Boothby Graffoe (comedian)
Encyclopedia
Boothby Graffoe is an English
comedian
, singer, songwriter
and playwright
. He is particularly known for his surreal sense of humour and work with Canadian band Barenaked Ladies
.
, East Riding of Yorkshire
, England
. For the latter part of his schooling, he attended the Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School
in Horncastle. At the age of 18, he became a member of the redcoats
at a Butlins
on the south coast. He named his alter ego
after an English village
while driving back from a gig in the late 1980s. His family still live in the Tattershall
area. He claims to be the only comedian in the world named after a Lincolnshire
village.
, having previously toured with acoustic guitarist Antonio Forcione
.
He explained his reasons for increasingly irrelevant song titles as — essentially — ways to avoid giving away the key phrases or punchlines in his songs. For instance, he renamed "Umbrella Head Boy" to "Wot Italian" after realising that audiences familiar with his work would ask him to "Play Umbrella Head Boy", thus rendering the surprise element of this line in the song redundant to others.
In 2005 he participated in the Danish stand-up tour "Stand-up DK|UK|OK" with Danish comedians Rune Klan
, Carsten Eskelund and Geo
, this went on tour around Denmark and was never released on DVD.
On a tour of Scotland in February–March 2007, Graffoe announced his intention to retire from stand-up comedy and concentrate on writing for Omid Djalili
. He subsequently toured as a warm-up act for Djalili and Barenaked Ladies
, but has recently announced a new tour and album (Songs for Dogs' Funerals). He is a regular performer at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Graffoe has won several awards, including the 2002 Adelaide Fringe Award for Excellence, and the Time Out Comedy Award. He has been nominated for British comedy's prestigious Perrier Award.
, when he presented a two-hour programme (Boothby Graffoe Live) on Friday evenings until late 1990.
He appeared regularly on Radio 4's Loose Ends
with Ned Sherrin
.
's Late Night with Conan O'Brien
and also caused a stir on Opportunity Knocks during the late 1980s when he wrapped sellotape around his head for comedy effect.
billed as Boothby Graffoe & the Following People, the backing band including Pynn.
Boothby has acted as support for Canadian band Barenaked Ladies
on three of their UK tours: first in 2004 for the Barenaked for the Holidays tour, then in 2007 on the Barenaked Ladies Are Me tour and again in 2010 on the band's All In Good Time tour. Boothby mostly performs solo, with various members of the band joining him to play bass (Jim Creeggan
), keyboard (Kevin Hearn
) and drums (guitarist Ed Robertson
) for some of the songs.
In January 2008, Graffoe joined the line-up for Barenaked Ladies' cruise Ships and Dip, where he performed solo and with members from BNL and other bands on board. The cruise, with a capacity of 2500, provided some North American attendees with their first experiences with Graffoe and his comedy. He returned for two further Ships and Dip cruises in 2009 and 2011.
Boothby's third album, "Songs For Dogs, Funerals....." was released in February 2011, featuring studio recordings of three tracks from "Boothby Graffoe & The Following People" together with a selection of all-new tracks. Musicians appearing on the album included Nick Pynn, Theseus Gerard and Dean Friedman.
He has championed the work of surreal songwriter Syd Meats, often including Meats' songs, such as "Far Too Serious", in his set.
All three plays were subsequently adapted for BBC Radio.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, singer, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
. He is particularly known for his surreal sense of humour and work with Canadian band Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburban municipality outside the City of Toronto...
.
