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Daniel Kitson

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Daniel Kitson
Kitson in March 2017
Born (1977-07-02) 2 July 1977 (age 47)
Denby Dale, England
Occupations
  • Comedian
  • actor
  • performer
  • writer
Years active1993–present
Websitedanielkitson.com

Daniel John Kitson (born 2 July 1977) is an English comedian, actor, performer and writer.

Early life

[edit]

Daniel John Kitson was born in Denby Dale on 2 July 1977,[1][2] the son of a primary school headteacher mother and a lecturer father.[2] He was a pupil at Scissett Middle School and Shelley College. He subsequently studied drama at Roehampton Institute, now known as the University of Roehampton.[2][3]

Career

[edit]

Comedy

[edit]
Kitson in March 2017

Kitson began performing comedy at the age of 16.[2] 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.[4][5]

In April 2001 he could be seen at Up The Creek, often alongside Jimmy Carr.[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. The show was released as an audio download in January 2017.[9]

In July 2008 he began previews of his Edinburgh Festival show, 66A Church Road: A Lament, Made Of Memories And Kept In Suitcases.[10]

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".[11]

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.

Kitson debuted his new play Mouse: The Persistence of an Unlikely Thought at Liverpool Everyman in 2016.[12]

in 2017, Kitson performed his first stand-up comedy in over four years at The Roundhouse in July 2017 before taking it to The Royal Exchange, Manchester. The show, Something Other Than Everything, was largely well-reviewed, though received criticism from a Guardian journalist who objected to an in-context use of the word 'paki'.[13]

In 2019, Daniel Kitson performed a run at the Battersea Arts Centre for a show entitled Keep. The premise of this show was to read aloud a catalogued list of 20,000 objects[14] in his home, but in true Kitson style an extra narrative and much humour is delivered along the way.

In 2020, during a period where many UK venues were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kitson toured a new show Dot. Dot. Dot. to a series of theatres and comedy clubs, performing without a live audience, but streamed to online ticket-holders that were limited to the capacity of the venues.[15] The show consisted of Kitson, sat at a table covered in Post-it Notes and Polaroid photos, holding them up one-by-one as he covered vignettes of personal experiences from the start of the pandemic up until the moment of performance.

In April 2022, Kitson announced a return to the stage after 2 years. With his new show Outside, he toured outdoor venues in the UK in his first live performances since the start of the pandemic.[16]

Film and television

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Kitson appeared in an episode of That Peter Kay Thing, "The Arena", and as Spencer in Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights. He also played a bus driver in the 2001 film Dog Eat Dog.

In 2007, clips of Daniel Kitson's stand-up were shown on the one-off Channel 4 show 100 Greatest Stand-Ups where he came 27th.[17] 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.[5]

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.[18][19]

In late October 2024, Kitson made a guest appearance as himself in Series 18 of Taskmaster, being phoned up by one of the contestants.

Radio

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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. The show returned in September 2016 under the title "Captain Bang Bang's Magic Castle" for a run of five weeks. This run of shows was subject to a number of mishaps which resulted in Kitson only broadcasting for one hour of the fifth show due to missing his train and missing the entire final show due to not being able to enter the Resonance FM radio station. As with the original run the show was not archived or repeated. In 2018 it was announced that for three weeks in May, Kitson would host an early morning weekday show on Resonance FM called "A Reason To Wake Up". These limited breakfast show runs were repeated in May 2019 and May 2020. In August 2020, Kitson presented "Trifle", which he said he created "because August is an odd month to be in my house". This was broadcast on Resonance FM between midnight and 1.30 GMT. Although it was originally stated that the shows would be available for listening after broadcast, in a change of plan none of these shows were subsequently archived or repeated.

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.[20]

Kitson appears in Episode 2 of the Flight of the Conchords radio series.

He also can be heard on the BBC Radio 4 programme Tim Key Delves Into Daniil Kharms and That's All.[21]

Personal life

[edit]

Kitson has a stutter.[22]

Live shows

[edit]
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[23]
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 Royal Exchange Theatre 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 Show
2015 The Old Vic Tree Story Show With Tim Key
2015 Australia & New Zealand Tour Polyphony Story Show
2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Polyphony Story Show
2015 UK Tour Stories For The Starlit Sky Story Show With Gavin Osborn
2015 Connelly Theater A Show for Christmas Story Show
2016 Everyman Theatre Mouse – The Persistence of an Unlikely Thought Story Show
2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe An Insufficient Number of Undeveloped Ideas Over Ninety Testing Minutes Stand-up
Mouse – The Persistence of an Unlikely Thought Story Show
2016 St. Ann's Warehouse Mouse – The Persistence of an Unlikely Thought Story Show
2017 Battersea Arts Centre Stories For The Starlit Sky Story Show
2017 The Roundhouse Something Other Than Everything Stand-up
2017 Royal Exchange Theatre Something Other Than Everything Stand-Up
2017 Studio Theatre A Short Series of Disagreements Presented Here in Chronological Order. Story Show
2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Good For Glue Stand-up
2019 Regent's Park Open Air Theatre Outside. Again. Story Show With Gavin Osborn
2019 Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton Hilarity Charity Gala Benefit In aid of Central Youth Theatre
2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Everything Smells Of Orange Stand-up
Shenanigan Story Show
2019 Battersea Arts Centre Keep Story Show
2019 Studio Theatre Keep Story Show
2019 St Ann's Warehouse Keep Story Show
2020 UK Tour Dot. Dot. Dot. Story Show Streamed online to ticket holders
2021 Online Show Shenaniganagain Story Show Streamed online to ticket holders. Released on physical formats Summer 2022 under the name 'Shenanigan'
2022 UK Tour Outside. Stand-up
2022 Shakespeare's Globe Maybe a Ghost Story. Story Show Performed on 26 and 27 October 2022 at Shakespeare's Globe, London
2023 Melbourne International Comedy Festival I Shall Have a Good Think When Everybody’s Gone Home Stand-up
2024 UK Tour Collaborator Story Show
2024 Royal Exchange Theatre Pith

