Royal Exchange Theatre | It's Always Right Now, Until it's Later | Story show | |
| 2012 | Regents Park Open Air Theatre | Lucinda Ding and the Monstrous Thing | Story show | With Gavin Osborn |
| Where Once Was Wonder | Stand-up | |||
| 2012 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Where Once Was Wonder | Stand-up | |
| As of 1:52 GMT on Friday 27 April 2012, this show has no title | Story show | Script-reading | ||
| ZOCK!! | Stand-up | With Andy Zaltzman, John Oliver, and Alun Cochrane | ||
| 2012 | The Hob at Forest Hill | Fuckstorm3000 | Stand-up | With Andy Zaltzman, Alun Cochrane, and Gavin Osborn |
| 2013 | Barrow Street Theatre | After the Beginning. Before the End | Stand-up | |
| 2013 | UK & Euro tour | After the Beginning. Before the End | Stand-up | |
| 2013 | Manchester Royal Exchange | Tree | Play | Featuring Tim Key. |
| 2013 | St. Ann's Warehouse | Analog.Ue | Story show | |
| 2014 | Royal National Theatre | Analog.Ue | Story show | |
| 2014 | US Tour | Pretty Good Friends | Stand-up | Tour with Eugene Mirman |
| 2014 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | A Variety of Things in a Room | Story Show | With Gavin Osborn |
| 2014 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Fuckstorm 3001 | Stand-up | With Andy Zaltzman and Alun Cochrane |
| 2014 | Battersea Arts Centre | A Show for Christmas | Story | |
| 2015 | The Old Vic | Tree | Story | With Tim Key |
| 2015 | Australia & New Zealand Tour | Polyphony | Story | |
| 2015 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Polyphony | Story | |
| 2015 | UK Tour | Stories For The Starlit Sky | Story Show | With Gavin Osborn |
| 2015 | Connelly Theater | A Show for Christmas | Story |
References
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- ↑ Wobbly Stories
- ↑ Royal Exchange Listing
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- ↑ One Way Single Parent Family Favourites [guest; Resonance 104.4 FM, 3 November 2002]
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- ↑ BBC Radio 2 Comedy
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External links
- Daniel Kitson's Website
- 2005 Scotland on Sunday interview
- 2006 Scotland On Sunday interview
- 2007 Scotsman interview
- Jokes aside, Kitson is the best (2007 Barry Award win)
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