Early life
Rogers was born in 1962 in HullKingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. For the latter part of his schooling, he attended the Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Horncastle
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Horncastle, is a selective, co-educational, foundation status Grammar School and Sixth Form College in the market town of Horncastle, Lincolnshire. In 2003, Queen Elizabeth's gained joint specialist status for science and mathematics inpartnership with Banovallum...
in Horncastle. At the age of 18, he became a member of the redcoats
Redcoats (Butlins)
Redcoat is the name given to frontline staff at Butlins holiday camps. A Redcoat may have many duties ranging from adult entertainer or children's entertainer to stewarding.-History:The first Redcoat was Norman Bradford...
at a Butlins
Butlins
Butlins is a chain of large holiday camps in the United Kingdom. Butlins was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families....
on the south coast. He named his alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
after an English village
Boothby Graffoe
Boothby Graffoe is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies approximately 7 miles south of Lincoln, on A607 . It's population is approximately 400....
while driving back from a gig in the late 1980s. His family still live in the Tattershall
Tattershall
Tattershall is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, located on the A153 Horncastle to Sleaford road, east of the point where that road crosses the River Witham. At its eastern end, Tattershall adjoins the village of Coningsby, to the north of the village...
area. He claims to be the only comedian in the world named after a Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
village.
Stand-up comedy
Graffoe often incorporates guitar playing into his stage act, through his oddball (and usually slightly twisted) songs, including such titles as "Planet Dog", "Woof" and his album's title track, "Wot Italian" (sometimes referred to as "Umbrella Head Boy"). Some of his song titles are still more surreal, in that they do not reflect the subject matter, such as "Giraffes Don't Play Harmonicas, So It Can't Be a Giraffe" and "The Consequences of Living in a Container". He is currently accompanied by the violinist Nick PynnNick Pynn
Nick Pynn is a British musician and composer noted for his use of bass pedals and live looping with electroacoustic stringed instruments...
, having previously toured with acoustic guitarist Antonio Forcione
Antonio Forcione
Antonio Forcione is an Italian guitarist, composer and performer. He started recording in 1983 and has appeared on dozens of albums....
.
He explained his reasons for increasingly irrelevant song titles as — essentially — ways to avoid giving away the key phrases or punchlines in his songs. For instance, he renamed "Umbrella Head Boy" to "Wot Italian" after realising that audiences familiar with his work would ask him to "Play Umbrella Head Boy", thus rendering the surprise element of this line in the song redundant to others.
In 2005 he participated in the Danish stand-up tour "Stand-up DK|UK|OK" with Danish comedians Rune Klan
Rune Klan
Rune Klan, is a Danish comedian and magician. He has conjured since 1987 and has released an instructional video for magicians called Three Pieces of Silver. Klan has lived in the Middle East and in Canada and has toured in the U.S. where he has taught other magicians...
, Carsten Eskelund and Geo
Christian Geo Heltboe
Christian Geo Heltboe is a Danish comedian. He is best known under his middle name Geo.-Biography:Geo debuted in 1996 as a comedian at Café Abbey Square home town of Aalborg...
, this went on tour around Denmark and was never released on DVD.
On a tour of Scotland in February–March 2007, Graffoe announced his intention to retire from stand-up comedy and concentrate on writing for Omid Djalili
Omid Djalili
Omid Djalili is a British Iranian stand-up comedian, actor, television producer and writer.-Personal life:Djalili was born in Chelsea, London to Iranian Bahá'í parents and is a Bahá'í himself...
. He subsequently toured as a warm-up act for Djalili and Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburban municipality outside the City of Toronto...
, but has recently announced a new tour and album (Songs for Dogs' Funerals). He is a regular performer at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Graffoe has won several awards, including the 2002 Adelaide Fringe Award for Excellence, and the Time Out Comedy Award. He has been nominated for British comedy's prestigious Perrier Award.
Radio
Graffoe started his career in 1988 on BBC Radio LincolnshireBBC Radio Lincolnshire
BBC Lincolnshire is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Lincolnshire — apart from the northern parts, which are covered by BBC Radio Humberside...
, when he presented a two-hour programme (Boothby Graffoe Live) on Friday evenings until late 1990.