Recordings

[edit]

Kitson has released audio and video recordings of some of his live shows on Bandcamp and Vimeo:

Audio

The Ballad of Roger and Grace w/ Gavin Osborn (2012)[24]

Midnight at The Stand (2012)[25]

Dancing (2012)[26]

Weltanschauung (2012)[27]

After the Beginning, Before the End. (2015)[28]

The Impotent Fury of The Privileged (2017)[29]

It's The Fireworks Talking (2020)[30]

We Are Gathered Here (2021)[31]

Shenanigan (2022)[32] – Vinyl/CD/Cassette only

Video

It's Always Right Now, Until It's Later. (2018)[33]

The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church (2020)[34]

Stories for the Wobbly Hearted (2020)[35]

Tree (2023) [36]

Outside (Upcoming)[37]


(Years are of the recording's release; years of the corresponding live shows are listed in the 'live shows' section.)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Comedy: Out on his own". The Sunday Times. 3 November 2002. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d "The Independent: The hirsute of happiness". London. 23 August 2001. Archived from the original on 16 June 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  3. ^ "31 Years of Discovering Comedy Genius". Fosters Edinburgh Comedy. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
  4. ^ "If.Comedy Awards (formerly Perrier Awards) Past Winners and Nominees". Archived from the original on 11 January 2009.
  5. ^ a b "IMDB biography of Daniel Kitson". IMDb. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  6. ^ "Listings: May 2-9". News Shopper. 27 April 2001. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  7. ^ Merritt, Stephanie (27 July 2003). "The Guardian: I want to tell you a story". London. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  8. ^ "Wobbly Stories". Archived from the original on 23 September 2006. Retrieved 1 October 2006.
  9. ^ "At last... Daniel Kitson releases his 2008 show : News 2017 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  10. ^ Royal Exchange Archived 5 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine Listing
  11. ^ "Bristol Times: Daniel Kitson – Where Once Was Wonder (WiP) @ Tobacco Factory". BristolTimes.com. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  12. ^ "What's on | Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse theatres".
  13. ^ Iqbal, Nosheen (19 July 2017). "Daniel Kitson can't reclaim a racist word he's never been the target of | Nosheen Iqbal". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  14. ^ "Daniel Kitson: Keep : Reviews 2019 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  15. ^ "A Tour Of Empty Theatres". Daniel Kitson. 11 September 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  16. ^ "Daniel Kitson Mail list". Daniel Kitson. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  17. ^ "100 hundred greatest standups. IMDB". IMDb. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  18. ^ "The Apiary – Penelope: Princess of Pets Pilot". Archived from the original on 19 May 2009. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
  19. ^ "British Comedy Guide – Penelope: Princess of Pets". Retrieved 22 July 2009.
  20. ^ "BBC 'Protests greet male Perrier shortlist' article". BBC News. 21 August 2002. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  21. ^ BBC Radio 2 Comedy
  22. ^ Del Signore, John (12 January 2012). "Theater Review: Daniel Kitson's It's Always Right Now, Until It's Later". Gothamist. Archived from the original on 9 January 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  23. ^ Pickering, Bree. "66a Church Road by Daniel Kitson". Concrete Playground.
  24. ^ "The Ballad of Roger and Grace. (2006), by Daniel Kitson and Gavin Osborn". Daniel Kitson. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  25. ^ "Midnight at The Stand (2005), by Daniel Kitson". Daniel Kitson. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  26. ^ Kitson, Daniel (19 February 2012). "Dancing. (2004)". Bandcamp. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  27. ^ "Weltanschauung (2006), by Daniel Kitson". Daniel Kitson. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  28. ^ "After the Beginning, Before the End. (2013), by Daniel Kitson". Daniel Kitson. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  29. ^ "The Impotent Fury of The Privileged (2008), by Daniel Kitson". Daniel Kitson. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  30. ^ "It's The Fireworks Talking (2007), by Daniel Kitson". Daniel Kitson. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  31. ^ "We Are Gathered Here (2009), by Daniel Kitson". Daniel Kitson. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  32. ^ "Last Few Outside Shows and Record Shop Update". Daniel Kitson. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  33. ^ Kitson, Daniel (5 February 2018). "Watch It's Always Right Now, Until It's Later. Online | Vimeo On Demand". Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  34. ^ Kitson, Daniel (18 August 2020). "Watch The Interminable Suicide Of Gregory Church Online | Vimeo On Demand". Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  35. ^ Kitson, Daniel (24 August 2020). "Watch Stories For The Wobbly Hearted. Online | Vimeo On Demand". Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  36. ^ "Tree – Online Screening (7pm London) EXTRA SHOW ADDED ON THURSDAY 23RD". 20 February 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  37. ^ "Last Few Outside Shows and Record Shop Update". Daniel Kitson. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
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