He appeared regularly on Radio 4's Loose Ends
Loose Ends (radio)
Loose Ends is a British radio programme originally broadcast on Saturday mornings, and then transmitted early Saturday evenings from 1998 by BBC Radio 4. It was hosted by Ned Sherrin until he became ill in late 2006 with a reported throat infection, and later throat cancer...
with Ned Sherrin
Ned Sherrin
Edward George "Ned" Sherrin CBE was an English broadcaster, author and stage director. He qualified as a barrister and then worked in independent television before joining the BBC...
.
- The Big BoothThe Big Booth (radio show)The Big Booth was a short-lived radio programme that aired from January 2000-Martch 2001. There were 12 half-hour episodes and it was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It starred Boothby Graffoe.-Notes and references:...
BBC Radio 4 (2000–01) - Boothby Graffoe in No Particular OrderBoothby Graffoe In No Particular Order (radio show)Boothby Graffoe In No Particular Order was comedy radio programme that aired from March 2004 to August 2005. There were 12 half-hour episodes and it was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It starred Boothby Graffoe, Stephen Frost, and Debra Stephenson....
BBC Radio 4 (2003–05)
Television
In 2003, Graffoe appeared on NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
and also caused a stir on Opportunity Knocks during the late 1980s when he wrapped sellotape around his head for comedy effect.
Music
In 2004 he released his first album of songs with Antonio Forcione, Wot Italian?. A second disc followed in 2006, a live recording of a show in BrightonBrighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
billed as Boothby Graffoe & the Following People, the backing band including Pynn.
Boothby has acted as support for Canadian band Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburban municipality outside the City of Toronto...
on three of their UK tours: first in 2004 for the Barenaked for the Holidays tour, then in 2007 on the Barenaked Ladies Are Me tour and again in 2010 on the band's All In Good Time tour. Boothby mostly performs solo, with various members of the band joining him to play bass (Jim Creeggan
Jim Creeggan
James Raymond Creeggan, better known as Jim Creeggan , is the bassist for Canadian band Barenaked Ladies...
), keyboard (Kevin Hearn
Kevin Hearn
Kevin Neil Hearn is a Canadian musician who is currently the keyboardist of Barenaked Ladies and his own group, Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle. He is also a former member of Rheostatics.-Early life:...
) and drums (guitarist Ed Robertson
Ed Robertson
Lloyd Edward Elwyn Robertson , better known as Ed Robertson, is the Canadian lead singer, as well as a guitarist and songwriter in the band, Barenaked Ladies...
) for some of the songs.
In January 2008, Graffoe joined the line-up for Barenaked Ladies' cruise Ships and Dip, where he performed solo and with members from BNL and other bands on board. The cruise, with a capacity of 2500, provided some North American attendees with their first experiences with Graffoe and his comedy. He returned for two further Ships and Dip cruises in 2009 and 2011.
Boothby's third album, "Songs For Dogs, Funerals....." was released in February 2011, featuring studio recordings of three tracks from "Boothby Graffoe & The Following People" together with a selection of all-new tracks. Musicians appearing on the album included Nick Pynn, Theseus Gerard and Dean Friedman.
He has championed the work of surreal songwriter Syd Meats, often including Meats' songs, such as "Far Too Serious", in his set.
Stage plays written by Boothby Graffoe
- The Condition of the Virgin, 2001
- One Night Stand: God and Adam, 2002
- Hitler Sells Tickets, 2004
All three plays were subsequently adapted for BBC Radio.
Books
- Sit-Down Comedy (contributor to anthology, ed Malcolm HardeeMalcolm HardeeMalcolm Hardee was an English comedian, author, comedy club proprietor, compère, agent, manager and "amateur sensationalist"....
& John Fleming) Ebury Press/Random House, 2003. ISBN 0-09-188924-3; ISBN 978-0-09-188924-1
DVDs
- 'Boothby Graffoe and the Following People' is a live DVD of a stand-up show recorded in Brighton. It features his back-up band and was released on 11th May 2009, following the earlier release of the CD version of the same show.